Deep Litter Method - Clarification Needed

[MandalaMaMa]

Have you thought of using straw instead of wood chips. My girls love scratching through it. We live on the Oregon coast and in the rainy season this really helps keep the ground dryer. We use to fight with mud in the past. I've been using straw for 2 years now and never have cleaned it out of the run. The girls just seem to break it down to pretty much to nothing and then we add another bail of straw for them. I do rack it around once in awhile to keep it leveled out. This seems to be working good for us. Just my thoughts. Everyone has to find out what's going to work best for them.

 

[guia13]

First of all are your chickens primarily in the coop or do they have access to outside?

I have been doing deep litter method for years, in a coop almost identical to yours. I only have 4 chickens . And most importantly, they are completely free range so they are only in the coop at night, or when they are laying. The coop is in an enclosed area of the yard, they are let out in the morning, and go back in before it gets dark. Anyway, I live in So Cal, and summers are very hot. My coop is like yours, and that is more then enough ventilation for the summer. If its in a shady area it's fine. Or you can add shade by building a pergola or something over it. I basically raised the base of the coop by about a foot using a frame foundation of 8 x 2 redwood planks, then I add the shavings.. What want to do is make right before the hottest part of summer starts the time you are going to completely empty the coop and all the litter, and start fresh. that way when the weather starts to get hot, you wont have that much litter there in the first place.

 

[guia13]

one more thing. I noticed in your photo you have the coop over concrete. For deep litter method it is better over dirt. will break down faster and stay cooler. But like I said, just completely empty and start with fresh bedding before the hot seasons.

 

[MWright936]

Thanks for all the great feedback! The chickens have been in the coop for about 5 months now, and the deep litter method is working great! One thing I did have to do, since my coop is on concrete, is caulk around the base of it to seal it to the concrete. I was having issues of water pooling on the concrete outside of the coop when it rained, and the water would seep under the coop and soak the bedding. Now it stays much drier.

We do let the chickens out into the yard almost every day, so they aren't always closed up.

The bedding is breaking down just as it's supposed to, and there is no odor. The only time there is any odor is when I wait too long to clean out inside the coop where the roost and nest boxes are since there's just a thin layer of shavings in there. Everything is working out great so far, and we got our first egg last week!