Deep Litter + Dry Leaves + Dirt Floor Run = How to keep dry???

[Mike592]

Hi everyone, I'm in the final design stages for my first coop and run. I would very much like to do the deep litter method in the covered (w/ a plastic roof) run. I would like to use dry leaves as the primary bedding because I can collect gobs on our property in the fall.

My question is how to keep the run and leaf bedding dry during rain and snow since I've read the deep litter method works best on a simple dirt floor? How does the bedding stay dry if it's not elevated above the rest of the yard?

My roofed run will be on a bit of a slope so there shouldn't be standing water issues.. but what about the rain running downhill since the coop/run will be placed mid-slope? Won't that wet the leaves and foul everything up?

Thanks for your insights.

 

[chfite]

I use sand in my run.

This year I dumped 30 bags of wet leaves in a bed. They were a heavy, sodden mess. Overall, the layer of leaves was a foot deep. They had been sitting in the bags for weeks. This bed is part of the yard where the chickens forage every day. In a short period of time, I noticed that they had turned all the leaves over. They transformed the sodden mess into a broad area of fluffy leaves. Chickens dig and scratch all the time.

Nearly every day, I see them in the bed scratching around. Even with all the rain we have had here of late, the leaves are fluffy.

Therefore, your leaves in the run should be fine. If water does not stand in the run to defeat the efforts of the chickens. Over time, they will shred the leaves into fine pieces that will decompose into the sand. Then you can add more leaves.

Chris