Deep litter done right

[nminusyplusm]

That sounds great Lazy Gardener and I'm definitely considering a change to DL but my concern is whether or not the sawdust adds to the dust problem. I am astonished at how much dust those critters create on their own. The last thing I want is a litter that adds to the problem. With a wood floor no less! The addition of fresh grass clippings with their moisture might help with the problem.

TBH, I'm not sure how well DL works on a wooden floor. I use it in my coop and run, but for it to really compost I think it needs a dirt floor. I have a foot deep layer of pine shavings in the coop which works great at keeping things nice and dry. I push it into the run as it gets soiled where it can fully break down.

 

[lazy gardener]

While I am convinced that DL works much better with a soil floor, I have been able to get it going well enough in my coop with vinyl over plywood. My big concern was that it would be moist enough that it would encourage rot. However, I have not found this to be the case. I did paint the walls of my coop: 2 coats of primer and a coat of white latex on OSB.

 

[nminusyplusm]

While I am convinced that DL works much better with a soil floor, I have been able to get it going well enough in my coop with vinyl over plywood. My big concern was that it would be moist enough that it would encourage rot. However, I have not found this to be the case. I did paint the walls of my coop: 2 coats of primer and a coat of white latex on OSB.

That's good to know! So far I haven't been brave enough to add any water to the coop mix. I used blackjack on the floor and up the walls so it should be fine. Now with your endorsement I'm going to give it a try. Thanks!

 

[moco27]

Hush Puppy And Chickens

• moco27
• Nov 19, 2017
• 3

Dust is a problem with chickens. I don't know if it is more or less than other litters I tried as the chickens produce dust anyway and I can't remember a difference and don't know how I could quantitate that anyway. They do dust bathe in it all the time. They love to tear apart any piles of sawdust I leave outside the coop along with the dogs. I have had wood roosts in it since I started and it hasn't shown any signs of rot. The wood turns gray but it isn't soft or falling apart.

 

[CindyR]

TBH, I'm not sure how well DL works on a wooden floor. I use it in my coop and run, but for it to really compost I think it needs a dirt floor. I have a foot deep layer of pine shavings in the coop which works great at keeping things nice and dry. I push it into the run as it gets soiled where it can fully break down.

Thanks for your input. I could try innoculating it with partly broken down compost.

While I am convinced that DL works much better with a soil floor, I have been able to get it going well enough in my coop with vinyl over plywood. My big concern was that it would be moist enough that it would encourage rot. However, I have not found this to be the case. I did paint the walls of my coop: 2 coats of primer and a coat of white latex on OSB.

This is great to know, thank you. All surfaces have a few layers of paint so I should be ok.

 

[CindyR]

Hush Puppy And Chickens

• moco27
• Nov 19, 2017
• 3

Dust is a problem with chickens. I don't know if it is more or less than other litters I tried as the chickens produce dust anyway and I can't remember a difference and don't know how I could quantitate that anyway. They do dust bathe in it all the time. They love to tear apart any piles of sawdust I leave outside the coop along with the dogs. I have had wood roosts in it since I started and it hasn't shown any signs of rot. The wood turns gray but it isn't soft or falling apart.

 

[moco27]

My deep litter doesn't act like normal compost. I don't know if the bacteria is the same or not but in the chicken coop the litter is gray and very dry. On my goat side it is brown and moist like normal compost. The chicken coop litter doesn't get warm like normal compost either. The decomposition is very slow unlike compost that finishes in weeks. This stuff goes for more than a year.

 

[aart]

My deep litter doesn't act like normal compost. I don't know if the bacteria is the same or not but in the chicken coop the litter is gray and very dry. On my goat side it is brown and moist like normal compost. The chicken coop litter doesn't get warm like normal compost either. The decomposition is very slow unlike compost that finishes in weeks. This stuff goes for more than a year.

Urine on goat side...chicken side is just drying, not really 'composting'.

 

[AASister]

"As Beekissed has taught us, try to copy the forest floor. If you do DL will work very well." (Sorry, I don't know how to copy someone's post like I see others doing...)

I am going to be moving to Mississippi in January, and the place I am going has lots of trees around a small pond. I am sure there is a "forest floor" type of environment there. Would it be a good idea to just build my coops and runs under the trees and on top of that "stuff"? If the litter level isn't "deep" I could just shovel more of the stuff from around the coops, yes?

 

[Kusanar]

"As Beekissed has taught us, try to copy the forest floor. If you do DL will work very well." (Sorry, I don't know how to copy someone's post like I see others doing...)

I am going to be moving to Mississippi in January, and the place I am going has lots of trees around a small pond. I am sure there is a "forest floor" type of environment there. Would it be a good idea to just build my coops and runs under the trees and on top of that "stuff"? If the litter level isn't "deep" I could just shovel more of the stuff from around the coops, yes?

Yes, the natural bacteria and such will already be in the stuff under the trees. This should give you a head start on the deep litter.

As for how to do the quotes, as I am doing here, at the bottom of each comment there are 3 light blue buttons at the bottom right. The +Quote allows for multi quotes, useful, but slightly more complicated, the Reply button if you click it will put the original post at the top of your comment box with a bit of HTML stuff. Just type below the stuff the page adds and it will put their post in blue on top of yours. PM me if you need more info, I'll be glad to walk you through it.