Crusher fines acceptable as run floor?

[DenverChickens]

Hello! I have searched the forum and haven't really come up with an answer to this question.

Are crusher fines (also called crushed granite, breeze, rock dust, granite dust, I believe) okay to use as a run floor? I was planning on using sand due to ease of raking up the chicken poo and because it provides good drainage, but a neighbor offered to deliver a free load of crusher fines. He brought me a sample. It looks like dirty coarse sand/crushed rock, with some larger pieces of granite, some of which are sharp and look like chicken grit.

Has anyone used this material in a coop/run and would you recommend it? I was concerned because of the sharp pieces of granite - possibly these could hurt their feet/insides? But it will be much cheaper than the sand, so I'd like to use it if it doesn't pose a threat to the chickens and wouldn't be too tough to keep clean. Thank you for any advice you can offer!

 

[Judy]

I'd also be concerned about the sharp edges underfoot; could lead to bumblefoot. Could you use it as a base for sand? Seems like it could prevent a lot of sand loss as it normally sinks into the soil. Have you compared it to bagged chicken grit? Could you sieve out the larger pieces and save it for use as grit?

You can have him dump it here as a parking space for my car....

 

[DenverChickens]

Thank you for your advice. I sifted a sample of the crusher fines, and although it looked like sandy dirt, really it was mostly granite pieces with sharp edges. I have decided to go with sand, to avoid any possibility of bumblefoot. I was able to get a quick delivery of sand, for a decent price. Thanks so much.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Welcome to BYC, DenverChickens! It's always nice to see more Coloradans joining the poultry revolution!

Sounds like you already went with sand - I have some leftover structural fill (sand and gravel mix) from our patio project from a few years back that I use in our run. Each time I rake out the run (every 2 weeks or so) I supplement the run with a few shovels full of the structural fill. So far so good!

 

[DenverChickens]

Hi there, Mike,

Thank you for the welcome. Do you happen to know if the gravel in your structural fill have sharp edges? The stuff I have free access to, if I sift it, is mostly small pieces of granite, which have quite sharp edges. If you are using similar stuff with success, I will probably use it to supplement my sand also. Thanks

 

[ColoradoMike]

I don't think mine is a crushed product, rather a sand/gravel mix straight out of a gravel pit - so it's mostly rounded granular river type deposits... Perhaps I haven't inspected it closely enough, but I think it's just fine for them. I don't worry about giving the hens grit either since they've got plenty of sand/gravel to scratch through...