Deep liter/composting bedding method

[clairabean]

I ONLY use pine shavings. No leaves or straw or anything that will be wet. I have NEVER had a problem with bugs. A few giant black beetles, maybe. The floor is wood planks set on dirt. When I do a fresh start I use two bales of shavings. (compressed they are about the size of an average bale of hay) That makes a layer about 6 inches of fluffy shavings on the floor. Every few weeks I add about an inch more.

We get a lot of snow and many months of freezing solid. The chickens stay warm and toasty all snuggled in to the litter.

I am uneducated in what the worm thing is, so I can not help you there.

 

[Sophia LeHen]

Can you use hay? Or are there complications?

 

[Angiebubs]

Problem with hay is that it doesn't break down as easily and tends to compact/mat together with dampness. I have also read that hay/straw allows mites to live inside the shaft?

 

[jasmer]

We do deep litter with just about anything. Mostly straw, but also pine shavings, grass clippings, dried leaves, pine needles, you name it, and it works fine. No bug problem, the chickens take care of that, it composts nicely and stays dry (except the uncovered part that gets rained on, and the top several inches dry very quickly).

Pros? Where do I begin. Fluff it once in a while and add some new stuff now and then and there's like no bird smell. The poop and stuff gets scratched and covered, and dries out or composts quick enough. Minimal cleaning required, might want to muck it out once a year and start over and use the compost for your garden, lawn, etc if you want to. I'd say it's probably not necessary to ever remove it, though. Stays warm enough in the winter that we can still fluff it once in a while.

Cons? None, really. It's a lot easier to clean and smells A LOT better than before we started using it. We switched to deep litter when we realized frozen chicken poop is impossible to shovel in the winter. Okay, there is ONE con--the litter you have under the roosts will probably need to be stirred often and mucked out almost as often, at least that was our experience. Also, if you get lazy and don't keep adding new litter once in a while it'll get really mucky and gross and smelly, for obvious reasons.

Hey and straw might be hospitable to mites, but it's nothing some diatomaceous earth won't fix. I'm sure there are other natural bug repellants you can add to the litter that are also chicken safe.

But yeah, deep litter is pretty easy, pretty clean, keeps smell under control, and there's really no reason not to do it.

 

[Sophia LeHen]

Thanks. I cleaned the coop today and I'm off to get some shavings. I found mites on one of my old girls so everyone got a bath, DE and a good clean out of the coop. They are foraging free range at the moment so are happy and in 'work' mode

I also gave them se garlic I just minced so hopefully that will help too

 

[LadyMay]

I've read to leave some of the litter at the bottom, when you're starting a new set of shavings, etc because of the beneficial microbes. I'm starting my coop initially, can I add some store bought compost to get things going or is that a silly idea?

And I was going to start off with chopped straw and add wood shavings - does that sound alright?

Thank you! We just finished our chicken palace last night after weeks of work and I'm so sore this morning but so so so glad to be done!!

 

[Angiebubs]

I read that using DE in deep litter method will kill off some of the beneficial micro organisms needed to make the DLM work?

 

[jasmer]

I would just build a dust bath--dirt and some DE--instead of adding it to the litter. Chickens will like the dust bath, and it'll minimize how much gets into the litter and negatively effects any necessary organisms.

 

[Pooman]

I use it. 12 months ago i started and 12 months ago several cubes of aged wood chips were obtained (were lucky, most councils provide free mulch in the form of vast piles of wood chips). I chucked it all in the coops. Maybe a foot deep on average at the start. Occasionally it needs digging over under the roost but thats all. I keep it deeper under the roost 1-2 feet. The chooks dig the rest over themselves looking for the bugs....

Now bugs, your litter becomes a food source, a free protein source. This is major benefit. Dont do,anything to jeapordise this. And dont worry, you can hang out in there, bugs dont crawl all over you, the chooks eat them. You dont notice.

Also, aged material, cant be fresh, well some can but the majority of it aged. You need carbon, the more carbon the more of a sink for all the nitrogen the chooks are dropping into it. Fresh material will add nitrogen too, so old dry wood chips work well, all carbon . (So quite chunky wood chips with lots of,older broken down bits mixed in)

I feed fermented feed also, when filling their feeder ill pour the excess liquid on the floor, apparently helps get the right bugs growing in there to deal with the manure etc etc. because its deep enough it gets absorbed with no issues.

Apart from that its clean, dry, no smell and very low maintenance. And good for your chooks to boot, why wouldn't you do it.

 

[Angiebubs]

Pooman: Good advice with the FF liquid! I had an issue with Cocci last fall that I am hoping I have gotten rid of. I am trying hard not to use any chemicals I dont absolutely need. So cleaned out the bedding, put down Stall Dri, and fresh bedding. I will soon be hatching chicks and hope and pray I have it under control. Someone suggested getting some good healthy forrest dirt and spreading in (I have mostly cement) to get the good bacteria going again...but I am thinking FF liquid would be another great additive.