sandy floor in coop for chicks

I have a friend raising a bunch of Freedom Rangers. He's converted a lovely old horse stall into a coop and poured a bunch of fine sand of the floor. He will also put pine shavings over the sand but as you know they will scratch enough to get to the sand below the shavings. Is that okay, or are they going to eat it?

They may pick at it but it shouldnt hurt them, by the time they are on food and eating well they will just pick little bits here and there, just make sure he has a good pack of straw down so they get a good start on feed before they find the sand.

^ I agree with Hidden. I started giving mine fine grit in a dish straight off our driveway at 1 week. I swear they think the dirt is a treat now.

Sand may be fine to start chicks on, but I hope he isn't planning on using that to keep chickens full time. I think anything that can, over time, become saturated with ammonia and other wet wastes is going to be very hard to keep clean. But if the chicks are in there for a while and it has time to dry (or be removed and replaced) between batches of chicks, it shouldn't be a problem.

In Australia I used to brood all my chicks on sand. Easy to clean, stays dry and I found it did not get as stinky. They were not brooded inside though. I think it improves their ability to process grains earlier too. I read about it somewhere, but can`t remember where.

Gee Coopslave, we contradict each other! You say you brood outdoors and the sand stayed dry. Of course I'm picturing brooding indoors and the sand getting wet. It never occured to me to brood outdoors, in which case sand would probably work fine.

Yes, sand is essentially really fine grit and will do the job that coarser grit does for mature birds. As long as they get chick scratch, very crushed grains, as opposed to hen scratch, the whole grain. The more whole the grain the more aggressive the grit required.

I have a variety of areas that my chickens have access to. One is an 8ftX9ft outdoor coop that is completely covered. The `walls`are stucco wire, one of which is covered half way with plastic vapor barrier at all times. The floor is about a 6in layer of fine sand. All the birds love to dust bath in it, especially when the sun warms up the sand! In the winter when it rains more and it doesn`t get a chance to dry out between rainfalls it does tend to get that ammonia smell. I use stall dry and lime on it and try to get it from getting clumpy by raking the sand around often. I also cover the other 3 sides at least half way up with more plastic vapor barrier to keep the rain out in the winter. In the spring I always add fresh sand to it. If I find a picture of it I will add it to this post.

XOX Monika

Uno, in Australia I would brood in big, black tubs, kinda like the big water tubs, and they would be outside in a covered area. I fought the heat more than the cold. I found I liked the sand better in there. Sometimes I would top it with clean shavings as the little ones got older just to help with the moisture and smell, but I would try to get them out of those tubs as soon as they were feathered enough. I would just tip it all onto the garden and start fresh with each new batch.
I don`t know if it would work with and inside brooder or not. I certainly wouldn`t do it if I brooded in the house, but if I had a brooder shed I think I would go back to it.
Different things work for different people.

Thanks everybody. Reading all your posts as I have time. My friend's coop floor is packed dirt, sand and pine shavings. I think I've convinced him to always do the pine shavings over the sand. These are meat birds so it will come to an end after 3 months. Great info everyone is providing though. Great to know all options and their results.

Thanks again.