Deep Litter Method.....

Is what I've been doing since I got the chickens. About 8" of shavings, give or take, and added to as needed. Then I was reading one of the books I bought before finding this site and it mentioned you can't use DLM unless you have a dirt floor. Won't compost. I guess I can see that, but we seem to be doing fine so far. Coop is dry, I turn over the top layer and scoop up some poop, but mostly it just dries up and disappears. Also use DE. Anyone else using DLM without dirt floors, or am I the only idiot?

I'm using the DLM with a wood floor that is covered with lineoleum. I also use food grade DE in the pine shavings to dry up the pooh and I keep the litter stirred every few days. So far, so good!

Sister Idiot!

Dawn

Sister idiot 2 here

I'm using DLM on a concrete floor and am only up to about 5 inches, but I think it's working great so far. I sprinkle with DE, turn things over every few days and add fresh pine shavings once a week or so and it stays dry and odor free. I actually wonder if it's TOO dry sometimes. I'm a newbie to chickens (my girls are 15 weeks this week) and read about the DLM and thought YAY! Never read anywhere that the floor needed to be dirt though. Hmmmm.....

I guess I'm in the idiot clan as well...lol! I have always used the DLM and have for as long as I can remember. I have wood floors with linoleum and DE, just like Dawn. Never had a problem with feet issues or smell or anything, so it works for me.

Hey, what is DLM? I have a dirt floor in the runs, but wood in the nesting house and roosting house. Should I be using something on the dirt floors? I have been just raking it up and around.

Just figured it out, duh, I'm not blond.

In the hen house I use the DLM also DE and Sweet PDZ. We have wood floors with a couple of rubber mats and a metal tray under the perches for easy cleaning.

I use the DLM as well.

My barn was built in 1915 and is all wood construction. Can you believe the floors are tongue-n-groove hardwood? The man who built our house also had a store, was the postmaster and was the train depot stop. The poultry barn was built for his commercial interest in providing chickens and eggs. Each room of the barn will house alot of birds. The rooms are about 25 x 25 with 12 ft sloping ceiling with built in roosts, nesting boxes, feeders, pophole doors, etc. My main flock is housed in one room. The litter is at least a foot thick. I have really built it up over the summer with hay and pine bedding to insulate in the winter. I sprinkle liberally with DE. About once a week I go in with a pitch fork and stir it up and turn it over. You can't even tell they poop in it.

I am very pleased. At this rate I think it will only need a good cleanout once per year.

I don't worry about the wood. It doesn't show much wear and tear at all. The way the barn is built I have to believe the DLM was also used by the builder of the barn.

I do what the other idiots have done. The poo does dry up soon enough, but what I'm starting to notice is a trace of ammonia odor. Anybody else have that?

I've not heard of DLM - will do some research on it, I guess. I can't imagine WHERE the poop goes, though? How could it just disappear? I would think it would difficult for them to move around in pine shavings that deep...I guess they must not "sink" in it. Very interesting.

The chickens manage to pack it down very quickly. They don't wade through they walk on it. So do we. They are very good at compacting it down tightly. Even when they scratch around in it they manage to keep it prety well compacted.

My barn doesn't even smell like chickens. It smells like pine bedding mostly.