When do you change your coop bedding? How often?

[halo]

My coop is 14 x 8. I use 2 bags of shavings in it, and clean it out about once a month. I probably wouldnt have to that often; I could probably just add more on top, but I like to use the litter around my plants. Keeps the roots cool and moist, which saves me on watering as much, not to mention the fertilizer.

 

[melalthia]

Quote:
Don't want to high jack this thread, but since this ties in with my question, I thought I'd post here.

And forgive me for asking this as I know it's been something that has been explained before.. but I'm still confused about it. My husband and I are in the middle of building our first coop for 10 chickens (5x8 coop) and we are discussing the inside floor.

I am pretty sure we want to do the deep litter method.. but what I'm confused about is how to deal with linoleum floors. I read in another post that there is question about whether or not the shavings composts well on a linoleum floor. Does anyone find this to be true? If it doesn't compost, how often do you clean the wet spots? Are their any issues with ammonia and this set up? (I want to try the coop without using DE at first, because I'm hesitant about throwing it in my compost.)

Thanks in advance.
I'm not sure what we would have done without BYC!!

-m

 

[freemotion]

When I first got my chickens, I wasn't sure if I would like having them so I put heavy plastic down to protect the gravel base and make it easy to clean up when the coop got converted back into a storage area. (I lived next door to a commercial egg place as a kid and thought chickens were kinda nasty! Surprise!) When I quickly fell in love with my humanely-raised chickens, full of personality, I cleaned the coop and removed the plastic. It was NASTY down by the bottom! The moisture gathered and the bedding rotted, rather than composting. My bedding is so nice now on dirt with the gravel base offering great drainage, although it is not really needed, occasionally a scuffle leads to spilled water.

I did put a two-foot strip of vinyl flooring along the lower part of my walls for fear they would get composted with the bedding, though. It was salvaged from a flooring store, happy to give it to me for free, scrap from a job.

 

[Sissy]

I clean out the coop in march and sept.

then once a week I go in and stir it up,
no smell no flies .I use mostly wood shavings but did get some straw and added for the cold months . our wood shavings is 4.95 a bag that expands to 5.5 cubic ft.and use the deep litter method.

 

[melalthia]

Quote:
Thanks for responding freemotion. I appreciate the feedback. This is what I'm worried about. Our coop is in progress as we speak, and it's up on stilts.. so I can't really do the dirt floor. My guess is we'll just have to clean it out more often and compost the shavings ourselves?

 

[freemotion]

You may be ok if you turn it thoroughly, down to the bottom, yourself on a regular basis, getting into every corner....maybe once or twice a week? Then you can monitor how it is doing and adjust your workload. The chickens won't be so thorough, but they will do a lot of the work if you put scratch in everyday. Don't be afraid to experiment! It's fun!

 

[GrannySue]

I started using straw when I got a pair of runner ducks, mainly to give them some bedding in a corner but I sprinkled it around the coop with wood shavings. Up to then I'd only used shavings.
What I discovered was the straw isn't as absorbent as shavings and it began to smell even when mixed up by me and the birds.
Now I just have straw in the ducks' corner and the nest boxes.
This is in an 8x8 coop with good ventilation. 11 chickens and 3 ducks. They're free ranged from morning to dusk but dusk is about 4:30 these days.

 

[blueskylen]

I used the deep litter method on my cornish X, and after processed cleaned out a 8 " layer, that was just a bit damp at the floor level.

on our flock of 12, i use de and straw in the coop, gravel and sand in the run.

i usually rake the run weekly and add more sand, and a bit of stall dry.

in the coop, i clean under the roost posts every other day with a fine pitch fork , and that picks up most of the pooh. then spot check the rest of the coop and on top of the nests. they spend most days out in the covered run, so most of the pooh is right under the roosts. i clean out most of the straw completely once a month.

 

[estpr13]

I have a 4 x 8 coop with a used padded runner on the bottom along with a 3½ x 6 mid level and perches above. I used pine shavings and some DE on occasion. I finally cleaned mine out after about two years.

But first before you drop your jaw... My chickens get out almost daily and the first thing they do when they get out is run and poop. Many as big as an egg. They then stay out most of the day and return to the coop at night.

When the coop started to smell I would put in more shavings and stir things up with a little kids play rake. I climbed into the coop regularly and didn't get much poop on me so I figured it didn't need to be changed. My birds were always healthy.

My understanding of the deep liter method is that it is to help save time and effort in raising chickens. As long as the moister is absorbed and the poop is dry it should be okay.

...Oh... and I on occasion did pick up dried poop and put it into a bag for garden fertilizer. Dried poop...only!

Speaking of chicken poop. I noticed that when feeding only commercial feed, the chicken's poop tends to be runny. But when allowed to free-range, their poop tends to be more solid and dries out faster. I guess it has more fiber. That's why I could pick up the poop.

Straw doesn't absorb, it only insulates. If used, straw must be changed when you smell it.

 

[freemotion]

Two years! Sounds to me like you were doing something very right, considering it never smelled! I am hoping to NEVER change mine, just continue to take a load or two out and keep adding bedding.

I have a large compost pile with two sides....one side is for adding to, including chicken coop cleanings so they can "cool down" and the other side is older compost that gets spread on gardens, lawn and pasture. When the older side is empty, all new stuff gets added to that side and I pitch the top of the newer side over until I reach older compost. The old and new sides then switch for the year. If that makes sense!