Deep litter done right

[moco27]

What do you

This thread should really be titled:
Deep Litter - Done Moco27's Way

Many ways and ingredients to make it work.

What do you use and how well does it work?

 

[venymae]

Our deep litter method in the coop was to use a mix of leaves, shredded paper, straw and pine needles (dry) and sometimes cypress needles. We had ample free supplies of all except the straw. I think we put 6 inches in at first and then dumped more in as it went. Dry IS king. The only thing we did was occasionally did was scoop out the little pile that sometimes accumulated under the roost. But that was very occasionally and it was just one scoop and done! Another thing I think is important is having a large enough coop for your chooks, if you are packing them in like sardines, it's not going to work as well. We changed ours out biannually, but honestly it was mostly for dust control, as everything was still dry and not smelly. We did use pine needles, leaves and cypress mulch in the run, but we also made sure when we first set it up that it would drain well to prevent a muddy run. It worked like a charm. The run composted a lot like a properly done garden compost does. No smell (except that time my spouse dumped in a whole 5 gallon bucket of sour tomatoes and vegetable scraps in, expecting our 5 pullets to eat them all! Yeesh!) and the run made the most wonderful rich dirt that I'd occasionally turn over so the girls could scratch through the shovelful for bugs (lots of worms!), and I also dug out some for the garden. (Also got A+ tomatoes!) Anyway, DRY in the coop is key IMO. And it's called DEEP litter for a reason. MAKE IT DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

 

[Birdinhand]

thanks Moco27 for posting this. I'm fascinated by this whole thing. I do believe that the micro biome does not get enough attention. what I started out thinking I needed to do and how I think about it now are radically different. the very best litter I've found so far came from a pile of wood chips that had been sitting and breaking down for more than a year, to the point where it had significantly decayed, even turned to dirt in places. I've grown out several batches of CX on this and had great success. I've used some of it with my egg layers as well. with the CX, I needed to remove the mats of droppings regularly given the sheer volume of it but with my layer hens, about the only reason I dig out my coop is because the floor gets to high. it all goes into the composter and out comes amazing fertilizer for my fruit trees and garden.

now what I really wish I had was some kind of macerator that i could mix "fodder" in and pre-compost it, to get the "pro-biotics" going, along with all the worms and other bugs the hens will love.

I feel like I have embarked on a path of experimenting that will have me going for a while, trying to find the best balance for what is good for my hens, but also good for my garden and low maintenance. I'm fairly convinced that the type of wood that the chips are made from makes a big difference. in this last batch, I tried to get only hard wood chips, no pine.

 

[Mr Pink]

Leaves are my main ingredient as they are what I have access to ( some grass clippings mixed in ) Coop is a no brainer as I keep it deep and dry and it takes care of itself. It would be nice of I could keep compost PILES in the run but chickens being chickens they level out anything piled in an afternoon.

I'd like to have a consistent supply sawdust

 

[ChickNanny13]

I live in a residential area in Hawaii there are no lumber mills I use pine/wood shavings from Dells/TSC for my DLM. Hard clay dirt flooring which the girls are loosening up for me, gets dusty at times so I give it a light hose down during the summer. I add more shavings when it's not so cushy & toss in grass clipping when I mow the lawn. It does not smell & it's been a 1.5yrs, I do sprinkle DE now and then to prevent mites/lice. I'm agreeing Deep Litter works but we all have to work with what we have and it does take modification in some cases.

@moco27 & @venymae You mention about the poop under the roost, have you considered adding a Poop Board w/PDZ? I read about it & added one under the roost, so much easier & simple poop control.

Also ferment my feed, some don't agree to it but I love the benefits. Nutritional benefits (probiotics), feed lasts longer, no waste and the best part their poop is not stinky, less of it and it's lot firmer so easier cleaning (cecal still icky & stink).

 

[aart]

What do you

What do you use and how well does it work?

I don't do deep litter in the coop,
doesn't suit my climate, situation, or management practices.

ETA: I only have 15-30 birds thru the year, population = poop quantity and a big consideration.

Run has a semi-deep litter...lots of 'browns' big and small to 'eat' the poops.
Started it off with ramial wood chippings that had been aged for 6 months,
adding more of that and various other browns as they become available.
Does what I need it to by keeping odors down and harboring bugs for the birds to harvest.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I started this spring with a brand new coop, dirt floor and a new flock of 7. I had a big pile of wood chips from the tree trimmers and put in about 4-6 inches throughout. I added pine flakes for a while, a few bags total and it just seemed too brown, not enough green VERY DRY so I started adding Timothy hay to give it some green an give the girls something to eat. Then I got lucky and the local grocery store started giving me a weekly box of produce trimmings. I dump the trimmings in the same spot as they come and the girls spread it around. Now I am using shredded paper from my office because it breaks down faster, I may not add any wood chips or flakes for a long while it seems to be balancing out now. I have about 16" of space to work with before it gets to the pop door and human door. The plan is to take out about half next fall when it has been a year and a half and start over. We shall see. One thing is I have not had any odors throughout the different iterations of this DLM experiment.

Gary

 

[venymae]

@moco27 & @venymae You mention about the poop under the roost, have you considered adding a Poop Board w/PDZ? I read about it & added one under the roost, so much easier & simple poop control.

Yes, I've read about them, but it didn't work well with our coop design. (would have blocked the door. But scooping them out was maybe once a month, if that, and really easy since the roost is right across the clean out door.

 

[Kusanar]

Deep litter can also work if it is moist. I don't have birds, but I have a stall that 2 of my horses use as a run in shed (about 10x10 and both horses go in there at night and bad weather, their choice, not locked in), I feed them hay in there and any weeds in the hay or any hay that gets pee or poop on just gets stomped down into the ground along with the manure. It started out as about 4 inches of sawdust, but I have not added any more and the "stuff" is now over a foot deep so most of it is manure and hay that has been breaking down.

It's pretty tightly packed as a horse standing on it is balancing 1,000 pounds on 4 small areas, but, if you loosen it up with a pitch fork it gets crumbly and smells like fresh dug up dirt, not like manure or mold or anything else nasty. The only time it stinks is if there is a lot of fresh and wet manure on the top, then I just toss some of the drier stuff on top and it doesn't smell anymore.

It always stays slightly damp though just from the amount of moisture in the manure and the urine (about 2-5 gallons at a time) that get dumped into the floor. I do need to dig it out and get it cleaned out, it's just getting too tall and the horses will be able to step over the stall door if it gets much taller, but I plan to leave some of it to start the next batch back up.

 

[moco27]

thanks Moco27 for posting this. I'm fascinated by this whole thing. I do believe that the micro biome does not get enough attention. what I started out thinking I needed to do and how I think about it now are radically different. the very best litter I've found so far came from a pile of wood chips that had been sitting and breaking down for more than a year, to the point where it had significantly decayed, even turned to dirt in places. I've grown out several batches of CX on this and had great success. I've used some of it with my egg layers as well. with the CX, I needed to remove the mats of droppings regularly given the sheer volume of it but with my layer hens, about the only reason I dig out my coop is because the floor gets to high. it all goes into the composter and out comes amazing fertilizer for my fruit trees and garden.

now what I really wish I had was some kind of macerator that i could mix "fodder" in and pre-compost it, to get the "pro-biotics" going, along with all the worms and other bugs the hens will love.

I feel like I have embarked on a path of experimenting that will have me going for a while, trying to find the best balance for what is good for my hens, but also good for my garden and low maintenance. I'm fairly convinced that the type of wood that the chips are made from makes a big difference. in this last batch, I tried to get only hard wood chips, no pine.

My sawdust is mostly oak with a little walnut sycamore and very little pine. I think the pine is too acidic.