Deep litter in the run (not the coop)

[Sara Ranch]

PS - the guys don't eat the peach pits. When I find them on the ground, I pick them up, dry them out, and plant them the next year. My chickens are PIGS!!! They love fresh fruit and veggies!!!

 

[rjohns39]

Gotta get @rjohns39 opinion on this

I have heard varying opinions with regard to cover, half cover or not to cover, with equal success and failure. I think it all depends on the amount of rain and snow one gets.

You need moisture to successfully compost. If you get too much, add more carbon. Too little add some water.

My birds over winter in a greenhouse and we have a moderate winter here. Everyone but me loves straw, as smuvers pointed out it is slow to break down. A year later, and still waiting. Hay of any sort seems to work well and break down quickly. As long as the kids are scratching and turning, it won't have a chance to mold. I like saw dust, pine straw, leaves, and mulch. I'll buy pine shavings if I must.

Even though it was not necessary last year, this year I'm going to try something a friend does. He mixes shelled corn in with his new bedding and he tosses garden scraps and other organic goodies out for the birds. The birds in their effort to find the corn, turn the compost repeatedly, effectively burying their's and the rabbits' waste in the process. By spring he has a wonderful load of compost. He'll take most of it out and spread it on pasture and plant his spring garden right into the rest of it.

with regard to apples, pears and the like, I don't worry about it too much. Yes the seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide, but the birds are pretty smart about what not to eat.

@Sara Ranch , what's interesting is my friend also has a batch of layers that follow his cows around (three days behind) and the layers spread out and clean the cow manure.

 

[pamonarch]

I toss straw/Leafs in my run.Been doing it for a while now too.No mold.They all like it.

i just started putting pine shavings and straw in the coop..i also scrap the roosts and some flat spots and let the poo on top of shavings and straw, toss it around everyday, and throw some scratch seeds in to get the girls to do some of the work too...they say it works great, first time for me so ill see..lol

 

[pamonarch]

I have heard varying opinions with regard to cover, half cover or not to cover, with equal success and failure. I think it all depends on the amount of rain and snow one gets.

You need moisture to successfully compost. If you get too much, add more carbon. Too little add some water.

My birds over winter in a greenhouse and we have a moderate winter here. Everyone but me loves straw, as smuvers pointed out it is slow to break down. A year later, and still waiting. Hay of any sort seems to work well and break down quickly. As long as the kids are scratching and turning, it won't have a chance to mold. I like saw dust, pine straw, leaves, and mulch. I'll buy pine shavings if I must.

Even though it was not necessary last year, this year I'm going to try something a friend does. He mixes shelled corn in with his new bedding and he tosses garden scraps and other organic goodies out for the birds. The birds in their effort to find the corn, turn the compost repeatedly, effectively burying their's and the rabbits' waste in the process. By spring he has a wonderful load of compost. He'll take most of it out and spread it on pasture and plant his spring garden right into the rest of it.

with regard to apples, pears and the like, I don't worry about it too much. Yes the seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide, but the birds are pretty smart about what not to eat.

@Sara Ranch , what's interesting is my friend also has a batch of layers that follow his cows around (three days behind) and the layers spread out and clean the cow manure.

i use straw with pine shavings ...maybe i should use hay?

 

[rjohns39]

i use straw with pine shavings ...maybe i should use hay?

It's a real hard choice for me as the straw does better in the duck pen to keep them and eggs dry. But it takes forever to break down. As for alfalfa and hay, what the birds don't eat, get's turned into the compost.

 

[Molpet]

when it gets muddy in the poultry yards I throw dry grass or leaves.. I have a big stack of tarped dried lawn grass...when it's been dry, I go to town on garbage days this time of year and get bagged leaves by the truck load. Has been wet this year and I don't need moldy leaves.
I use leaves and grass in the deep litter coop too, along w/a little shredded paper... if I get desperate I buy '3 in one' bedding http://www.bigr.com/farm-and-livest...ng/pestell-shavings-3-in-1-animal-bedding.htm..

 

[Li'lFlock]

I had a huge tree we had to cut down one year. Did an experimental raised bed on a gravel driveway. Used the ridiculous amount of sawdust and shaving from breaking the tree down to make a path around the bed, over gravel. Mediocre garden results had me relocate the bed. Went to spread out the tree debris. It was gorgeous and loaded with worms. Out in the open for a year. Trampled and not turned. I’m thinking a run would get better results with chicken help.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

What if you turn the litter yourself, instead of having the chickens do it (I guess that's a must in a duck enclosure)? Could you use straw then? And how often would you need to turn it over?

Have you considered dividing up the pastures to rotate them?

We did that - a few months ago, we increased the size of the chicken run a little bit, and divided it into two. The problem is that all the greenery that's grown up in the enclosed half gets eaten up in a week or two once I switch halves.

We have a permanent little pond in the duck pen which makes it impractical to divide it.

 

[rjohns39]

What if you turn the litter yourself, instead of having the chickens do it (I guess that's a must in a duck enclosure)? Could you use straw then? And how often would you need to turn it over?



We did that - a few months ago, we increased the size of the chicken run a little bit, and divided it into two. The problem is that all the greenery that's grown up in the enclosed half gets eaten up in a week or two once I switch halves.

We have a permanent little pond in the duck pen which makes it impractical to divide it.

straw works, its just slower. I'd probably turn it one or twice a week. Ducks are not as efficient as chickens for turning but they do turn it. An they drill holes to aerate it.

 

[SonoranChick]

We have straw (cow hay from the feed store) covering half of the run. It gets wet from time to time if it rains, but it's really dry where I live so I don't have issues with mold or anything. The chickens do their best to turn it, but I like to help with the rake sometimes once every two weeks I add another flake of hay. One bale lasts for months. I completely replace all of the hay twice a year. The chickens LOVE to scratch around in it and I have heard it helps hold warmth in during winter months.