Results from First Year with Deep Litter Method

[Gonda]

This is quite a science! Sounds like you have studied it well, and have learned by trial and error. I gather you're in West Virginia. I did a comparison in temperature and rainfall in winter. I see your temperatures are on average just a bit lower than ours in BC, and your precipitation comes more in the form of snow, while we have a lot of rain. I have never noticed any condensation in the coops. We do get quite cold spells here very occasionally and cold northeast winds. When that happens I have in the past put some plastic/insulation over the door which has cracks in it, in the larger coop (not this small coop I've been talking about). But I haven't done that this year. We've had an awful lot of rain.

In the larger coop, I have been using a manure box under the roosting area, and I don't clean that out very often. I have a wire rack over it, and I scrape the worst of the manure off and throw that outside on the manure/compost pile. Some of the manure does end up in the box with shavings but that pile doesn't get smelly. So now I'm thinking I can try this DLM there as well - not in the whole coop but in that box. I'll remove the wire rack and encourage composting conditions. Those hens in that larger coop tend to do most of their business over that area at night, or outside in the run during the day - not much in the rest of the coop. They're much neater than the hens and rooster in the small coop. So I can contain the DL in that box under the roost.

I'll start the DLM in both coops and see how it goes.

Thanks, Beekissed and Daisy8s! I'll be back if I have more questions, and will try to remember to give an update at some point.

 

[Beekissed]

Would love to know how you go along with it!

My chickens free range all the time, so most of my manure is deposited at night as well and I covet every single dropping! I know...weird...while most are trying to figure out how to get RID of chicken poop, I'm trying to save all I can to mix with the carbonaceous materials in the coop so I can make some rich compost for my garden. Since I don't have enough to my liking, I also bury garden waste, kitchen scraps the chickens won't consume, etc. Anything to enrich the composting process.

Another neat thing about my chicken's droppings is that they tend to compost better than most due to the chicken's eating of and natural plant and insect based diet and fermented feeds, which makes their droppings more fully digested and lacking in bad smells one finds in a fully grain based diet. It also makes them more easily composted, which is a win/win.

 

[Gonda]

You mention kitchen scraps the chickens won't consume. I was wondering about that. There are lists of things that they say you shouldn't feed to chickens, like onion, green potato peels, avocado peel or pits, coffee, tea bags. These are things that go into my composter. What do you do with those? Also non-organic citrus fruit peels, because of the sprays, I don't like to give them to chickens. But come to think of it, they go into my composter, and that goes against my organic gardening principles. Never stopped to think about that.

 

[Beekissed]

You mention kitchen scraps the chickens won't consume. I was wondering about that. There are lists of things that they say you shouldn't feed to chickens, like onion, green potato peels, avocado peel or pits, coffee, tea bags. These are things that go into my composter. What do you do with those? Also non-organic citrus fruit peels, because of the sprays, I don't like to give them to chickens. But come to think of it, they go into my composter, and that goes against my organic gardening principles. Never stopped to think about that.

Tiny amounts...got to think of those things as such tiny amounts that it makes no difference at all. Now, if you were dumping large quantities of fruit that had been sprayed with this or that into your compost or coop, it may just build up or affect things down the road.

My chickens usually won't consume tater peelings, onions, citrus peels, etc. Those just get buried in the litter and are never seen much...occasionally one will work to the surface but I just bury it once again and eventually it's all composted beautifully.

Anything I'd place in my compost goes in the back end of my coop where my compost is working the most, where all the poop is deposited, where all my rain and snow is intentionally funneled into the litter. That's where it all happens. My coop is on a slight slope, so my chickens will work diligently to level out all the bedding, which means they push a lot of the easy to move, dry litter to the front...which I just fork to the back and on top of any kitchen scraps or heavy rain or manure deposits. Then I flip that dry stuff when I flip the manure in a couple of days, never really disturbing the deeper layers but still sending that poop towards the middle of my compost.

It's a lovely rhythm and cycle that eventually yields fine, silty and dry compost in the front of the coop and more dense, moist, humus like compost in the back. It's rather neat and requires so very little effort that I will never go back to traditional coop keeping. It's a value added benefit of keeping chickens.

 

[TalkALittle]

Decided to post some temperature readings I took just for the heck of it today in my coop and deep litter run.

Temperature outside 28F (cloudy and grey)

Temp in coop 28F (dry shavings for bedding, vented at front eaves 6 inches, 18x24 inch window wide open)

Temp in run at waist level 33F (run is wrapped in clear tarps but open 6 inches at top on 3 sides plus human door is not covered)

Temp 4-6 inches down in litter 40F

Plenty of little depressions evident where birds had been lounging in litter. Clearly they were taking advantage of the warmth.

 

[TalkALittle]

 

[Mims]

So frustrated!! I started my deep layering in my run. Had pine shavings, grass hay, and tons of leaves, etc. We had 60 mph winds for 3 days straight, and when I finally assessed the damage, 85% of my DLM material had blown away.
I killed my back raking leaves for the elderly all over town for days. I added roughly 35 black trash bags, compacted as much as possible, full of leaves. For nothing. And then is snowed 8". So between the wind and snow, there's no chance of getting anymore leaves.

Back to the drawing board.

The coop is doing great, though!! No smell whatsoever, even after 5 days of my chickens being coop bound because the snow freaked them out. Checked my wood floors because they're in a temp playhouse until their permanent coop/run is finished. Everything looks great.

 

[lynnehd]

So frustrated!! I started my deep layering in my run. Had pine shavings, grass hay, and tons of leaves, etc. We had 60 mph winds for 3 days straight, and when I finally assessed the damage, 85% of my DLM material had blown away.
I killed my back raking leaves for the elderly all over town for days. I added roughly 35 black trash bags, compacted as much as possible, full of leaves. For nothing. And then is snowed 8". So between the wind and snow, there's no chance of getting anymore leaves.

Back to the drawing board.

The coop is doing great, though!! No smell whatsoever, even after 5 days of my chickens being coop bound because the snow freaked them out. Checked my wood floors because they're in a temp playhouse until their permanent coop/run is finished. Everything looks great.

Oh no!!!! How frustrating.

 

[Beekissed]

Awwww, don't that just burn ya?

How in the world did all those leaves get through your wire? Time to place a guard around the bottom, I'm thinking...even strips of plain old plastic will do in a pinch and until you get something more permanent.

Look around while you drive the countryside and town to see if you can spot a pile of wood chips left by a tree service anywhere....if you find one, I'd stop and ask if you can have some. Those ramial wood chips are just fantastic in the run. If you can find some, I'd place your guards around the bottom and pack in as many as you can....those won't blow away at all and provide much, much better litter than if you used wood shavings or straw pack.

 

[Beekissed]

Dumped 4 large bags of leaves in the coop today...it was time. Gave them a rotted pumpkin as well...they gulped those seeds down like crazy and had the shell about picked clean before I could even get my chores done. What is left, if anything, will be buried under the litter and be eaten by the worms and bugs there. Same with the kitchen scraps they didn't eat and were buried under the new layer of leaves.

By spring that will all be compost, rich and dark, and will be balanced enough to put directly on the garden.