Deep litter method

[chicken curious]

Diatomaceous earth

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

OK, here's a question - my coops are very "open air" (essentially big boxes covered in HW cloth extending to aprons around the edges). They have DEEP deep litter, which is doing well (it makes up for the coop being on uneven ground). It's been in there about 1.5 years. Do I HAVE to clean it out? My instinct is, absent any problems, no, but thought I'd ask. Eight chickens living in here but ranging outside most of the time - they roost in the open part (they are by the door because they heard me and think I have BOSS for them). I was about to add a bunch more leaves:



- Ant Farm

 

[Kusanar]

OK, here's a question - my coops are very "open air" (essentially big boxes covered in HW cloth extending to aprons around the edges). They have DEEP deep litter, which is doing well (it makes up for the coop being on uneven ground). It's been in there about 1.5 years. Do I HAVE to clean it out? My instinct is, absent any problems, no, but thought I'd ask. Eight chickens living in here but ranging outside most of the time - they roost in the open part (they are by the door because they heard me and think I have BOSS for them). I was about to add a bunch more leaves:



- Ant Farm

I wouldn't clean it out unless you want to. If you want any of that good stuff for a garden or whatever, then rake the top layer away and take some from the bottom layers and put the top back down. But, it doesn't look that deep to me, doesn't look to me like there is a big pillar of deep litter that the chickens are running around on, so I think you're fine with what you have.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hi All.

Just wanting to update on my soggy DL. I took notes on all your suggestions and headed off to various feed stores in my area. Ended up getting a few different products. I know someone mentioned that they don't like to buy litter for their coop/run but I just don't have a reliable source of clippings or leaves at my disposal and I'm a bit picky about smell and maintenance of the ick.

I bought some stall bedding that was compressed corn (cob?) pellets, some fine pine shavings (also to be used for brooder in a few weeks) and some chopped Timothy grass. All together spent less than $20 so reasonable in my book.

I went ahead and dug down a bit into the soggy stinky stuff. Threw in handfuls of the stall bedding then mixed it all up. Repeated the step 2 more times for the deeper layer. Then added the fine pine shavings. Repeated the apply-mix procedure. Lastly, I tossed a layer of the fine pine then topped with @ 4-6 inches of the chopped Timothy grass. Mixed lightly.

It's been great. Even managed a bit of rain without much fuss. The ladies are very happy also to have so much to scratch around in. I've taken to giving it a quick rake a couple times a week to keep it from getting too compacted and to turn their waste. All of the the suggestion here were invaluable. Thank you all!

(Sorry I don't have an updated pic)

@Jennrz
Great! Now, when you clean the litter out of the coop itself, just put it right out into the run (especially if you're using pine shavings in there). That will continue to add carbon to the run for balance. And you'll be amazed at how healthy your deep litter in there will be.

In our run situation we were able to take some out for gardens (and my 2 daughter's gardens) in subsequent years and it's the most healthy, worm-filled soil under there you'll ever see. And it seriously smells like great soil...not a trace of slime or stink.

And i would go out on occasion with a shovel and turn over a few shovels full and the girls would go nuts scratching through and eating the worms

 

[mobius]

And of course they will turn it for you if you toss a heap of stuff in there...they will spread it out very neatly! Sometimes I toss a bit of scratch or BOSS in there and they will turn the top few inches, sometimes, they dig WAY down and turn it more! Silly birds do all the work!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Thanks! It's on a slope, and if you saw the back side you'd see how deep it is - the bedding is essentially "leveling" out the floor, so it's approaching 1.5-2 feet deep on the back end. Fortunately, it's thickest on the same side where they roost, since they launch themselves off the very highest roost and have a nice soft landing...

 

[evitachu]

Hi, all! I finally succumbed to deep litter method bcause my dirt run was flooded during the rainy days in about December. I used straws. At first, it worked fine. Now that we are going into dryer season, the top layer is cakey! FYI, our soil where I live is clay-ish. What should I do? I read somewhere that I should take the top (cakey) part off and toss it to the compost pile. Also FYI, underneath the cakey part, the straw is nicely moist. I think the flood, which mix the clay-ish dirt and water, created a mud and became cakey. Please help. This ia my first time deep-littering! I don't want to do it incorrectly.
Thank you!

 

[TalkALittle]

Hi, all! I finally succumbed to deep litter method bcause my dirt run was flooded during the rainy days in about December. I used straws. At first, it worked fine. Now that we are going into dryer season, the top layer is cakey! FYI, our soil where I live is clay-ish. What should I do? I read somewhere that I should take the top (cakey) part off and toss it to the compost pile. Also FYI, underneath the cakey part, the straw is nicely moist. I think the flood, which mix the clay-ish dirt and water, created a mud and became cakey. Please help. This ia my first time deep-littering! I don't want to do it incorrectly.
Thank you!

Where are you located? Advice will vary a bit depending on geographic location and availability of organic materials.

I would add more and varied material to your litter. The straw available to me is oat straw (I think) and I find that it is tough and waxy and doesn't break down well. I chop it before I use it and I use it sparingly. I add dried leaves, pine shavings, cut and dried grass, and garden waste.

If you've already got a lot of straw in there you might want to remove some of it so that you are able to achieve a better balance of materials.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

Hi, all! I finally succumbed to deep litter method bcause my dirt run was flooded during the rainy days in about December. I used straws. At first, it worked fine. Now that we are going into dryer season, the top layer is cakey! FYI, our soil where I live is clay-ish. What should I do? I read somewhere that I should take the top (cakey) part off and toss it to the compost pile. Also FYI, underneath the cakey part, the straw is nicely moist. I think the flood, which mix the clay-ish dirt and water, created a mud and became cakey. Please help. This ia my first time deep-littering! I don't want to do it incorrectly.
Thank you!

With the DLM, you need a varied mixture of materials. We use hay, straw, grass clippings, landscape debris, leaves and pine needles. These are all added through out the year as they become available. Those materials along with the poo and some moisture breaks down to compost. We clean ours out in the spring so all that beautiful 'stuff' can be tilled into the garden.

 

[evitachu]

With the DLM, you need a varied mixture of materials. We use hay, straw, grass clippings, landscape debris, leaves and pine needles. These are all added through out the year as they become available. Those materials along with the poo and some moisture breaks down to compost. We clean ours out in the spring so all that beautiful 'stuff' can be tilled into the garden.

The surface is very hard at the moment, I think because it was very muddy during the rain and then dried. Almost like pottery. But when I break the soil, underneath is like your photo. Should I remove the surface? I just started it in December. Should I clean it now? Or should I wait a little longer?