Deep bedding

[DaisyG2317]

Looking into deep bedding in coop because temperatures are starting to drop. I do not have a poop board under roosts. With deep bedding, do you stir all the poop as with deep litter and just freshen it up? Coop is 6x6.

 

[tripletfeb]

I do deep litter and do not have a poop board. I will stir around the bedding about once a week, chickens do it for me a lot. I add more bedding if it starts getting stinky or if it gets colder out. Only actually clean out the coop about once a year! Love this method!

 

[CluckerFamily]

I also do the deep litter in the winter. No poop board for the coops. I don't stir it around because the chickens do this for me, I do add more bedding and they will scratch it around more. I clean the coop out in the spring and then maybe once a month up until the middle of October when I start winterizing everything.

 

[One Lucky Momma]

We have a sealed plywood floor with about 8” shavings in 6x8 coop for 11 birds. I hold my breath and stir the bedding around each morning with an old tobacco stake (esp under roosts) and have recently supplemented shavings for the first time after 5 months in use. The poop just kind of disappears into the shavings. Ventilation is good (and I believe that is critical) and since birds range all day they are in coop only to sleep and access nest boxes. It’s dry and has no noticeable odor.

Works great, I‘m very happy with it.

 

[K0k0shka]

I have deep bedding in my coop (not deep litter), and no poop boards. I love it! I just recently cleaned it for the first time in 5 months. My layer of pine shavings is very thick. It stays bone dry and doesn't smell. The chickens do most of the stirring. I stir it occasionally, only when I start to see the poop on top (it mostly disappears into the fluff). It hasn't been through a winter yet, but we get ridiculously humid summers here on the coast, and it did fine this past summer (I have copious vents - all the walls are open on top).

 

[DMOTS]

I have the deep liter system using the HEMP product. 6 months so far and no smell at all. This will last over a year before i clean it. It decomposes right away and begins breaking down the smell as soon as it drops. LOL. If you are not using the Hemp product for your deep litter system then you are waisting your money and spend way too much time tending to it. FYI - I have 20 chickens in a 6' x 8' coop and it works great. I have absolutely no smell at all. I am a firm believer in this product.

 

[DaisyG2317]

I should add my floor is plywood covered in linoleum, not dirt or anything so i guess it wouldn't be technically "deep litter". Is that still ok?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Mine is also plywood with hardware cloth underneath the plywood. One sheet of linoleum is my flooring on top of the plywood. Makes for easy cleanup in the spring, the shovel just slides underneath everything.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I should add my floor is plywood covered in linoleum, not dirt or anything so i guess it wouldn't be technically "deep litter". Is that still ok?

It depends on if you have adequate venting to allow all that moist ammonia air to exit the coop.

Basically if you can smell it they are breathing it.

My advice would be to keep an eye on humidity levels inside your coop and outside. Try to keep the humidity inside as close to that of outside as possible.

 

[3KillerBs]

What is the difference in "Deep Bedding" and "Deep Litter". Is it using different product or is it a different process?

The best of my understanding is that Deep Bedding is a dry process where an abundance of dry organic material absorbs the moisture from the poop to create a clean and odor-free environment while Deep Litter is a composting process (usually cold composting, but hot is possible), where there is moisture and, optimally, ground contact to introduce the beneficial microbes and organisms, where the poop and the organic material react, creating compost as an end product.

My in-town setup had Deep Bedding in the coop and Deep Litter in the run and never had an odor problem that a 3-4 inch layer of fresh, dry material couldn't solve.