Deep Bedding in a Small Coop -- 9 Weeks of Accumulation

[3KillerBs]

I last changed the bedding in my coop on December 1. At the time I put in about 3" of shavings. Every couple weeks I've added another couple inches of shavings -- with a few forks of pine straw now and then to help keep the shavings from packing and a few flakes of straw a couple weeks ago because I had a bale tie break on one that was *supposed to* have been a wind baffle. At this point it's as deep as it can get before it starts spilling into the nestboxes.

I gave it a good fluffing with the manure fork today and scattered some scratch over it to encourage the ladies to give it a good workover. I think I've got another 2 weeks in it.

I'm used to advocating deep bedding but I'm surprised at how very good the condition is. Yes, the weather has been cool and thus bacterial action is slowed, but it has also been VERY wet for most of this period, raining at least 3 days every week, AND I have 5 chickens in a coop that really ought only to have 4.

I thought people would like to see how well this system can work.

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

Good post!

 

[Mtnboomer]

I have not changed the litter in my coop since the week before Christmas. Its 6x8 elevated (32" off the ground) coop with a row of nesting boxes on each side leaving a main open floor of 4x8. I currently have 7 Brahma hens and a roo free ranging and using this coop.
I have essentially done the same as you have. I have a 2" straw base with added layers of straw as needed. The litter is still in great shape and the surface is nice and dry. My coop is bone dry in the worst weather and well ventilated.

This situation is purely accidental. Because these birds 100% free range, they are only in the coop to sleep. That is how i have been able to be successful with what mathematically works out to be too many birds in the small coop (ive had up to 22 in there but avg about 12). I usually clean the coop once every 2 months in summer (longer days = less time to poop in the coop) and once a month in winter. But the weather has been miserable here for awhile so that's why it has built up. However, seeing as how this has been working really well, i think im going to experiment and see how long i can keep this going. Every time i have cleaned in the past the floor is still dry underneath which is my biggest concern to avoid rot.
Cleaning once every 3 months would save some time and money which both always seem to be in short supply.

 

[3KillerBs]

Cleaning once every 3 months would save some time and money which both always seem to be in short supply.

I like being able to schedule my cleanouts for a day off in good weather rather than having to clean weekly or more whether my work schedule or the weather cooperates.

 

[Mellowmalt]

This reminds me of my old neighbours. I had chickens, they had kids. Wasn't a good combination. Well I should have said I had nice chickens, they had annoying kids as neighbours should not be a constant talking point in ones life which they felt they had to be.
I had a perfect routine worked out, had a lino cover at the bottom, I let the muck pile up for a couple of months, then lift the whole lot out and dump it in the compost, the chickens would have compacted it into one big compost brick. Nice and easy.
Well one day I discovered that not only had the neighbours kid decided to trespass on my property (apart from constantly feeding salami to my chickens when I asked them not to)
and cleaned the coop. Ok, not what I had asked for and certainly an intrusion of my privacy but the cheeky part was that they did it thinking they could boost their pocket money and sent me a bill for the cleaning of the coop!
Our relationship sowered after that and they started regularly calling animal welfare to check on my animals - probably because they were being fed salami!
Glad I don't live next to those tyrants anymore.
Makes me glad I am getting ready for my next neighbours some lovely bantam chickens.

 

[Mtnboomer]

This reminds me of my old neighbours. I had chickens, they had kids. Wasn't a good combination. Well I should have said I had nice chickens, they had annoying kids as neighbours should not be a constant talking point in ones life which they felt they had to be.
I had a perfect routine worked out, had a lino cover at the bottom, I let the muck pile up for a couple of months, then lift the whole lot out and dump it in the compost, the chickens would have compacted it into one big compost brick. Nice and easy.
Well one day I discovered that not only had the neighbours kid decided to trespass on my property (apart from constantly feeding salami to my chickens when I asked them not to)
and cleaned the coop. Ok, not what I had asked for and certainly an intrusion of my privacy but the cheeky part was that they did it thinking they could boost their pocket money and sent me a bill for the cleaning of the coop!
Our relationship sowered after that and they started regularly calling animal welfare to check on my animals - probably because they were being fed salami!
Glad I don't live next to those tyrants anymore.
Makes me glad I am getting ready for my next neighbours some lovely bantam chickens.

This is why i live in the middle of nowhere. But even then i have a neighbor who wanted to be best friends when i do not.
Its a long story with many many incidents of coming over uninvited, pulling a pistol out of his pocket in my house with my wife and kids, telling me a story about being so drunk that he and a friend shot our other neighbors (really nice guy) horse thinking it was a deer then laughing about it as he asks if he can hunt on my property......etc etc.

I am hoping to save up enough money to buy him out and then it will peace and quiet or buy more mand elsewhere and get even farther away.

 

[ChickensForEggs2500]

I last changed the bedding in my coop on December 1. At the time I put in about 3" of shavings. Every couple weeks I've added another couple inches of shavings -- with a few forks of pine straw now and then to help keep the shavings from packing and a few flakes of straw a couple weeks ago because I had a bale tie break on one that was *supposed to* have been a wind baffle. At this point it's as deep as it can get before it starts spilling into the nestboxes.

I gave it a good fluffing with the manure fork today and scattered some scratch over it to encourage the ladies to give it a good workover. I think I've got another 2 weeks in it.

I'm used to advocating deep bedding but I'm surprised at how very good the condition is. Yes, the weather has been cool and thus bacterial action is slowed, but it has also been VERY wet for most of this period, raining at least 3 days every week, AND I have 5 chickens in a coop that really ought only to have 4.


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I thought people would like to see how well this system can work.

Wow that looks spotless! Definitely trying this when I put a floor in my coop.

 

[K0k0shka]

Deep bedding is the best, I love it! I haven't cleaned since September, dumped fresh shavings twice since then, and it looks and smells fine. The cleanup before September was last spring, and the system worked perfectly fine over the summer, too. No smell despite the heat. This is the best method.

 

[ChickensForEggs2500]

I have a question. Does deep bedding work in an open air coop? My coop has about two-thirds of the walls open (hardware cloth).

 

[3KillerBs]

I have a question. Does deep bedding work in an open air coop? My coop has about two-thirds of the walls open (hardware cloth).

That's likely to be closer to a Deep Litter system since there will be moisture to create a composting environment.