Best material to start deep litter?

[ssramage]

Setting up a new coop and had a question about the best material(s) to start the deep litter method.

I'm thinking about 4-6 inches of a mixture of pine shavings (already have), straw, leaves from the yard and pine straw.

Will that work?

 

[Kiki]

Leaves...yard clippings...sticks...mulch.

I do not use pine shavings.

See this post...it's a great one:

Here in southern Oregon it has been rainy for the last few weeks on and off. My run is sooooo muddy. I actually slipped once! Anyhow, what is the most practical cost efficient way to fix this problem during these rainy months?

In the spring hubby and I plan on building a fully covered run. At this moment in time the expenses are not feasible. Suggestions!?

When creating a bird habitat, think of where the wild fowl live....in the forest. Recreate that floor and you'll start to see and smell a huge difference in where your chickens live and they will be healthier and more content. Leaves, twigs, bark, small amounts of straw or hay~small, mind you, pine needles and cones, wood chips, etc. As deep as you can build it. No more mud, no more bad smells or flies. The litter pack acts like a big sponge, wicking moisture down, leaving the top springy and dryer. It keeps the soil under the run from becoming too compacted, thus allowing the rains to take the excess nitrogen of the manure down to the worms that will ascend under the litter for that nutrition. Try to avoid too much of any one material unless it would be leaves...that's mostly what you will find decaying on the forest floor. A lot of people want to use wood shavings but they are expensive and all one particle size, not letting air into the pile. Wood chips would be a better option than shavings, if you can get them as they have varying particle size and contain leaf matter.

You create food, activity and healthier footing for your chickens in one, cheap, easy to maintain move. You can then throw lawn clippings, garden refuse, kitchen scraps, weeds, etc. into that litter pack and what the chickens don't eat they will bury and the worms will consume it. They will be living on a living compost pile instead of a slick, muddy, poopy moonscape filled with little pools of putrid water.

And you can do the same thing in your coop:

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I use 4 bags of pine shavings, then add loads of pine needles/hay/other organic matter a week.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My deep litter is primarily aged wood chips and dried leaves.

You mentioned wanting to do this in the coop? Why not the run instead? And is your run covered, uncovered, do you get heavy rains or standing water, etc... I ask because using things like pine shavings won't drain, which is why wood chips are so important, to allow drainage. I do not deep litter the coop as I want it to stay dry as possible in there and it's pretty difficult to get it breaking down without some moisture mixing in.

 

[aart]

Depends on your goal....do you want to 'make' garden soil, or just break down the manure??
If you want to 'make soil', I would not use any wood at all...it takes forever to fully break down and will steal nitrogen from your plants.

 

[flyin-lowe]

I usually start off with a shallow layer (couple inches) of pine shavings from the store. Then from that point on Ill add grass clippings, leaves, straw, etc in small amounts every couple weeks, a few inches at a time. I usually start fresh each spring and then again in the fall/early winter. By the time 5-6 months goes by most everything is broken down. In the fall I shovel everything out and spread it over my garden to sit all winter and let nature take it's course. Then in spring I do the same, I shovel it out, spread it on the garden and then till it all in real good before I start planting.

 

[paneubert]

Like others have said, wood chips/mulch of various sizes and thicknesses is ideal. Allows for some air flow in the litter while also allowing the things in the litter to break down and compost at different rates.

This pile is pretty much an entire evergreen/pine tree that has been chipped. Trunk, branches, leaves, needles. So the size of the material varies from few inch long and thick chunks of solid wood that originally was the trunk, down to shredded pine needles and still wet/green foliage.

This is as close as I got to a closeup shot after I put it down in the run.

This is not going to become super dark and fertile soil anytime soon. But it should keep the poops and smells down. Huge percentage of carbon in this stuff. Which works nicely with the high nitrogen that will be in the chicken poop. When I start mowing the lawn again in the Spring, I will dump my lawn clippings in here as well.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Isn't the OP asking about DL for the coop? I switched to chopped straw with SweetPDZ several years ago from pine shavings & it stays much looser in the winter. I seem to get a lot of condensation from under the floor in the winter.

 

[aart]

The term 'deep litter' is often misunderstood and misapplied.
I've always liked this explanation:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1075545/can-i-do-deep-litter-method-with-this-coop#post_16440037