Deep litter in a run turn to compost?

[KimKat33]

Hello everyone! I am unsure if this is even possible, but has anyone tried doing a deep litter method in a chicken run?

I have a 10x10 kennel I keep my chickens in (of course with extra time outside free ranging as well) but I am curious if it's possible to keep an 'ongoing' compost as the run floor using the 'deep-litter method'

So basically, I would keep adding shavings as the chickens constantly turn it? I am wanting to get into composting, but winter is approaching and I am not sure where to even begin. I am not looking to create a huge compost pile as it's just me who will be tending to it (and I am not very tall or strong)

 

[K0k0shka]

Has anyone tried? That's one of the most popular chicken run choices! And the best all around, in my opinion, because you don't need to clean the run and it doesn't get poopy, muddy or smelly. And its the one that's most fun for the chickens to scratch through. Just don't use pine shavings though, they'll turn to mush. Use different types of plant material, of different textures and size particles. Get something coarse and chunky to provide drainage and help grind the rest down - wood chips. Get some filler that will provide lots of carbon for the composting reaction - dry leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, etc. The chickens will provide the nitrogen and the stirring. There you go! That's what I have and I love it. Don't forget to collect and save your bagged leaves, to add to the run periodically throughout the year (especially in winter, when there isn't anything else readily available to add). They don't last long in the run - the chickens will shred them into nonexistence within a week or two - but the shredded leaves provide easy carbon to the composting system.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I just scooped out my first batch of compost from my run, about 4 months in. I put it in a raised bed to age over the winter. I also added a bunch of dry leaves to their run (tis the season) and have stored a lot more away in the basement for those mucky snowy days (dry leaves, dry feet!)

 

[perkolator]

I use compost from my chickens setup in my gardening. My coop and nest boxes have shavings, but they stay mostly clean because the chickens sleep in their run. The run has wood chips about 4-12" deep; the poop and fines mostly all sift toward the bottom and the larger particles stay on top, so things tend to dry out nicely and can go for a long time without needing cleaning. It does not compost because it stays dry with the roof overhead.

When I clean out, I transfer the finer material into my compost pile where I hot compost it to finish, the rest goes into my large outdoor run, which is basically a large cold compost pile filled with wood chips, leaves, all the other run's bedding, etc. That soil looks pretty awesome right now but I haven't harvested anything from it yet, and the soil level is a good 8" deeper than the original ground was. Planning to build myself a trommel sifter to help me harvest the goods. What I've been using so far has been the stuff I finished in my hot compost pile - 2 concrete stalls about 4x4x4ft each

 

[Aesop]

Has anyone tried? That's one of the most popular chicken run choices! And the best all around, in my opinion, because you don't need to clean the run and it doesn't get poopy, muddy or smelly. And its the one that's most fun for the chickens to scratch through. Just don't use pine shavings though, they'll turn to mush. Use different types of plant material, of different textures and size particles. Get something coarse and chunky to provide drainage and help grind the rest down - wood chips. Get some filler that will provide lots of carbon for the composting reaction - dry leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, etc. The chickens will provide the nitrogen and the stirring. There you go! That's what I have and I love it. Don't forget to collect and save your bagged leaves, to add to the run periodically throughout the year (especially in winter, when there isn't anything else readily available to add). They don't last long in the run - the chickens will shred them into nonexistence within a week or two - but the shredded leaves provide easy carbon to the composting system.

By yard waste, do you mean sticks or soil? Also, I want to try pine shavings because I can get that right now and they smell good. Also wood chips may have cedar because there's no way to know for sure what has been chipped up. Would a few cedar shavings hurt them or must I not have any cedar in the batch? I could probably order a small load of wood chips.

 

[WIchickMama]

Definitely how I do my run too. I had new wood chips every spring after I clean out the last years stuff. It is all nice and broken down and goes into a pile to breakdown a little more til fall.

I add wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, etc to run throughout the summer to build it up for winter. The girls do kick out some pine shavings from the coop but not enough to get gross so I just take them in. Most of the time the chickens turn the material but I do a couple times a month turn it with the pitchfork

 

[NatJ]

By yard waste, do you mean sticks or soil?

In the listing, "dry leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, etc." the yard waste would be sticks and plant trimmings, not soil.

Also, I want to try pine shavings because I can get that right now and they smell good.

Putting in pine shavings is fine if you want to.
Other materials may often be cheaper or free, and also work fine, but the pine shavings should not cause any problems.

Also wood chips may have cedar because there's no way to know for sure what has been chipped up. Would a few cedar shavings hurt them or must I not have any cedar in the batch? I could probably order a small load of wood chips.

In the outdoor run, you do not have to worry if there is a bit of cedar in a batch of wood chips.

 

[Sally PB]

This is how I do my run. Unless someone has just dropped a cecal poop, it doesn't smell.

In the spring, I take all the shavings (and feathers and anything else) from the coop and dump it in the run. In the fall, I dump in a lot of raked up leaves. In the summer, I give them buckets of weeds from the garden. They get some treats that compost down well too, like kitchen scraps.

The chickens keep it turned and help break everything down. I took out several 5 gallon buckets of beautiful compost this year.

 

[K0k0shka]

By yard waste, do you mean sticks or soil? Also, I want to try pine shavings because I can get that right now and they smell good. Also wood chips may have cedar because there's no way to know for sure what has been chipped up. Would a few cedar shavings hurt them or must I not have any cedar in the batch? I could probably order a small load of wood chips.

Yard waste is plant material, not soil. I avoid long or large sticks, just because they can mat or get in the way when I'm dumping or raking the material. I have a small backyard chipper, so if I have collected a bunch of sticks, branches, etc. from the yard, I'll run them through the chipper just to get them down to a more manageable size, then dump that in the run. Other than that, the yard waste I usually have is spent plants from the garden, weeds I pulled from my flower beds, trimmings from when I prune/trim plants, when I deadhead the flowers, stuff I rake from the lawn or bushes during spring cleaning, etc. As well as lots of dry leaves in the fall.

Pine shavings tend to get mushy when wet, so I don't use them outside in the run, only in the coop. They can absorb and control a little bit of moisture, like from poop if otherwise in a dry location, but they don't handle rain very well.

A few stray cedar chips here and there in an outdoor space will be fine. It's when the entire bedding is made out of cedar, and it's in the enclosed space of the coop where it can't vent out well, that it can be a problem.

 

[RoyalChick]

This is how I do my run. Unless someone has just dropped a cecal poop, it doesn't smell.

In the spring, I take all the shavings (and feathers and anything else) from the coop and dump it in the run. In the fall, I dump in a lot of raked up leaves. In the summer, I give them buckets of weeds from the garden. They get some treats that compost down well too, like kitchen scraps.

The chickens keep it turned and help break everything down. I took out several 5 gallon buckets of beautiful compost this year.

Exactly what I do with two minor variations. I am less diligent about really emptying the coop each spring. I am on a slope so if I leave the doors open the chickens move much of it into the run themselves. Maybe I help by raking out a bit. I am also less diligent on weeding but I keep a big leaf pile and top up with that year round.