Deep litter: friend or foe?

[jessica32]

Is there any sort of paper that you would exclude? I work at a place that shreds tons of paper I could use but, never thought of it. I have heard that laser printer toner can hurt my lungs which is mostly what I would have to use. Could it hurt my chickens? Is shredded paper more absorbent compared to shavings or straw?

 

[Beekissed]

I had used deep litter in the past and utilized straw and hay...this was not a good bedding, as it matted down and required much fluffing by me to keep it aerated. It became too heavy for the chickens to fluff by themselves.

This year? I have used mostly pine shavings and mixed in some shredded paper from the office. It has been the best thing I've ever done! The birds had to stay confined to the coop for weeks on end due to the deep snow and I don't know how I would have managed without the deep litter. They stayed warm~no frostbitten combs! No ammonia smells if one just throws a handful of black oil sunflower seeds in the litter on occasion to encourage fluffing of bedding. When it started to look to damp or dark, I just added more bedding.

I will definitely be doing this again and I've been raising chickens for quite some time~very much loving the DLM with pine bedding. I think the shredded paper was very instrumental in absorbing moisture as well. And it was FREE!

Eggs were cleaner, chickens happier with something to do during their confinement, and I will be using the litter as mulch on the garden, along with my sheep bedding.

Your litter will compost much quicker if you apply it to the top of a bin of great soil filled with worms!

Worms provide food for the chickens and nutrients for your garden. It's a win/win situation.

 

[rancher hicks]

do you buy any speciall BOSS or are the ones sold in the bird section ok? and do you just feed it with the shells on?

 

[jessica32]

What do you think of the pine pellets you use? I used them once but, at the time I was transporting chicks and thought the weight could harm them. It didn't then but, I was nervous. When dealing with my adult chickens I asked a TSC guy and he said the difference was cost alone (the pellets being far more than shavings). I shyed off from them but my aunt who has had chickens for many years recommends them because they are so absorbent and break down well. Your thoughts?

 

[underground chickenman]

Guys, I've got news: a true deep litter method involves neither weekly litter removal nor dropping boards. The WHOLE POINT of the deep litter method is to eliminate both of those things.

Droppings boards keep the poop out of the litter and totally exposed so they have to be cleaned often (daily) and they smell until you do.

DLM starts with three or four inches of litter (preferably pine shavings, pellets or something that absorbs moisture and won't mat down easily--I would not use any kind of paper or straw unless the straw has been chopped up thoroughly, and even then it isn't great). Throw in some scratch every now and then so the chickens keep it stirred up. When that layer is "full," meaning that it can't handle any more poop without starting to smell or get too wet, you add another couple of inches of litter. You keep adding a couple of inches at a time every few weeks until you have about a foot or so of litter. If the chooks aren't turning it over enough, go in about once per week and stir it up with a three-pronged cultivating rake--wear a dust mask. The litter should be just moist enough to stay together when you squeeze a handful. If it falls a part readily, it is too dry. Spray a little water on it and stir it in. If liquid drains out of it, or it is muddy, it is too wet. Over time, if you get the right amount of moisture, oxygen (from scratching and turning) and poop, it will start to decompose and eventually turn into good compost for the garden. Decomposition will generate a little extra heat. It also creates a bacteria that eats the smelly bacteria and is inhospitable to fly larva. This can go on for a year or more. Most people "spring clean" their coop and dump the now composted litter in the garden and start over.

I am going on about a year using DLM with 8 chooks in a 7 x 13 coop and I have no smell, no flies and no dropping boards. My coop smells like a nice clean barn. I don't clean the coop and I haven't added new litter in 2 months.

Google "deep litter method" and you will find lots of information on it.

UGCM

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! I leave my DL in the coop until I clean out in the spring/summer so that I can utilize the bedding on my garden. All the time it is being pooped in and aerated, it is already composting. My free range flock also aerates my sheep DL for me and keeps it dry and fluffy as well.

I buy my BOSS at the feed store, nothing special there, Rancher. The BOSS for birds is great also as it has a protein coating that makes for extra nutrition.

The shredded paper I use is a fine shred and was a great addition to my litter. It will also make great mulch for the garden.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Pine pellets are a thousand times better than shavings IN MY OPINION. I'll never go back to shavings.
Likely the guy at TSC doesn't know any more about them than the price

The only downside, in my opinion, is having to heft the 40# bag around...coz shavings ARE lighter.
They are very absorbant, and when they get wet and expand out into pine sawdust, they are light and airy and dry back out in no time. Walking on them in the coop after they have turned to sawdust has a nice springy feeling. The chickens like to dustbath in the sawdust too, which keeps them stirred up. Raking the sawdust is easy, makes my coop cleaing a breeze!
I think they compost way faster than shavings and they make a nice addition to the garden.
In the nest boxes I just get a small amount of the pellets wet and it turns to sawdust and dries back out - the hens seem to like it, the eggs never crack and the eggs stay pretty clean.

 

[flockof4]

This has been a great series of posts for litter management. I'm too new at this to know what's going to work for me. But DLM seems to be the way to go. I'm trying a version of DLM with straw/hay and having good success so far. But I only have 4 chooks in a 7'x10' coop and they hang out in their run most of the day. I toss scratch in the coop everyday and they seem to work the litter over pretty well every day. I will start adding a little moisture and definitely more ventilation. We'll see how it goes as I get further into it.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
I don't think you need to ADD moisture to hay/stray. Moisture is not good for the chickens.

(The only reason that I add water to the pine pellets is to fluff them out of the compressed pellet shape. On the bag it tells you to dampen them for best results.)

 

[Dixiedoodle]

My dropping board is not covered w/ anything. I just have about two -three inches of pine shavings on top of it.. Like Patman's picture I have my indoor feeder and waterer under it. Leaving more clean room for the girls on the floor.. I have had my girls since July and I haven't really/totally cleaned my coop out.. It will be done next month.. Then I'll throw a bag of shavings in there and start all over again.