Chicken coop directly over compost bin?

[GreenThumb19]

Well don't a ton of coops have wire flooring with board underneath? I thought that was common? Im just nervous deep litter method is going to be stannnky

 

[jasmer]

I have heard deep litter is a great way to control odor. I haven't tried it myself, but I've been reading a lot on it and one of the most commonly mentioned upsides is that it keeps odor under control. You have to have at least 4-6 inches of it to work though.

 

[GreenThumb19]

Then how do you "start" it? Does it need to be directly on the ground? like the floor of the coop is oN the ground?

 

[jasmer]

I think there is a tbread somewhere on byc about deep litter. The floor is tje ground and you throw down hay, straw, lawn clippings, dry leaves, and whatever else, at least 4-6 inches and just add to it when you weed the garden, mow the lawn, or rake leaves. The chickens should keep it scratched up and it should atteact earthworms and other things they like to eat. Definitely check it out, thoufh, it might be just what you are looking for.

 

[jasmer]

And you can shovel it all out for your gardens and start over each year too. Also sorry about typos, im doing this from my pbone in the truck and the hubs is hitting every pothole he sees.

 

[missnu01]

We use what I guess is the deep litter method and we just put 8-10 inches of straw over the whole floor of the coop...our coop is the second story of a 2 story garage building thing, so it has a wood floor that we covered in black plastic and then I covered the whole floor with a thick layer of straw. Not too much of a smell. Although it smells better when the hay is fresh, but every 3-4 months you rake out the dirty straw and put in new...No issues so far. And it really doesn't get all that gross...you just have to shuffle the hay around and all the dried up poo falls to the bottom somehow...like little fert granules. I assume that the dry straw sucks the moisture out of the poo and it then sifts to the bottom. I also think that because it dries out the poo that is what gets rid of the smell. You really have to turn the hay though...if not you will get pick gross chunky spots.

 

[jasmer]

Hay is great like that. I made a cat shelter out of a rubbermaid tub and foam insulation then put a bed of straw in tjere. It stays warm and dry but when i clean it out there is always moisture on the bottom. I think its co.densation but it gers absorbed into the bottom and the top is dry and smells nice.

Its my understanding a true deep litter system needs cleaned out once a year and doesnt smell but by that time its all compost sith whatever fresh stuff yoh add every weel or so on top doing exactly what hay and such do best, keeping it dry and odor free.

 

[missnu01]

I guess with true deep litter you are just supposed to add more straw, which would get rid of any smell, but I was thinking if everytime I needed to put new straw I just replaced the old that it would be cleaner, but I guess that wouldn't be the deep litter method either...I am not sure what we will do. I'm thinking that we will keep removing and composting the hay each time we would need to add more. Nothing like new fresh bedding.

 

[jasmer]

Whatever works, right? I haven't tried deep litter yet, so I have no idea how messy it can get or if the odor control is all hype. I just thought it was worth mentioning because it might be something that works well for this particular situation.

I have read about people who do deep litter for their rabbits and change it out every 3-4 months, and I've heard some people do this with chickens as well. If you don't change it out you do have to keep adding to it though, so adding to the top of it or just pulling it out and starting over probably even out in the end.

 

[LavendarFeather]

I love this thread, and love BYC! I am looking to build a grow out pen for chicks from about 3-4 weeks old until I can sell them as started pullets (10 weeks plus). At that life stage they are extremely productive, poop-wise. So I thought I would use hardware cloth for the bottom of the pen, and have it next to the compost heap so I can just rake the droppings over to the compost site. At the feed store the chicks are outside in similar pens, with hardware cloth on the bottom.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any input on what size HW cloth it should be. 1/2" or 1/4"? If 1/2" is okay for their feet, that would be my preference as the droppings should go right through. But if I have to use 1/4", I think I can just use a wire brush to push everything through.

For the person looking for quiet chickens, are you wanting to raise chicks? Because if you're not set on that, you might consider purchasing some hens that have just started laying from someone who knows their birds pretty well. I say this because chickens are individuals--some breeds may tend to be quieter or more talkative, but there are always exceptions. And I think already laying may be better than POL, because laying eggs gets them singing and squawking, so it would be best to get girls who have already tipped their hand as to how they announce their eggs!

Betsy