The Great Winter Coop Humidity/Ventilation Experiment! Post Your Results Here!

[Beekissed]

My current coop is too small for DLM. I'm going to have to build a second coop and I really like this concept. What would you suggest to get a good base layer? Also, what organics can I toss on there? I doubt they would survive long, but veggie bits and scraps?

Anything works as a base layer and you can toss any organics on there you wish, though I'd go lightly on the wood shavings or too much of any one material unless it's something that really breaks down easily and can be flipped easily when it's got a poop load on top...leaves are ideal for that. Long strands of things like hay, not so much. If you live in a damp environment, try to incorporate dryer, woodier materials. If you live in an arid climate, try to use materials that have natural moisture like hay, grasses, green leaves, etc.

Wood chips are great, but if they are fresh and still hot from decaying leaf matter, hold off until that pile cools down....WAY down. Then just use them lightly in the layers to bulk up the mix, but you can use them at greater depths in the run than in the coop. They are simply wonderful for a base layer in the run.

You'll get more air into your mass if you use different materials and particle sizes, which will help with decomposition and keeps you from having to turn it as one would do for quicker composting. Incorporating twigs, bark pieces, pine cones and such will also make for air pockets in the mass and help with overall composting, while avoiding the turning of the mass.

 

[MollySunshine]

Beekissed: Thanks for the reminder. I don't know when or why I got so aggressive with the tossing. I will slow it down and revert back to using the pancake toss method.

 

[lazy gardener]

Lazy gardener: the added leaves sufficed, fortunately. If, and I am tending to agree, (definately scratching my head with this concept) that all that is occurring is this "diaper" theory, the carbon matter (leaves) I suspect are now super saturated. At least the leaves that had come in contact with the overnight droppings. After I added the leaves and tossed, the odor dissipated. I use the Dookaishi because it is said to neutralize ammonia, dry and aid in the breakdown process. Plus it's all natural. If I am getting any breakdown at all and this product helps, I'm sticking with it until I prove to myself otherwise. At this point in time, added ventilation wasn't necessary. I hope I'm not being thick headed in my thinking. It's an easy adjustment if I do need to incorporate.

I'm wondering if your Dookaishi is simply zeolite. You might check that out. You may be paying through the nose for a product with a fancy name that can be picked up at the feed store dirt cheap.

 

[ckelley]

My understanding is that when ammonia smell is noted, addition of more dry/high carbon matter, and increasing ventilation should rectify.

If I were to build an other coop, with DL management in mind, and I had a nice dry place to do so, this is what I'd do" I'd level the area, and lay a base of cinder blocks. Then I'd put a skirt around the cinder blocks, digging it straight down a foot below the CB base, or laying it about 4 - 6" below grade and laying it OUT away from CB base at least 18". I'd then build up from the CB base. I have no real construction experience, so can't tell you how sturdy such construction would be. Your other option, based on your climate might be to build a cattle panel coop. I like my CP coop, and the ease of construction, as well as the ease of doing so without having to consider foundations. The one thing I dislike about CP construction is that they usually employ tarps for cover which require replacement due to UV degradation. Take a very close look at the Woods style coop. This is a winner IMO. And I've considered the option of building traditional stick construction for the back end, and using CP for the front end. This would give you the best of both worlds as well as providing excellent ventilation and a means of heating the coop from the heat generated by the DL in the CP front.

If you have a good dry spot, simply use the existing soil as your base. If you are more soil challenged, perhaps you could lay a sand/gravel base, and then start building up from there with leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, garden debris, hay, and basically any compostable material you can get your hands on.

I will have to take some pictures of my coop. I would love to get some ideas from you. Based on what you are saying I might be able to make a 1/2 hoop off of the main coop. I don't know. Lol. If its not dark when I get home I snap some.

 

[MollySunshine]

I'm wondering if your Dookaishi is simply zeolite. You might check that out. You may be paying through the nose for a product with a fancy name that can be picked up at the feed store dirt cheap.

No, it is not zeolite. It is a mixture of all natural products. I want to say that molasses is one of the ingredients. I will check my bag at home and let you know. In appearance, it looks like a grain finely ground.

 

[Molpet]

I'm wondering if your Dookaishi is simply zeolite. You might check that out. You may be paying through the nose for a product with a fancy name that can be picked up at the feed store dirt cheap.

What's In DooKashi

?

• Select Wheat Bran
• OMRI Listed Probiotic
• Blackstrap Molasses
• Purified Water

http://dookashi.com/about-dookashi/

 

[MollySunshine]

What's In DooKashi

?

• Select Wheat Bran
• OMRI Listed Probiotic
• Blackstrap Molasses
• Purified Water

http://dookashi.com/about-dookashi/

It's supposedly designed specifically for DL. Helps with the breakdown process. Since I have the hard floor, I figure I need all the help I can get. It actually has a milled flax seed texture to it. I especially like it because it's non toxic to my chickies.

This morning I was sure to merely toss the droppings this morning. I think I tossed more aggressively because I was thinking along the lines of keeping it aerated. I will slow it down going forward.

Humidity levels in both coops were still good this morning. The girls coop was 45% and the boys still higher at 63%. Higher but still in a good zone. They are not wet. We had a lot of rain last night. Everything is frozen outdoors this morning. So they are all comfy cozy.

 

[Beekissed]

Just an interesting side note to the DL providing warmth in the coop. When I dumped 15 cartloads of green material from the garden into both my coops in October, I realized that was the most green material I'd placed there so late in the season and it contained 25-30 ft. vines that couldn't be flipped if need be, so I capped that green matter with some brown(leaves, straw, etc.) and hoped for the best. Was worrying that it wouldn't compost as well with all those woody vines in there, but I must admit they created great air pockets in the mass. They've sunk downward in the mass by 2 ft. or more, so they are indeed decomposing, but it's taking awhile.

Anyhoo, the spare pen doesn't get the share of manure that the main coop does, but it still got a good bit this year in one way or another that also isn't the norm here...usually that spare pen is rarely used in the fall and just briefly when it is. But, I had various juveniles that wanted to roost there and I let them, got a flock of birds from my sister that I held there until butchering, etc. So, that added some good nitrogen to the spare pen.

Flash forward to dog housing. I build a hay bunker house in the spare pen in the winter for my LGD, who doesn't like the confines of a dog house in cold weather for sleeping but still appreciates warm digs when temps hit below zero. I got curious about any warmth from the DL under his thick layer of hay bed and stuck my hand under there yesterday (note, he only lies in there at night) and was pleased to feel a warmth being generated in the DL under his bed! The spare pen is even more open air than my hoop coop, so it's got great ventilation and I don't worry he'll get chilled at all from the humidity in the DL, but I'm mighty pleased that he has a heated dog bed for the winter. A cool and unplanned side effect of the composting DL.

Ben's hay house bunker



Materials that went into the coop from the garden....15 of these...





The spare pen...it doesn't have as deep of DL as the main pen digester...only about a foot of DL here.



The main coop's roosting section where most of the mass is accumulated and managed.




Sorry...didn't mean to derail the OPs thread topic but felt it germane to the topic to mention that some of us are intentionally creating humidity in our coops for a purpose but are also allowing and adapting ventilation for the added humidity generated and how that all goes down, the whys and hows and how it all looks.

Sorry, Mobius!

 

[lazy gardener]

I love the multi-purpose aspect of DL.

Flash forward to dog housing. I build a hay bunker house in the spare pen in the winter for my LGD, who doesn't like the confines of a dog house in cold weather for sleeping but still appreciates warm digs when temps hit below zero. I got curious about any warmth from the DL under his thick layer of hay bed and stuck my hand under there yesterday (note, he only lies in there at night) and was pleased to feel a warmth being generated in the DL under his bed! The spare pen is even more open air than my hoop coop, so it's got great ventilation and I don't worry he'll get chilled at all from the humidity in the DL, but I'm mighty pleased that he has a heated dog bed for the winter. A cool and unplanned side effect of the composting DL.

Ben's hay house bunker

 

[Beekissed]

Me too! When I started exploring DL back in '08 or '09, I was using all pine shavings and doing it on a wooden floor....had to open up ventilation in a coop that was pretty open anyway according to BYC standards. Found out then about opening up enough at the floor level beneath the roosts to create an updraft of passive air to move out humidity.

Since then I've changed everything about the way I manage it, the materials used, the type of floor I have and it's been a learning process all along. I doubt I'll ever fully learn about the marvels of DL, but I haven't seen a fly in the coop in 4 yrs now, nor have I detected any smells at all...and I have a hyper sensitive schnozz, much to my life long dismay as a nurse and mother of 3 boys.

I also can turn out some composted litter pretty quickly in my little ol' hoop coop and it can be placed directly on the garden, no piling and waiting for it to compost.

So....to get back to the main topic, add composting DL to the humidity and ventilation experiment, 'cause it's a thing that is growing and developing in the backyard chicken world. As more people start to see the benefit of it and learn how to manage it well, I think we'll see more and more people using it. Much like the fermented feed...it has grown like wildfire in the past 4 yrs and has spread further than I ever imagined.