I've never used the DLM, but I only have to clean about 6 or 8 times a year. I live in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. We have an awkward assortment of soils. In one spot it will be sand, ten feet away will be clay. I've put bricks, paving blocks, whatever to give me a nice solid floor in the coop. I cover everything with DE, the floor, any shelves, door trims, walls, anywhere the little critters can hide. I start with a thin layer of pine shavings and add to it whenever I smell poo or, especially ammonia. One of the most dangerous things in the coop is ammonia, it's both toxic and flammable and also burns skin. I try to completely clean every month through the summer as thats when most pests and parasites are the most active. The last cleaning is usually in about October. After that simply add a sprinkle of DE and pine shavings. If it smells, I'll add. If I kneel in it and my knee is damp, I add. If anyone starts to have sores on their feet or they get listless or just don't feel well, I clean the whole thing and start over. The idea in the winter is to keep the top layer dry. It has to be damp underneath for decomposition to create a little bit of heat. However, with the heat comes damp, so ventilation is EXTREMELY important.
In the runs outside, we have that stupid mix of different soils. Michigan will rain all one week and not the next. We've incorporated the runs into our garden watering schedule. We run the sprinkler or the sprayer hooked on the fence about an hour or two every couple of days to rinse away all the poo. Since our birds are mostly free range in the summer, a simple hosing of the yard works great, too!
We put stone in a few years ago and all it did was sink into the ground and hold the poo. It was the leftover stone from redoing the septic tank. I've often wondered if a layer of gardening cloth that keeps out weeds, then a nice thick layer of pea gravel rinsed a few times a week would work well. But our girls like to dust bathe and I like to stick DE in whenever they find a spot!
