Sand and Composting?

[HippieAtHeart]

So far from other posts and many Pinterest articles I have determined I want to use construction sand in my coop.

I am just curious from those who use it, can you compost the chicken poop that is covered in the sand? I really would like to add it into my compost, but don’t want to mess up my raised bed garden.

Also, might sound dumb, but if you use sand on the floor of the coop do you also use it in the nesting boxes?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I hate sand and it's crap for composting..

Consider rice hulls, large chunk bark, or deep litter method.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I hate sand and it's crap for composting..

Consider rice hulls, large chunk bark, or deep litter method.

I’ll have to research rice hulls, I haven’t Read about that yet, interesting.Where I live we get a decent amount of rain and my yard holds onto it causing a lot of things to mold, that’s why I was looking into sand as I don’t want to deal with moldy bedding.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I’ll have to research rice hulls, I haven’t Read about that yet, interesting.Where I live we get a decent amount of rain and my yard holds onto it causing a lot of things to mold, that’s why I was looking into sand as I don’t want to deal with moldy bedding.

I live in the Pacific Northwest on the coast where we can get 80+ inches of rain.

I bought a truck load of washed river sand to use in my coop and run.. as many said kitty litter scooper removes poo... from dropping boards, etc.

Well, the juice from every poo stays behind even if it's now dry... essentially making a giant litter box.

So in my covered run... it all seemed fine until it started raining... then the edges that got wet stunk to high heaven... and repeated every time it rained... this despite scooping ALL visible droppings.

Since switching that area to (semi) deep litter... no more funk (around the edges) when it rains.. I call it semi deep litter since I'm essentially aiming to replicate the forest floor.. layers of different size things won't compact down... and invite good bacteria and bugs to the party to keep things balanced an in check instead of barren ground or sand that's a breeding ground for bad bacteria basically. I add pine needles, shavings, grass clipping, wood chips, dry leaves.. etc. Reason I call it semi deep litter... unlike those who do deep litter... I remove all visible waste... and it never actually produces any heat like true deep litter.

I would go large chunk bark over sand.. But hopefully your research will yield a best option for you... the first time around.

 

[Acre4Me]

Sure, you can compost it, and sand is fine to add to the compost to them add to raised beds. However, in a humid and wet area, I wouldn’t choose sand. @EggSighted4Life explains it well above.

we are pretty wet here. I have an elevated coop with vinyl floor. We use shavings in the coop (no poop boards). We toss it around till pretty full of poop, then into the compost pile. We use chopped straw in the nest boxes. We contacted a tree company and filled the run with a huge amount of chipped wood of various sizes. We amended one area of the run with sand, peat moss, sawdust, wood ashes to provide nice light fluffy dust bathing dirt.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sure, you can compost it, and sand is fine to add to the compost to them add to raised beds.

Ah ya... you know for small flocks it may be no big deal to add some sand to compost. But since chicken math bit me HARD ... with 82+ birds... it quickly became evident that sand was not a good long term choice for MY flock. With smaller numbers it may be a better option.

 

[ColoradoPip]

I think @EggSighted4Life is right that sand in large amounts, especially in a rainy climate, is not a setup for success. It needs to drain and dry.

I used it in Colorado (semi-desert like) where the sun shines almost daily and sucks the moisture right out of anything. In this environment, with a small flock of 3-4, it worked really excellent. I would never use anything else.

I don't know how your weather is so it's something to consider.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I think @EggSighted4Life is right that sand in large amounts, especially in a rainy climate, is not a setup for success. It needs to drain and dry.

I used it in Colorado (semi-desert like) where the sun shines almost daily and sucks the moisture right out of anything. In this environment, with a small flock of 3-4, it worked really excellent. I would never use anything else.

I don't know how your weather is so it's something to consider.

So do you use sand in your nesting boxes as well then?

 

[ColoradoPip]

So do you use sand in your nesting boxes as well then?

No, I used the sand for the covered run. In the coop and nest boxes I use pine flakes (which I hear do not compost quickly, unfortunately).

 

[jreardon1918]

We use pine shavings in the coop with PDZ in the droppings boards. In the covered and uncovered runs, yard clippings, leaves, sticks and annual clean out of pine shavings. Has worked great. Here is a before and after picture of the uncovered run. No maintenance. And for compost, I just dig down and take the black gold buried underneath. I do this in the fall and early spring to go in the veggie garden. This is about two years of yard waste.