Deep litter method

[kekstrom]

Bekissed.... what breed of chickens do you have at the moment, I just watched your video, but its about a year old.... Just curious.

But in relation to DL... I am just not constructing our run to attach to my coop. And when my babies are old enough to be moved outside, I was hoping to use DL in the run, and just scrape out the coop bedding and dump it into the run. Am I correct in assuming this will work? And for starters, what are the thoughts on bedding to use for the coop house? I have wood pellets (pure & natural wood) for the brooder now, they break down into this lovely crumbly wood consistency. But after those are used up, what is recommended for bedding for the coop (that then would be ideal to place in the DL)??

 

[Beekissed]

Bekissed.... what breed of chickens do you have at the moment, I just watched your video, but its about a year old.... Just curious.

But in relation to DL... I am just not constructing our run to attach to my coop. And when my babies are old enough to be moved outside, I was hoping to use DL in the run, and just scrape out the coop bedding and dump it into the run. Am I correct in assuming this will work? And for starters, what are the thoughts on bedding to use for the coop house? I have wood pellets (pure & natural wood) for the brooder now, they break down into this lovely crumbly wood consistency. But after those are used up, what is recommended for bedding for the coop (that then would be ideal to place in the DL)??

I have mostly WRs, a BA and a mixed hen. Yeah, you can throw old coop bedding into the run and it should do fine. When shooting for really good, composting DL, though, I'd go with variety of materials and particle sizes for a good result. Not too much of any one thing unless it's something that would break down well, but I'd still mix in other things if you want air spaces and good moisture deposited to the lower layers where the decomposition occurs. Just build it deep in the run if you want good results.

I use leaves, wood chips, a little straw and hay, garden clean out, kitchen scraps, weeds, twigs, yard wastes, etc. in my coop. I haven't used pine shavings for a long while now and my results have been much, much better without the pine shavings. I used sawdust as the base of the extra hoop I added and it did well for holding moisture there but it took a long, long time to compost and only then because I had added all kinds of materials on top of it and because it's under the roosts where most of the moisture is deposited.

 

[microchick]

I just did my first clean out of our run. Last fall I noticed that I wasn't getting composting as rapidly as I would like in the coop. The majority of the bedding, mixed grass hay and pine chips, was being too well turned by the chickens allowing it to dry. After one particularly soggy week in a long line of soggy weeks last summer, I took a drastic step and cleaned out the coop, spreading all the interior bedding on the dirt floor of the run hoping it would give the birds something dry to walk on. The chickens enjoyed themselves tremendously. What was old hat in the coop was all new territory in the run and they spent the summer and winter merrily scratching about for lost tidbits. I spread the used bedding from the coop throughout the winter in the run. They moved that bedding from one side of the run to the other and back again, in some places they managed to dig down into the original soil which never froze under the thick layer of bedding. The top layer acted as padding, protecting the chicken's feet from direct contact with the cold ground. This spring when we scraped the run with the tractor bucket it was to discover that at least half of the 8 inches of bedding on the ground was composted beautifully and in some areas still steaming and producing heat.

I really think that in our case, moving the bedding from the coop to the run and letting it get a chance to compost was the best thing we could have done. I'm currently spreading a thin layer of the composted material on my garden and spading it in where it will have a few more weeks to become one with the soil before I try planting.I'll probably do the same thing this next winter. Our soil has a high clay content so we are hoping that it will improve the general condition of the soil.

 

[kekstrom]

I have mostly WRs, a BA and a mixed hen. Yeah, you can throw old coop bedding into the run and it should do fine. When shooting for really good, composting DL, though, I'd go with variety of materials and particle sizes for a good result. Not too much of any one thing unless it's something that would break down well, but I'd still mix in other things if you want air spaces and good moisture deposited to the lower layers where the decomposition occurs. Just build it deep in the run if you want good results.

I use leaves, wood chips, a little straw and hay, garden clean out, kitchen scraps, weeds, twigs, yard wastes, etc. in my coop. I haven't used pine shavings for a long while now and my results have been much, much better without the pine shavings. I used sawdust as the base of the extra hoop I added and it did well for holding moisture there but it took a long, long time to compost and only then because I had added all kinds of materials on top of it and because it's under the roosts where most of the moisture is deposited.

Sounds like my wood chips breaking down might take a while... but if I am just doing that for a little, then overall it should work out! Thanks so much. I am really excited to be able to use what is available. Hay and grass during the summer, wood chips and bark and tree trimming scraps, and then in the fall the needles and leaves.

 

[Beekissed]

Microchick, my soil is like that too....you might find a particular garden method of benefit to you: http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/

I am currently trying it and it's like a deep litter garden....no need to till it into the soil as it's just creating a new, better topsoil on top of the clay. If you are like me, you've been working amendments into your clay for years without getting better soil. I've tried green manure, cover crops, mulch, composted manure, char, you name it....the clay just ate it all and kept on being clay.

I've had the wood chips on the garden since last May~supposed to put it on in the fall previous to the garden season, but I didn't hear about the method until mid-winter and didn't get fencing built and chips until May. From May to Fall, not much going on...but in the fall I started noticing positive changes. This spring I have a full mega ton of big, fat worms in my garden and under the chips and leaves~I added leaves this fall~is the start of a very black, rich topsoil. The clay underneath is loose and crumbly from the worms pulling material into the top layer and I can sink a finger straight down into that soil....that's nigh impossible in my soil here, so that's impressive. I can finally plant certain root crops I never could do successfully and even some onions.

I'll never have to till again, no working things into the soil....just lay it on top and let it decompose. Very few weeds can take hold and those are easily pulled or raked out, even the tough joint grasses come up like a knife out of butter. Moisture is retained~or dispersed into~the wood chip layer, making for even watering of the garden no matter the weather.

I'm very excited to garden this year...I don't know when is the last time I've been this excited about a gardening year. It's like the best of deep litter, but in the garden, so now I have a deep litter coop and a deep litter garden. Both will just get better and better as I add more materials and both are saving me a ton of work, are creating a better health for the creatures living there and are recycling something that would otherwise be wasted, while providing me more and better food.

 

[kekstrom]

I just did my first clean out of our run. Last fall I noticed that I wasn't getting composting as rapidly as I would like in the coop. The majority of the bedding, mixed grass hay and pine chips, was being too well turned by the chickens allowing it to dry. After one particularly soggy week in a long line of soggy weeks last summer, I took a drastic step and cleaned out the coop, spreading all the interior bedding on the dirt floor of the run hoping it would give the birds something dry to walk on. The chickens enjoyed themselves tremendously. What was old hat in the coop was all new territory in the run and they spent the summer and winter merrily scratching about for lost tidbits. I spread the used bedding from the coop throughout the winter in the run. They moved that bedding from one side of the run to the other and back again, in some places they managed to dig down into the original soil which never froze under the thick layer of bedding. The top layer acted as padding, protecting the chicken's feet from direct contact with the cold ground. This spring when we scraped the run with the tractor bucket it was to discover that at least half of the 8 inches of bedding on the ground was composted beautifully and in some areas still steaming and producing heat.

I really think that in our case, moving the bedding from the coop to the run and letting it get a chance to compost was the best thing we could have done. I'm currently spreading a thin layer of the composted material on my garden and spading it in where it will have a few more weeks to become one with the soil before I try planting.I'll probably do the same thing this next winter. Our soil has a high clay content so we are hoping that it will improve the general condition of the soil.

^^^^^ This! x100! This is what I am hoping to achieve!

 

[microchick]

Kekstrom, it does work, at least it did for us, especially with the extra wet spring and summer we had last year. When we scraped the run floor to the soil level, it was late and we left the pile of debris till the next day when my husband went out to load it in the tractor bucket. When he broke into the main pile, it was smoking....literally. I really believe that the composting kept that run warmer for our flock all winter.

My father was in the Army prior to WWII and served in the US Calvary as a unit vet and horseman. Yep, the real horse calvary. When I got my first horse I remember him telling me that he didn't want me to over clean the stalls over the winter months. The build up of decomposing bedding, feces and urine would help the horses keep warm over the cold winter. Man I hated that job every spring, moving 4 months worth of bedding was no treat but I remember to this day the same thing. When I got the pitchfork down in that deep litter bedding, there was heat coming up from it. He was right. The Deep Litter was generating heat as it composted.

Next winter, just for the grins, I think I would like to figure out a way to measure the heat in the chicken bedding. Has any one done any temperature readings?

 

[Beekissed]

Not in the bedding itself, but I have a thermometer hanging at roost height where it's the most significant to me and it usually measures 10 degrees warmer than the outside temps at roost height during the coldest parts of winter.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Microchick, my soil is like that too....you might find a particular garden method of benefit to you: http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/

I am currently trying it and it's like a deep litter garden....no need to till it into the soil as it's just creating a new, better topsoil on top of the clay. If you are like me, you've been working amendments into your clay for years without getting better soil. I've tried green manure, cover crops, mulch, composted manure, char, you name it....the clay just ate it all and kept on being clay.

I've had the wood chips on the garden since last May~supposed to put it on in the fall previous to the garden season, but I didn't hear about the method until mid-winter and didn't get fencing built and chips until May. From May to Fall, not much going on...but in the fall I started noticing positive changes. This spring I have a full mega ton of big, fat worms in my garden and under the chips and leaves~I added leaves this fall~is the start of a very black, rich topsoil. The clay underneath is loose and crumbly from the worms pulling material into the top layer and I can sink a finger straight down into that soil....that's nigh impossible in my soil here, so that's impressive. I can finally plant certain root crops I never could do successfully and even some onions.

I'll never have to till again, no working things into the soil....just lay it on top and let it decompose. Very few weeds can take hold and those are easily pulled or raked out, even the tough joint grasses come up like a knife out of butter. Moisture is retained~or dispersed into~the wood chip layer, making for even watering of the garden no matter the weather.

I'm very excited to garden this year...I don't know when is the last time I've been this excited about a gardening year. It's like the best of deep litter, but in the garden, so now I have a deep litter coop and a deep litter garden. Both will just get better and better as I add more materials and both are saving me a ton of work, are creating a better health for the creatures living there and are recycling something that would otherwise be wasted, while providing me more and better food.

This is my plan also. Soon all the bedding will be in the run. I have a cement floor in my coop so nothings composted. It's a winters worth of dry grass clippings from the summer before. They've had their own personal grass floor all winter. Now it's going into the run and will be used to put my garden to bed this fall, with a layer of leaves too.

 

[microchick]

Beekissed, you are describing our soil here precisely. The soil quality where my orchard and garden are is much higher than the general soil in the yard and around the house simply because once upon a time there was a corral there. The first 4-5 inches is nice topsoil thanks to the leavings the previous owner's sheep and livestock. Where I have my garden, at the edge of the highly composted manure bed, the top soil is only about 2-3 inches below the surface. That is the area that I am working on. I am currently spading the garden there and noticing the clay is as you described it in your area, hard and brittle. My garden area is usually 20X40 feet. This year I am only planting 1/4th of that area-giving myself a break this year so I am going to spread the bedding material that I clean from the coop over the unused section of garden this spring and just leave it alone until next year, adding leaves, grass and whatever I can find on top of it and waiting to see what happens next year.