5-6 inches bedding?!

[underground chickenman]

I have about 12 inches in my coop. It has built up from 3 or 4 inches about a year ago. I add a couple more inches every 6-8 weeks. I'm still not ready to clean mine out. Still no smells or flies. I love deep litter.

UGCM

 

[patandchickens]

If you go to my "Personal Page" (link under username to the left of this post) and scroll down to the pics of the sussex pen, you can see my general setup.

There is a whole range of options, but what I have is basically a 16" board centered under the roost, about 6-12" below it, that you scrape the poo off of every morning. It takes LITERALLY, and I do indeed really mean LITERALLY, less than 10 seconds. I snowplow it off the droppings board into a bucket, using a very wide drywall-taping thingie (like a giant paint scraper), leave the lidded bucket in the coop, and whenever the bucket gets full I dump it on the compost. Keeps 50% or more of the poo out of the beddding and much of its humidity and ammonia out of the air

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[AtholCoop]

I have any where between 8 to 10 inches of litter at any given time. I can go an easy 6-8 months between cleanings. Keep in mind that in the winter that layer of litter also serves as an insulation barrier for the floor. I'd rather just chuck a whole bale of compressed pine shavings in there instead of storing a partial bale.

 

[CityChook]

Yup. I have 5 inches of litter regardless of weather. It can be 10 inches deep in winter. I only change it out twice a year.

Do a search (blue bar above) and you will have far more info on deep litter than you'd want to read in one sitting. Tons of information on this site.

 

[triggfamily5]

Same thing here in Wyoming. I use the deep litter method completely, and clean in the spring from the winter and in the fall to prep for winter. I do not use the poop board because I want it mixed in with my litter in the winter. The decomposing helps heat the coop. Believe it or not, I have only had it smell twice, and it was in the spring when it was time to clean because it got really wet from the thaw (next coop is off the ground).

 

[Qi Chicken]

Here are our poop boards. They still need to be painted and linoleum put on them.

 

[nanawendy]

I love Deep Litter Method' I turn the litter weekly and add more litter as needed. Probably totally change it when it warms up, as this method helps to keep the coop warm. At this point it's 10 -12 inches deep.

 

[RocketDad]

I have about 6 inches of litter in my coop. Probably started out as 8 inches, but the chooks break the big bits down walking on it. I try to rake it every week, but don't always make it. My coop is about 4x8, and I can put most of a bale of compressed wood chips in it to start with. Then I top-dress and rake it when it gets funky. Raking it when it's cold outside puts more air into it for better insulation value.

I emptied it out when they were spending the snowiest part of the winter indoors all day, and tossed the old stuff in the run to cover the snow/ice to lure them outside. Worked okay, but the run is really deep now with wet-ish litter and mulch from the city "tree dump" shreddings. Unfortunately my one decent compost bin is full, so I'll be emptying the run into some kind of improvised compost bin - like a hoop of hardware cloth or maybe that piece of expanded-metal plaster lath I have left over. . . .

The true "deep litter method" is somewhat wetter than we're using in back yard coops. It works in large coop-barns with very large air volume per square foot (higher ceilings), massive air turn over, and some amount of heat. If your litter can "decompose" it's too wet, and you probably have ammonia issues. The "deep litter method" most people here describe is more dry; the litter absorbs the moisture and helps it evaporate before ammonia can form from the urea (white part of the poo).

I was thinking a few weeks ago that I would need to change my litter soon, but the more I look at it, the more duty-cycle I see left in it, especially if I top it off regularly with fresh litter. I think I changed it last in December. I'll probably change it out in a few weeks.

 

[adeechickluv]

Quote:
That is what I am thinking ... very simple!
Thanks for all who have posted; you all are VERY helpful!

 

[Beekissed]

I love the DLM also and have tried both ways. This year I started it in the fall with pine bedding and added shredded paper in the mix. My litter is anywhere from 8-10 in. deep now and I am reluctant to clean it out as it is doing such a good job....warmer now and still no odor, no flies.

I plan to clean out the oldest and most composted areas with the most manure concentration to use in my gardens but will replace this bedding with new so as to keep a constant supply of this litter for my gardening needs.

My birds stayed toasty warm this winter and NO frosted combs or wattles for the first time...and this was the worst winter we've had for a long time. There was even periods of up to a month when they were confined to the coop and the litter still was perfect for their needs. I threw BOSS into it for them to eat and to encourage their turning the bedding. It worked out great!