Elderly cat breathing difficulties when purring

[superjules]

At the Thorne's talk on Sunday, Frank mentioned using horticultural grade sand as a floor surface in the run. Apparently, as long as it is covered from above so that it doesn't get too wet (a bit of rain coming in sideways won't hurt) it can be very effective. To clean it you use a hazel-type (witchy) broom to flick all the shrunken, dried-up chicken poo to one side, gather it up with a dustpan and brush and chuck it on your lawn. The sand will last approx 12-18 months depending on how many chickens you have.

 

Now all this sounds a bit too good to be true so I was wondering if anyone has tried this and whether there's any downside.

[BarbaraJ]

Yes he mentioned it to me, but even with a roof i get quite alot of wet surface so not sure it would work for me.

[Laura & CTB]

I wouldnt use it - the edges of my run still get wet and wet sand takes forever to dry out and is very heavy to remove. I'll stick with the aubiose

[Gallina]

I have very sandy soil and don't use anything in the run, and it stays very clean, so I think adding sand would work well.

[Mrs Frugal]

I used to use sand in my run very successfully. The droppings clump together like they would on cat litter and are so easy to s"Ooops, word censored!"e up. With a roof on the run, it's very low maintenance but we've switched to wood chippings now as they are cheaper and we can give the girls a much deeper layer to dig around in than we could with sand.

[superjules]

Thanks guys. Kate, I assume when you say wood chippings you mean aubiose/hemcore/easibed? Aubiose is about £8.50 a bale and I use a bale every 4-6 weeks - is sand much more expensive than that?

[BarbaraJ]

Wood chippings are chips of wood , i got mine in b&q. I also have aubiose in the covered part of my run.

[Mrs Frugal]

The price difference is only pennies really. We buy wood chippings from the equestrian section of the local animal feed store for about £5 a bale which will do the whole of our run to a good depth. A bag of sand isn't expensive but we'd need to buy about £5-6 worth to fill the base of the run now. It's easier to lug one bale of wood chippings than 5-6 bags of sand

[superjules]

Thanks Kate. It sounds like it's more work to put it down in the first place but less work once it's there.

 

Hmmm, might just tip a bag of sand in with the aubiose now and again and see how that works. I'll have a root around in the shed and see if I can find some handy - I don't fancy lugging sacks of sand back from the shops!

[hilda-and-evadne]

I am interested in this as a possible alternative to Aubiose. I have been very impressed by Aubiose but the carriage charge for Aubiose to be delivered to Greenwich is so very high that, for me, sand would almost certainly be cheaper than Aubiose and look just as nice. (My run is covered and has a base of bricks.)

 

Not "sharp" sand, I guess? What would I ask the local builders' merchants (just around the corner) for, please?