Composting in the hen house...

[Kretzy]

Hey everyone,

so I have been contemplating chicken coop designs and trying to figure out the best solution for us. I have been doing research on permaculture with chickens and ran across this idea:

I love the idea, but I have a few questions I would love others to weigh in on:

we live in a rainy climate, and backed up to a large open field that can draw in mice.
Do you think this method would attract mice? get too mucky in a rainy climate? be ok for the chickens?

I would plan on putting down metal mesh on the ground and dig an extra foot down for the cement wall to start to help as a pest barrier, then add some compost onto that to bring it to dirt level then start the composting process as he lines out. I would also make sure that the hen house was around 20x15 for 20 chickens (too big, too small?) I would also put up the chicken area and roost hihg up for them so that there is only free space on the ground.

Here is two problems:

I would like to have a shed part that allows for food/equipment storage that pertains to the hens.
I also want to put a quail coop next to it that has a run just for the quails attached.

The chickens would also have a fenced area outside of the coop for summer.

any suggestions, thoughts, tips, critiques of this system... please share!

 

[Molpet]

well my internet is too slow to watch videos... but I do deep litter which may be similar: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/deep-litter-method.70/... my the cattle panel hoop coops which have a dirt floor. and a hardware cloth apron around to keep the predators out... A concrete floor is detrimental to composting.. it can be done but the dirt has the microorganisms that break down the waste.
the poultry yard has my compost pile in it.. which isn't a pile because the birds only like a pile that they have made... they love looking for bugs and worms in it.. keeps them busy and active.
I am in a flat spot on a hill, so the water runs through in the floods... material does pile up against the fence, but the bird move it away...

my chickens eat mice
your coop would be 300 sq ft so it's a good size... each bird needs 4 to 10 sq ft coop depending on how much they can get out during inclement weather and predator issues or any reason you have to have them locked in for an extended period of time.

 

[Kretzy]

well my internet is too slow to watch videos... but I do deep litter which may be similar: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/deep-litter-method.70/... my the cattle panel hoop coops which have a dirt floor. and a hardware cloth apron around to keep the predators out... A concrete floor is detrimental to composting.. it can be done but the dirt has the microorganisms that break down the waste.
the poultry yard has my compost pile in it.. which isn't a pile because the birds only like a pile that they have made... they love looking for bugs and worms in it.. keeps them busy and active.
I am in a flat spot on a hill, so the water runs through in the floods... material does pile up against the fence, but the bird move it away...

my chickens eat mice
your coop would be 300 sq ft so it's a good size... each bird needs 4 to 10 sq ft coop depending on how much they can get out during inclement weather and predator issues or any reason you have to have them locked in for an extended period of time.

Thanks!
I clarified it in my post, I meant to say the cement wall an extra foot with a metal mesh barrier on the ground for pest control! I have read about the deep little method, but all I have seen people do is to keep adding straw or wood shavings, I want to be able to add all of our compost and not have to buy extra stuff like straw or wood shavings.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you want to avoid is for the bedding to stay wet. It will stink and be unhealthy if it stays wet. I built up my coop floor a bit with dirt so no water can run in. I also used a berm and swale system on the uphill side of my coop to keep heavy rain from washing water in.

For the stuff to compost it needs to be slightly damp. Too wet and the process turns anaerobic, it stinks as I said above. Too dry and the microbes that beak it down can’t live. You can have some fluctuations, there is a range of “damp” that works, but damp is critical for good composting.

It doesn’t have to be touching the ground to introduce the microbes. Just toss in a shovelful of dirt, you have the microbes.

Will this attract mice? They will be attracted to the chicken feed this could give them a place to hide and raise families. In most decent sized coops they can find places to hide anyway. It’s the food that’s the attractant, but providing hiding places helps them, not you.

My chickens will eat mice if I trap them and give them to them. But in the coop they don’t bother trying to catch the mice, the mice are just too quick. If they discover a mouse nest with babies in it they will eat the babies but my chickens do not really help keep the numbers of mice down, that’s up to me.

If you can keep it from getting too wet you can dump anything you’d normally put in your compost pile in there. The chickens will eat what they want and their scratching will keep it turned for you.

 

[Molpet]

I only buy something to add to the deep litter if I run out of leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, shredded paper and such....too much of any one thing tends to clump and not break down.... if there is snow storm or very cold, I add the kitchen waste to the coop.
Straw is not used by some because they feel it is hollow and mites can live in it... Hay tends to mat down and not get stirred up by the birds, more work for me... shavings take forever to decompose. I have some from a spring 2016 clean out that is still hanging around lol

 

[rjohns39]

@aart Has a nice picture of his run which is also his compost pile. I use the deep litter method in my winter housing and get great compost in the spring.

 

[aart]

@aart Has a nice picture of his run which is also his compost pile. I use the deep litter method in my winter housing and get great compost in the spring.

No, my run is not a compost pile.....tho it does basically cold compost the poops and occasionally they get some kitchen scraps. Pics in my 'Runs' gallery album.