deep liter method

[chickdalelight]

I have been reading about this and am a bit confused. Being a newbie I understood that the only times the ladies were in the coop was at night or during rain. I live in AZ and in town so my ladies will not be able to free range so, they will be confined to the run. My question being can I deep litter the run and will I run into any problems?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Deep litter in a run in my opinion is the only way to keep it fresh and clean, I use grass clippings, leaves in the fall mulch my husband like to remove from places and replace. I don't throw big things in there without chopping. Just the way I do it, the ground is soft and fluffy, my bantam chickens dig and turn it, no more hard smelly run.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree. People who use sand seem to be scooping stuff daily; way too much time spent, IMO. Drainage is important; when it does rain, you don't want a lake there! I use bagged shavings deep in the coop, and some in the run, along with some hay from the nest boxes. Anything non-toxic that they can dig around in works. If they can't ever be out, a dust bath area matters; sand and dirt preferred. mary

 

[TalkALittle]

I live in MA so a very different climate than you, but feel I can speak rather confidently on this subject. If your birds will be confined to their run 24/7 you are better off doing deep litter. I started with sand and as someone else stated, I was scooping daily. As diligently as I scooped, i couldn't get all the bits out and when it became wet I could notice an slight odor. When it became saturated I had a horrible stink. In your climate you might not get those conditions.

I switched to deep litter and I have no more odor issues. I also don't scoop the run at all. Really though, my biggest argument for deep litter is that it provides a huge source of mental and physical enrichment for my birds. They spend far more time scratching through the litter than they did the bare ground or sand. Chickens are meant to forage and the litter gives them something to forage through. For a period of about 3 weeks I had a deep litter area side by side with a sand area in my run. The birds spent virtually no time in the sand area, preferring instead to scratch around in the deep litter side. Given that there are days they will have to spend all the time in the run I figure the deep litter makes it more enjoyable and enriching for them.

 

[chickdalelight]

thanks! sounds like the way to go.

 

[chickdalelight]

I have been reading about sweet PDZ and DE? My question is in my small 4x4 coop I am thinking of using sweet PDZ ON THE FLOOR and on a poop board. Should I also use DE?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I use neither of those two things, I like plain old white barn lime.

 

[capecodpeeps]

I also have a 4x4 coop...i use pdz and top with shavings...every couple days i stir it around and put a thin layer of shavings about 1x a week. I have had them in the coop for nearly 2 months and NO smell!! I was hesitant on trying the DLM but now i am sold and loving it!! Good Luck!!

 

[TalkALittle]

I have deep litter in the run only. In the coop I use pine shavings on the floor and a mix of sand and PDZ on a poop tray. My reason for doing this is because I have a small coop for the number of birds I have. If i tried to do deep litter in the coop, the poop would build up faster than it could compost. My solution lets me remove nighttime poops (a big source of ammonia and moisture). These are collected in a covered bucket and dumped straight into a compost pile. Any stray poop on the floor just gets flipped into the shavings where it dries up. Every season I toss the used shavings into the run as part of the deep litter and replace them with fresh ones.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

I have deep litter in the run only. In the coop I use pine shavings on the floor and a mix of sand and PDZ on a poop tray. My reason for doing this is because I have a small coop for the number of birds I have. If i tried to do deep litter in the coop, the poop would build up faster than it could compost. My solution lets me remove nighttime poops (a big source of ammonia and moisture). These are collected in a covered bucket and dumped straight into a compost pile. Any stray poop on the floor just gets flipped into the shavings where it dries up. Every season I toss the used shavings into the run as part of the deep litter and replace them with fresh ones.

My coop isn't small but I have a poopboard with PDZ, pine shavings on the floor and follow this cleaning routine. Works great.

I live in wetter climate than AZ but the run is covered so it stays dry. It's filled with grass clippings, straw, leaves & old pine shavings. No odor, no mess, no flies.