Deep Litter Is Wet - Now What?

[micstrachan]

Yes, it’s sort of a compromise. I had sand under the roosts, which worked great, but then built a second story addition to the coop and the girls were kicking the pine shavings from one level down onto the sand, which defeated the purpose of sand. Now the second level, along with the “poop deck” (dropping board) have rice hulls, and I can sift both areas.

 

[cavemanrich]

When you sift out those gumdrops, do you just throw them into run deep litter? That is the purpose of deep litter method.

 

[micstrachan]

Haha! Good point. I’ve been throwing them into a separate compost, but I suppose thst’s dumb since they poop more under the roosts than in the run.

 

[aart]

I didn’tintend to use large pieces of bedding (like large wood chips), as I woukd like to haul it out and spread it around the yard eventually and start with fresh bedding again.

Need some bigger stuff to balance out the smaller stuff that breaks down more quickly.

This guy has a neat setup to 'harvest' compost:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/disposing-of-old-shavings.1201566/page-2#post-19035555

 

[blackdog043]

Like aart said, bigger stuff is needed also. Here's a pic of my run, all kinds of stuff in there.

 

[micstrachan]

Alright. Thanks very much. I will add some “bigger stuff.” I recently sawed some branches off a California Live Oak that was taking over the garage roof. Maybe I should cut some of that up into sticks. (However, I’m a little gunshy with yard work at the moment, as I am recovering from a nasty reaction to poison oak. It’s dormant right now and does not have its easily distinguishable leaves.)

 

[aart]

The bedding of a good mix of dry plant materials use facilitates this nicely, it's basically no maintenance other than adding more material from time to time. I was able to start with a big load of tree trimmings from the power company that had been aged(6 months) so I avoided the toxic molds that can bloom with fresh chippings. I collect dry leaves in the fall (stored in feed bags in a shed) and add them occasionally, and other garden trimmings. I let my grass grow tall, mow and spread it out with discharge pattern, leave it to dry a few day, then push it into rows with the mower discharge, rake it up and add to run.

I started with this, power company tree trimmings aged ~6months.

Looked like this in Nov.

'Hay Day' this stuff disappears pretty quick.

I have another smaller run only used in summer, it is in the shade most the day and can get nasty pretty if I don't have enough carbon ingredients. Made the mistake of shoveling all the coop shavings with a years worth of poop in there, took weeks of adding carbon to balance it out. It's juggling act based on observation and adjustment.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m a former molecular biologist and love science. This will be a fun experiment for me. I just don’t want to jeopardize my birds’ health in the process.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Just in case it would help temporarily, horse pine bedding pellets are insane sponges of wetness. The compressed corn cob horse bedding is also. These might help you dry up some soggy spots. You'll think a bag won't do anything but wow it eats liquid and turns into sawdust. No idea if sawdust would be good for the issue long term but short term it'll dry things up.