Cinnamon Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 A quick question. My new hen pen is built where our above ground pool used to be,so there is a layer of very compacted orange sand under the topsoil. Knowing hens & knowing that anything in the ground,however compacted it is won't stay that way long,will it do them any harm? I envisage it making the soil nice & dry & sandy over time,but want to check that it can't harm them (not that there is much hope of digging it up,& the pen is finished now ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatsCube Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 It depends if their is any possibility of their being concrete in it, as thats an irritant and would prob cause harm. If your sure their isnt then I dont see it would be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 No, there isn't any concrete in it. It was just a soft base for the above ground pool,to stop any sharp flints from puncturing it. It will be impossible to dig out, & is about 2-3 inches deep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatsCube Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Where my mum lives is really sandy soil. When she brings her dog round each day for me to dog sit she leaves little piles of sand around the place. So I dont think really this would be any different from the sand under your soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 If it is builders sand it might be a bit chemically as it is different from play sand or naturally occurring sand. How far under the topsoil is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 It is builders sand,but it has been down for about 8 years,if not longer. Its under about 2-3 inches of nasty,wet clodded soil at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemcg Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 I'm sure it'll be fine - when you consider other things in the garden they might come across without you knowing. When I gave mine sand as a dustbath they ate it all and did sand poos for days afterwards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 If it's been down for any length of time, i would imagine that the rain would have washed anything nasty out of it. We inherited an ancient bag of builders sand when we moved into our previous house, and it lay in the garden, like a special feature the whole 9 years we lived there, and the girlies took great pleasure it ripping it open, and using it for a dustbath, as it was under a hedge. And yes, we left it there when we moved out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 We inherited an ancient bag of builders sand when we moved into our previous house, and it lay in the garden, like a special feature the whole 9 years we lived there, and the girlies took great pleasure it ripping it open, and using it for a dustbath, as it was under a hedge. And yes, we left it there when we moved out.... you know what I love about this forum? It makes me feel so much better to know there are other people like me out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 We had play sand in the run for a while, the girls loved it. All the eggs had sandy shells and the poos were little lumps of sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 The site I used for my run had originally had the shed on it and there was a thick layer of builders sand underneath the flags, my chickens have been in the run for 2 years now and like you say they have dug it over, they dust bathe in it with no ill effects............Infact it has kept the soil nice and dry and in the wet weather the hens prefer to be in the run having lovely baths in a mixture of builders sand and dry soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
