POO!

[Beekissed]

Well...that explains it.

 

[ChickenCurt]

Mine would be stinky

if I did as the small flock owners. I do add straw daily and clean out monthly but I am also in the dessert and my flock is never inside full time so my coops are small so that the birds are cozy at night and coops cool easier in the hot summers. I am looking at cold country so some practices will most likely change.

 

[farmgirl02]

Donrae, I was talking about hay and straw. I cannot use deep litter because I'm allergic to it.

 

[bobbi-j]

Donrae, I was talking about hay and straw. I cannot use deep litter because I'm allergic to it.

I use straw as my deep litter. My coops aren't dirty or stinky, either. I just keep piling it on. In the winter I will take off the top layer that's crusted with poop since it's frozen and doesn't really break down. Or, sometimes I'll just throw in more straw...

OP - my "compost bins" are two plastic horse waterers that got holes in them when my tank de-icer melted into the sides.

 

[farmgirl02]

Lol sorry I didnt make myself more clear............

 

[Mrs. K]

People talk about deep litter, but what is it? I mean what do you put down?

I am a rancher, so we have hay, the not very good stuff, or the waste hay is what I use, it has a lot of weed seed, and grass seed in it. So I run it through the chickens. They break it down, clean the seed out of it, and I haul it to the garden for mulch. I do live in dry country, and I have never got a compost pile to cook, so I just use it all as mulch, and that really helps my garden. Chicken manure is a hot manure, and really one should not put fresh manure on the current garden do to germs. Aging manure is a good process. However, as the above poster said, the manure mostly just disappears, if you are not just collecting it from a poop board. Mine is a little poop with a lot of old hay.

I clean my run out about once a month, then flip the bedding in the coop out into the run, add new bedding to the coop. I might be a bit tight on space in my coop, but I have dramatically improved my ventilation.

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

Deep litter, if it's done right is a compost that happens right in the coop or run. Ideally, it needs to be on a bare ground, or if not on bare ground, it needs to be inoculated with a good healthy soil. It also needs to be moist enough to help those organisms break down the poo and litter. I used it in my old coop, the lower level, and it worked wonderfully. It was made of a mixture of grass clippings and leaves, an occasional bale of hay and occasionally some shavings. I had to add more bedding regularly, as the litter and the poo just melted into the ground. There was never any odor. The loft of that coop had a laminate floor, and was not able to be kept moist enough to be a true deep litter. (all shavings) But, I did add to the litter as needed, and stir it up, instead of doing the frequent clean outs that most poultry keepers do. It would be close to 6" deep when I finally cleaned it out. Again, very little odor. It also helps with odor control if your flock is on fermented feed as their poop is not as smelly. I think your compost is not breaking down b/c it is too dry or too high in carbon.

 

[RonP]

I agree with the previous posters, deep litter is in essence composting where the manure is a rich nitrogen source.

Do a bit of searching on composting, you will find all your info there.

 

[Eldergoddess]

I have a steel floor in my coop so deep litter isn't a option for me so I end up cleaning my coop (lest under the roosts) about once or twice a month in the wet months (and since I live in the northwest that is most of the time). What I do is I have a poop door under my roosts cut into the wall with a door on it, I open the door and push everything out into the tractor bucket and use it to help fill in holes, and soak up the ever creeping mud.

I use straw since its the cheapest bedding I have found, I haven't tried hay but considering my allergy to the stuff I think I might pass.

Twice month this is what I do...

-Let the hens out
-Remove water and food
-Open window and poop door
-Go get tractor and pull up to the door
-Push dirty, wet straw and poop out the door (1/3 of the coop's litter)
-Push clean(er) dry straw under the roosts to be used up
-Lay down clean straw in the rest of the coop
-Shut poop door
-Replace water and food
-Take litter in the tractor to where ever I deem to muddy (or to the burn pile in the summer since straw is a great fire starter for burn piles)
-Put tractor away

Keep in mind my girls are free range so they spend as little time as possible locked up, but being that its the Northwest, it rains a lot so depending on the amount of rain that day they may not get out.

 

[Beekissed]

You can still do DL on that kind of floor if you do it properly. I did it on an old oak floor and it did just fine. You may have to clean out the composted litter once a year or maybe even every other year with that kind of floor, but it can be done successfully.