I built my first coop this past spring. Like most, I spent a lot of time reading about deep litter, poop boards, cleaning, etc. Here is what I did and it worked out great, my thoughts are that this might help someone make a decision in the future.
My coop is 6'x8' and has a run that is 24'x8' and it houses 9 hens.
The first day I brought my 9 pullets home I threw in on "bag" of the pine shavings from rural king. The one bag once opened up was enough shavings to get several inches over the entire floor. My floor is plywood painted with the rubber roof coating. After about the first three weeks I would rake up some lawn clippings and or dried leaves from my yard and toss a trash bag full in. The hens loved digging through the lawn scraps and this helped stir up the layer of pine shavings. I continued this all summer, some times I would throw a little straw in there but 95% of the time it was grass and or leaves. I would also from time to time throw a handful of scratch in there to get them to stir it up a bit.
I did this from February until this past weekend. By this time the litter was 10-12" deep and the bottom "layer" was broken down very nicely. Some of the more recent stuff I added obviously was still in tact. I tilled my garden under and then spread everything onto it and will let it sit there this winter.
I started with a new fresh layer of pine shavings and a trash bag of leaves. My plan is to do the exact same thing over the winter and then this spring till it into my garden and then it will be ready to plant. ( I am new to gardening and know nothing about composting so maybe this might not be the best idea but the stuff I shoveled out this weekend looked like it would be good for the garden)
It literally cost me less then $10.00 for the two bags of shavings and about 10 minutes time every two weeks to rake a bag of clippings/leaves up.
I knew going into this hobby once the "new" wore off I would not be the type of person to go out an clean poop boards, or clean manure out of sand/litter daily so I wanted a more hands off method.
The only concern I had was about two days in I noticed a really strong smell from the coop. After a couple days it passed. I think it was just taking some time for the things inside the coop to start "working". I am not going to lie and say there is "zero" smell to the coop because there is a slight odor if you go inside. You can't smell anything outside and even the smells inside are not strong at all, obviously you can tell there are chickens in there. I have had more then one person check out my coop and ask "how often do you clean it." Up until now my answer has always been "I never have cleaned it" and most are shocked, thinking that it should stink to high heavens. I don't think there is anyway to house 9 animals and have absolutely zero smells.
As for my run I left it alone until it got down to bare dirt/mud. I then bought a bail of straw for $5.00 and spread it in there. One bale was enough to cover the entire run. After that, the same thing. Once it started to wear back down to dirt I would throw in a couple bags of lawn clippings. I didn't add as much stuff to the run as I did the coop. Just enough to cover the dirt. And I wouldn't re fill it back until it go back to dirt again, so I didn't have a bunch of compost material to clean out of there.
If you are up in the air about what to do in a new coop, I am glad I went this route. If you don't have a garden or need for the "compost" I am sure there is somebody real close by that would use it, maybe even buy it if you have enough. I can't imagine having a system any cheaper or easier to take care of, and it is not a stinking mess and the chickens are happy and healthy.
My coop is 6'x8' and has a run that is 24'x8' and it houses 9 hens.
The first day I brought my 9 pullets home I threw in on "bag" of the pine shavings from rural king. The one bag once opened up was enough shavings to get several inches over the entire floor. My floor is plywood painted with the rubber roof coating. After about the first three weeks I would rake up some lawn clippings and or dried leaves from my yard and toss a trash bag full in. The hens loved digging through the lawn scraps and this helped stir up the layer of pine shavings. I continued this all summer, some times I would throw a little straw in there but 95% of the time it was grass and or leaves. I would also from time to time throw a handful of scratch in there to get them to stir it up a bit.
I did this from February until this past weekend. By this time the litter was 10-12" deep and the bottom "layer" was broken down very nicely. Some of the more recent stuff I added obviously was still in tact. I tilled my garden under and then spread everything onto it and will let it sit there this winter.
I started with a new fresh layer of pine shavings and a trash bag of leaves. My plan is to do the exact same thing over the winter and then this spring till it into my garden and then it will be ready to plant. ( I am new to gardening and know nothing about composting so maybe this might not be the best idea but the stuff I shoveled out this weekend looked like it would be good for the garden)
It literally cost me less then $10.00 for the two bags of shavings and about 10 minutes time every two weeks to rake a bag of clippings/leaves up.
I knew going into this hobby once the "new" wore off I would not be the type of person to go out an clean poop boards, or clean manure out of sand/litter daily so I wanted a more hands off method.
The only concern I had was about two days in I noticed a really strong smell from the coop. After a couple days it passed. I think it was just taking some time for the things inside the coop to start "working". I am not going to lie and say there is "zero" smell to the coop because there is a slight odor if you go inside. You can't smell anything outside and even the smells inside are not strong at all, obviously you can tell there are chickens in there. I have had more then one person check out my coop and ask "how often do you clean it." Up until now my answer has always been "I never have cleaned it" and most are shocked, thinking that it should stink to high heavens. I don't think there is anyway to house 9 animals and have absolutely zero smells.
As for my run I left it alone until it got down to bare dirt/mud. I then bought a bail of straw for $5.00 and spread it in there. One bale was enough to cover the entire run. After that, the same thing. Once it started to wear back down to dirt I would throw in a couple bags of lawn clippings. I didn't add as much stuff to the run as I did the coop. Just enough to cover the dirt. And I wouldn't re fill it back until it go back to dirt again, so I didn't have a bunch of compost material to clean out of there.
If you are up in the air about what to do in a new coop, I am glad I went this route. If you don't have a garden or need for the "compost" I am sure there is somebody real close by that would use it, maybe even buy it if you have enough. I can't imagine having a system any cheaper or easier to take care of, and it is not a stinking mess and the chickens are happy and healthy.
