Deep Litter Method in SMALL COOP??

[ejtalbert]

Hi! I'm Emily, and I have 5 12-week old pullets. They stay in the run most of the day, which is aprx 95sq feet. (fenced in because we live in the countryside-suburbs)
I have heard that the deep litter method can amount to up to 12 inches of compost, and I just don't know if there is enough space.
We currently have our nesting boxes blocked off because they were sleeping in them, and we haven't seen an egg yet.

Thoughts?
Here are some photos of the coop:

 

[DobieLover]

Hi! I'm Emily, and I have 5 12-week old pullets. They stay in the run most of the day, which is aprx 95sq feet. (fenced in because we live in the countryside-suburbs)
I have heard that the deep litter method can amount to up to 12 inches of compost, and I just don't know if there is enough space.
We currently have our nesting boxes blocked off because they were sleeping in them, and we haven't seen an egg yet.

Thoughts?
Here are some photos of the coop:
View attachment 2192460View attachment 2192461View attachment 2192462View attachment 2192463

Your coop design is not conducive to deep litter. You're just going to have to clean that out once or twice a week. It's awfully small for five birds.
Does the roof extend over the run? If it does that would be a very good thing. That will give them ample space to spread out in and if the run is completely predator-proof you can leave the pop door open all the time so they can just leave to the run as soon as I get off the roost in the morning. Then the small size of the coop won't be such an issue.

 

[ejtalbert]

Your coop design is not conducive to deep litter. You're just going to have to clean that out once or twice a week. It's awfully small for five birds.
Does the roof extend over the run? If it does that would be a very good thing. That will give them ample space to spread out in and if the run is completely predator-proof you can leave the pop door open all the time so they can just leave to the run as soon as I get off the roost in the morning. Then the small size of the coop won't be such an issue.

The coop has a built in run, which we extended. The built in run does have a roof, but the fenced in area doesn't. I have been getting up in the morning to let the chickens out of the coop, and going out at night once they are all inside. Should we consider roofing the fenced area? If so, how would we do that?
We have skunks around here, so we have been closing them in at night.

 

[ejtalbert]

Your coop design is not conducive to deep litter. You're just going to have to clean that out once or twice a week. It's awfully small for five birds.
Does the roof extend over the run? If it does that would be a very good thing. That will give them ample space to spread out in and if the run is completely predator-proof you can leave the pop door open all the time so they can just leave to the run as soon as I get off the roost in the morning. Then the small size of the coop won't be such an issue.

The coop itself, dimensions are 3' by 3' 6".

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't think you will be able to use a deep litter system with 5 chickens in a coop that small.

The usual recommendation is 4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per chicken in the run. Five chickens would be healthier and happer long term with 20 square feet in their coop -- 4x5 minimum.

IMO, deep litter works best in the run -- where you have the moisture (not sogginess, but moisture), required to maintain the cold-composting process where the poop combines with the "brown" materials to create odor-free, garden gold.

In the coop I used deep bedding, which was perfectly dry but piled up over time so that I needed only clean it out once every 6-12 weeks.

 

[ejtalbert]

I don't think you will be able to use a deep litter system with 5 chickens in a coop that small.

The usual recommendation is 4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per chicken in the run. Five chickens would be healthier and happer long term with 20 square feet in their coop -- 4x5 minimum.

IMO, deep litter works best in the run -- where you have the moisture (not sogginess, but moisture), required to maintain the cold-composting process where the poop combined with the "brown" materials to create odor-free, garden gold.

In the coop I used deep bedding, which was perfectly dry but piled up over time so that I needed only clean it out once every 6-12 weeks.

When we got the coop, it said it would hold 6-8 chickens... I suppose it was wrong, what should I do? They are still small, so it’s not too crowded, and they always have access to the run during the day....

 

[U_Stormcrow]

What @3KillerBs said, and you might consider raising those perches a bit higher to encourage them to sleep there in favor of the nesting boxes. Looks like they are just screwed down, so it shouldn't take much to unscrew, lift, and re-secure them.

 

[ejtalbert]

What @3KillerBs said, and you might consider raising those perches a bit higher to encourage them to sleep there in favor of the nesting boxes. Looks like they are just screwed down, so it shouldn't take much to unscrew, lift, and re-secure them.

Okay, I will see what I can do.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Its a very attractive coop - expanding the run was a great start, now begin thinking about how you will expand the hen house - likely wider, rather than longer, matching the existing roof line. That will minimize the amount of new fencing you will need if you then choose to expand the run to the same width.


Commercial hen houses seem to be "sized" the same way camping tents are. Physically "Fit" within, not Physically "Comfortable" within.

Like you, I'm brand new at this, but I've come to three early conclusions. 1) once you get "the bug", a few chicks is never enough, and 2) a lot of behavior problems in the flock are cured by more space. 3) if you should start breeding, or buy another batch of "littles", or for a host of other reasons, at some point, you will need to separate some of your flock.

Bigger is almost always better in this case.

 

[coach723]

Premade coops almost always over estimate what they can actually hold. You will be OK for a little while, but I would start planning on a bigger coop, or figure how to expand this one. Often the most economical way to get a bigger coop is to convert a used shed. The more run space you have it can somewhat help with a smaller coop. Even if you don't get a larger number of chickens (and most of us get struck with "chicken math" at some point and end up with more than we planned, sometimes a lot more) any time you add or replace birds that's going to make for cramped integration and spats. Deep litter works in covered runs, as said, some moisture is OK, but wet and soggy is not, so heavy rains could leave you with a stinking mess. Basically, if you start smelling stink, then something isn't right. I use deep litter in my covered run, my coop has poop boards so I scrape those daily and clean the coop as necessary. My run can go much longer than the interior of the coop can for cleaning. My covered run is open to the coop, and open to their open, grassed, fenced area during all daylight hours, so they are outside most of the day unless it's pouring rain.