{"id":43213,"date":"2016-11-01T11:53:38","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T15:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?p=43213"},"modified":"2021-04-13T00:43:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T04:43:34","slug":"how-to-use-sand-as-coop-bedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/how-to-use-sand-as-coop-bedding\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use Sand As Coop Bedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proper litter management is an important and necessary function to raising a healthy flock. Unfortunately, litter type isn\u2019t often considered by most aspiring chicken keepers. Enter the best-kept secret in backyard chicken-keeping: sand.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face facts: Litter isn\u2019t glamorous. Selecting fancy coop designs<\/a> and picking colorful heritage chicken breeds<\/a> are much more compelling than the choice of material to collect poop on the coop floor. Unfortunately, the potential consequences of using a litter that doesn\u2019t perform well can be disease, bumblefoot, frostbite, parasite infestations, flies, unnecessary labor and a slow leak in your wallet.<\/p>\n

For the first two years of my chicken-keeping adventures, I successfully used pine shavings as litter inside the coop primarily because they were a common, inexpensively recommendation that was readily available at my local farm-supply store. It never occurred to me to use sand inside the coop even though I used it in my chicken run. However, when a Facebook fan of mine vouched for its performance in her chicken coops, I figured it couldn\u2019t hurt to experiment: The worst case scenario was that I\u2019d have to scoop it out into the run and return to using pine shavings.<\/p>\n

A Time-Tested Material<\/h2>\n

As it turns out, sand is not a novel or modern litter concept; its use is tried and true. In the early 1900s, poultry visionary Charles Weeks wrote of the benefits of sand in Egg Farming in California<\/em> (1919):<\/p>\n

\u201cSand is the only material to use on the floors of poultry houses. Clean, dry sand prevents any bacteria from starting … Clean, sharp sand is the freest from dust and easy to keep clean, as the droppings lay on top and are easily lifted off.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In modern studies done by Auburn University\u2019s Department of Poultry Science, sand proved to be better than pine shavings with lower bacterial counts, lower fungal populations and lower moisture levels. In the 2005 article titled \u201cBacterial Levels of Pine Shavings and Sand used as Poultry Litter,\u201d Auburn researchers stated that \u201csand, being inorganic, contains few nutrients that could be utilized by bacteria and, thus, would tend to lead to lower bacterial numbers. Additionally, sand may lack binding sites for bacteria.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Benefits Of Sand<\/h2>\n

Here are some of the major reasons sand makes a great coop litter.<\/p>\n