Deep Litter Method in runs

[Trux]

I am starting this thread in hopes of getting opinions,ideas, and comments concerning this topic. If you deep litter in your run I want to hear from you, whatever your opinion is. Yay or Nay, Good or Bad, let's hear it all If ya post, would like to know where you are and what kind of climate you have Thanks
Background and why: I live in SoCal Inland Valley area, where temps this time of year can be devastating to our beloved chickens,110 is not uncommon here. My run is dirt,10x15 and atm I have 13 girls in this run, had 14 till last week. I installed misters that covers a majority of the run, and as a result of getting the dirt wet, it smelled like an ammonia factory, and was compacting.
So now what I have done, is I dug up the compaction, raked it level, broadcast PDZ over the surface then added about 8 cubic ft of chopped straw. So far, the flys have all but gone and the smell is almost gone. So now, since I went this far,where do we go from here? More straw? Something more substantial? Hemp maybe? Whatever it is let's here it!
Have a great day everyone!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I love deep litter in my bantam run. We recently added some grass clippings and chopped hay. No flies or smell ever. We load it up with fall leaves too, as well as pulled weeds, spent mulch, and a some shavings at times.

 

[Trux]

I love deep litter in my bantam run. We recently added some grass clippings and chopped hay. No flies or smell ever. We load it up with fall leaves too, as well as pulled weeds, spent mulch, and a some shavings at times.

No grass here, so no clippingswon't have any leaves till Oct Nov sometime. So short of going to Home depot or some other place to buy mulch, I'm thinking that will be my only option.

 

[nminusyplusm]

I have DL in the coop and run, no flies or bad odors and and basically no work. Summers here are triple digits so I add water to keep it composting and the chickens dig nice cool napping spots.

I use mostly straw because of availability and add material of other sizes when I can like pine needles, leaves, yard waste and kitchen scraps. It replaced my compost pile and it works faster.

It sounds like you're off to a great start, just keep adding to it. No cleaning needed. Take finished compost out when you want. I think you'll love it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Main issue for you doing deep litter is you're having to bring in litter materials, which is a little inefficient.

For me it works well - the materials are free and sourced off my property, so litter make up changes with the seasons. It's a base of aged chunky wood chips, with dried leaves, grass, weeds, garden trimmings, a little bit of pine needles. I get a lot of rain but have fairly good soil drainage, so the litter keeps the run area dry enough to keep mud at bay, even with no roof over the run. I find that around springtime is a good time for me to clear out some of the old litter for my garden and start building up new litter layers again.

 

[cmom]

My pens are sand but they are very large so I really don't have a problem. Do you have a picture you can post?

 

[Trux]

I have DL in the coop and run, no flies or bad odors and and basically no work. Summers here are triple digits so I add water to keep it composting and the chickens dig nice cool napping spots.

I use mostly straw because of availability and add material of other sizes when I can like pine needles, leaves, yard waste and kitchen scraps. It replaced my compost pile and it works faster.

It sounds like you're off to a great start, just keep adding to it. No cleaning needed. Take finished compost out when you want. I think you'll love it.

You have a climate much like me, and same situation, nothing in the yard to add to it in the summer months. Later on in the year I will have leaves and stuff from the garden to add but right now it is straw and pine shavings or chips

 

[Trux]

Main issue for you doing deep litter is you're having to bring in litter materials, which is a little inefficient.

For me it works well - the materials are free and sourced off my property, so litter make up changes with the seasons. It's a base of aged chunky wood chips, with dried leaves, grass, weeds, garden trimmings, a little bit of pine needles. I get a lot of rain but have fairly good soil drainage, so the litter keeps the run area dry enough to keep mud at bay, even with no roof over the run. I find that around springtime is a good time for me to clear out some of the old litter for my garden and start building up new litter layers again.

Well it is that or having to live with the stench of ammonia from running the misters in the heat we get. Wish I had the resources you have up there I would be happy as a clam

 

[Kacey Elle]

I'm in Northern California but I also don't have any grass. I only recently brought chickens to my house but I'd been caring for a flock since April 2017. I went with DL because I'm lazy (ha!) and I'm a gardener. After caring for the flock, I knew I wanted chickens of my own. So I started collecting leaves last fall. I took them from my house and from a few of my neighbors who love eggs and supported my future flock. One of my neighbors also said I could take his grass clippings but I haven't needed to do so yet. I throw in a bunch of leaves whenever I notice that they are getting broken down, all my yardwaste (when I "mowed" down my native grasses as they went dormant, fallen twigs, pruning remnants, etc.) goes into the run and so do all my compostable kitchen scraps. My collection of leaves will definitely last me until it's time to start collecting again in just a few months. My girls eat some of it and the rest turns into DL. My weather isn't as hot as yours but I do get the litter wet and it doesn't add to the smell at all--it just speeds up the compost.

My DL is completely free, doesn't smell, reduces flies, and I can already see that the ground underneath the hardware cloth at the bottom of the run is dark compost rather than the normal dirt nearby.

This is what I used to store the leaves because I wanted something reusable and had the covered/enclosed space so I didn't have to worry about the leaves getting wet or providing nesting for rodents. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GFP5SI...olid=1MNHUKPZURQEG&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[nminusyplusm]

You have a climate much like me, and same situation, nothing in the yard to add to it in the summer months. Later on in the year I will have leaves and stuff from the garden to add but right now it is straw and pine shavings or chips

Yep, but come the end of fall, all the dead plants in my vegetable garden, wildflowers, etc. will get added. I do some pruning during the growing season so that goes in. The girls love it when I dead head sunflowers.

I'm now growing things (cover crops of native drought tolerant plants) just to add to the run and use as mulch to prevent puncture vine and other nasties from taking over. The soil here has very little organic matter and I hope to change that in a few years with the help of my chickens.