Compost in Deep Litter????

[Chad the Chicken Man]

I am using the deep litter method and I havent changed my bedding since about June and have about 12-14" of bedding. I live in Wisconsin and it has started to warm up a little latley, and I have noticed a little smell of compost. So I stired all the bedding up real good. and to my surprise the bedding is starting to compost... there was quit a bit of heat coming from the bedding and the bedding is starting to compact in clumps.... I was just wondering if this is ok??? will there be to much humidity? I always heard the reason for deep litter is because its easier to keep the chicken coop clean, and in the winter it creates a little compost to help heat it, but i didnt really think it would be like this. I just want to make sure that the smell and fumes and humidity wont hurt the birds. even though its warming up here in wisconsin its still going to be getting cold and freezing in the next couple days untill about April.

 

[emys]

Go into the coop and close the door behind you. Wait 5 minutes, take a deep breath, if it is uncomfortable for you, then it is uncomfortable for the chickens, and I would mix in some agricultural lime and or remove some of that layer that smells.

 

[patandchickens]

If the litter is composting and heating up, it does have a pretty significant moisture content (which may well have been frozen or covered by frozen layers, til now).

Whether this is a problem for you depends on the degree of ventilation in your coop.

Since most WI-climate type people tend to have their coops fairly closed-up for the winter even if there is *some* vent opening left, I would say it is likeliest that you may indeed have humidity/frostbite problems if you leave the stuff in there, and would probably be better off removing it all and starting afresh (or anyhow removing the damp and actively-composting parts).

OTOH if you really have quite a large amount of ventilation, comparable to a fresh air type coop, then it may be okay. One partial test is, how warm is it in your coop at night? if it stays warmer than the outdoor air, you definitely do not have this much ventilation -- although it is possible to have the coop track outdoor temps and still not have enough ventilation to get away with damp bedding.

Or, you can just play it by ear and see how the humidity behaves when the temps get freezy again... being ready to swoop in there and do a part or total changeout of the litter if necessary.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[WoodlandWoman]

We've been getting a burst of really warm temperatures in Wisconsin right now, it's supposed to be around 50 degrees today. There are huge piles of snow melting and puddles everywhere. It's foggy this morning, so you know the humidity is high right now. So, it's pretty hard not to have a humid coop, even with dry litter. I think just last week, we had lows well below zero and highs in the single digits. You really have to just manage the coop the best you can on any given week.

Are you smelling ammonia? I would be very concerned about that. When you mention smell and fumes, is that what you mean? Or is it more of an earthy smell? Or a poopy smell? Or a decomposing smell? Even compost piles outside can smell earthy or stinky, depending on how they're being managed. How is it when you stand out in the coop? Is it unpleasant for you? If it is, then you definably need to do something different.

If your litter is way too wet and this deep already, you could clear some or all of it out, then add more shavings. If your litter is only slightly too damp, you could add more dry shavings to what you have. This would slow down the composting, if that is what you need to do. It will absorb excess moisture. It can also prevent excess ammonia off gassing because the litter is out of balance. This is when there is too much poop, which is wet and full of nitrogen, compared to the shavings, which are dry and full of carbon.

More ventilation may be good, depending on how much ventilation you have already. Realize, though that the air outside is really humid right now and has it's own fragrance at the moment. If you're needing to vent ammonia, definitely open the coop up and get a lot of fresh air in there, while you work on the litter. If it's just humid in the coop, you aren't going to get it dried out much with outside air that's already humid right now. Once the weather starts to shift again, then the outside air will be dryer again. Ventilation will help a lot with humidity after that happens.

Sometimes, it's hard to tell over the internet, whether someone's coop litter is only slightly out of balance or way out of balance or just about right. People manage their litters very differently, too. Some manage it to be only slightly damp and a lot of people on this forum manage it to be bone dry.

 

[patandchickens]

Without in any way disagreeing with any of the above (very good) post, I would add that since the o.p. reports the bedding *heating up*, it is obviously pretty damp by anyone's standards, as a fair considerable quotient of dampness is needed in order for that sort of composting to happen.

Pat

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

The smell isent that bad. its the "earthy smell" from it composting. and to be honest, it doesnt seem that wet. My coop is lefted off the ground on blocks so its not drawing up moister from the ground, and my chickens dont like to go outside during the winter so there not bringing in snow or water.... it was just so compacted under the first layer. when i stirred everything up it was in clumps.... and when i would break them open you could feel the heat... kind of weird since i have never composted anything before....

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I'm glad you aren't smelling ammonia, just an earthy smell. If the air in the coop ever seems unpleasant to you, definitely adjust what you're doing right away. Before we got all this warm weather and humidity, did the air in the coop feel humid like walking into a greenhouse? Or not too different from the outside or a house? That's one way to kind of gauge how your humidity is and whether you need more ventilation.

Finished compost from a compost heap is dark and fairly fine. It's usually more fluffy than what you have, because most compost heaps are stirred regularly, to give the aerobic microbes in the heap plenty of air and increase the rate they are breaking things down. Plus it keeps the microbes and their food source more evenly distributed, as they work and multiply. You get compost faster that way. In your coop, you've also had all your chickens walking on it all winter, compressing it. Parts of your litter probably looked a bit more like chunks of compressed particle board, only darker. That may be some of the litter that's 8 months old and microbes have had a lot of time to work on it, starting well before the cold weather hit.

You can run compost heaps hotter or cooler, depending on the ingredient mix, the moisture and how much air (turning) you give it. Each has it's advantages. You can do the same thing in a coop. In your case, using a little more of the shavings, compared to the amount of chicken poop, would slow it down some. I usually run mine cooler and slower than yours, then finish it in a compost pile in the garden. I even run a large cooler pile in my garden, since I'm not in a hurry and have lots of acreage. Even with no effort on my part, it will turn into compost. We always have a huge leaf pile, too, since we're out in the woods. Hot piles are more work turning, but good for eliminating weed seeds and disease.

I think you're getting a rate of composting activity in the coop that most people don't see. I wouldn't run it any hotter than you are. I'm not sure what others that run their litter warmer than I do will have to say. I'm torn between having you be careful not to get it any hotter and being really envious!

Have you been turning it at all this winter? Or mainly just surface dressing it with fresh shavings? I've done it both ways.