Deep Litter.... Maybe A Dumb Question.....?

[tigerkitten45]

If i may add a question to her's, where can you purchase a large amount of DE?

 

[ksct]

i'm from Watkins Glen.
What is the TEG?
I too would like to know where to purchase DE. i've seen it on here before but I'm leary to purchase without seeing it becuase I don't want to get the wrong stuff. Any reliable 'dealers'?

How do you seperate the wood chips from the poop?

 

[illegal avian]

Quote:
You don't. The pine wood chips will break down and disintegrate; you will eventually have some of the most magical fertilizer you could imagine. The deep litter method, when done correctly, will leave you with a light, fluffy mixture of ammonium nitrate, protein, vitamins and minerals. Everything a growing plant needs. This crap will grow grass on rocks! If you cover it and let it go through a heating process it can even be added to cattle feed. The Campbells Soup company pays big bucks for this stuff to grow their mushrooms in it. (Don't tell the California peeps though). One word of caution: I see you have a pond in the background of your picture - do not let any of this stuff run off into your pond, it will kill the fish.

 

[TXmom]

I got my DE through Ebay because I couldn't find any locally that I could trust to be "Food Grade".

TEG is TheEasyGarden.com. It's a sister site to this one, and the link is at the bottom of the page.

 

[ksct]

Quote:
You don't. The pine wood chips will break down and disintegrate; you will eventually have some of the most magical fertilizer you could imagine. The deep litter method, when done correctly, will leave you with a light, fluffy mixture of ammonium nitrate, protein, vitamins and minerals. Everything a growing plant needs. This crap will grow grass on rocks! If you cover it and let it go through a heating process it can even be added to cattle feed. The Campbells Soup company pays big bucks for this stuff to grow their mushrooms in it. (Don't tell the California peeps though). One word of caution: I see you have a pond in the background of your picture - do not let any of this stuff run off into your pond, it will kill the fish.

as far as the seperating- I was asking 'lesa' becuase she said she puts the chips between her blueberry bushes......

What should I use to put the compost in? A big barrel or keep the bottom open?
I thank you for noticing we have a pond.... which is not terribly far from the coop (30+ feet) and I was thinking of composting near the coop.... might have to rethink that. I never gave that at thought and we just paid a pretty penny for 2 grass carp for the pond. THANKS!!!!!

"this crap will grow grass on rocks" is an amazing quote. lol
We'd like to use chicken poo becuase we just had a load of cow manure delivered for the garden. how nice it would be to not have to do that!

Does the wood chips start to break down in the coop during the year? or only when put in the compost 'bin' - I can put vegetable scraps in it too? yes? meat? egg shells?
(sorry this is getting a little off topic - i'd still like any info about the deep litter method)

 

[Joz]

Re Compost: just make a big ol' pile of your chicken litter, kitchen and garden castoffs (no meat, bones, or heavy oils/butter; they attract rats).

Layer Green/fresh stuff (kitchen/garden, lawnmowings) with Brown/dry stuff (litter, leaves) and soil. I rake mine back and forth every couple weeks to aerate and toss the layers, and so I can add new layers lower in the pile (the older stuff from the pile can make up the brown layers).

Other things that make compost awesome: Rabbit, horse, goat, and sheep poo, worms, water (should be damp pile, will encourage worms throughout), leaves, paper bags, newspaper, shredded junkmail, natural fibers (wool, cotton), eggshells.

My pile is contained on one side by a chain-link fence, and on two sides by recycled lattice panels with 4x4 corners. I've seen people use pallets also. I like to keep the 4th side open so I can rake the pile in (leaves and grass clippings from the yard) and out (for turning). Some people make 2 bays side-by-side, and to turn their pile they'll shovel it out of one and into the next.

 

[mdbokc]

I would check out sources of horse feeds. Our local feed stores that really focus on horses have food grade DE as locals load up their pickups with 50# bags of food grade DE (I kid you not).

Even those that might not have it can order it in if they want your business.

 

[ksct]

i THANK EVERYONE FOR YOUR INFO.
I AM DEF GOING TO TRY DEEP LITTER AND COMPOST! IT'D BE NICE TO HAVE IT WHENEVER I NEED IT.
ANYONE HAVE ANY PICS OF THEIR COMPOST 'AREAS'?

 

[enggass]

DE:
http://www.earthworkshealth.com/

 

[KKatknap]

Biggest recommendation - poop board. Makes a HUGE difference, and it's SO easy to just scrape it every day. I use a drywall knife and it takes @ 2 minutes. No smell, clean coop. Really liking the deep litter method!