Deep Litter Method, Please explain, Questions from Newbie thanks Sunny

[Judy]

There are several threads about this linked on the FAQ page.

There is no one deep litter method. There are any number of methods which are referred to as deep litter.

 

[KingJamesIV]

For the DLM you are going to want to add Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) every time you add more pine chips. As was previously stated make sure you don't get ceder chips or use ceder wood. It smells great for us, but the smell can give your chickens respiratory problems. In another post someone asked where you can get DE as it is hard to find. None of the feed stores (we have 3 in our town including Tractor Supply and Agway) had food grade. They all carried regular just not food grade. The difference is that the food grade is ground into a fine powder and the regular is more like a fine sand. DLM will help keep the smell down. Some think that it will make it completely go away. That just won't happen no matter what you do. And I haven't yet found some that smelled like roses. Hope this helps. Also here is the link to where you can find some DE online.

http://www.google.com/search?q=food...QwAA&biw=1440&bih=706&bav=on.1,or.&fp=1&cad=b

 

[xany xu]

Thanks for the advice

 

[chickenman2k3]

dry leaves especially pine neddles (not green)work great,wood chips if they dont have anything green in them.sand is good. mulched hay/strawany combination of these in a nice dry coop along with shavings are great. you can work a little lime into it too. i prefer leaves and sand. makes great fertilizer after with a little lime.

 

[Bammy]

I use the deep litter method in my coop with a painted underlayment floor. I started last summer and add pine shavings as is needed to keep it fresh. A sprinkle of food grade DE and Stall-Dri is tossed around (esp. under roost area) if it seems damp. A Hula-Hoe from Lowes works well to "till" it up on occasion. Scattering some scratch around lets the hens help too. I plan on adding all the bedding to the compost pile and start fresh with a few inches of pine shavings this summer. At the moment it is 9 to 10 inches deep. For me it works perfectly.

 

[BagoRooster]

When can dlm use it for fertilizer

 

[Cajunrose]

I'm going to use this method also. My only question is in a year, can I take it directly out and use it in my garden? I don't have a place to compost it further...so this would be perfect for me if I could just take it out of the coop and till it into my garden.

Thank you!!
Stephenie

 

[patandchickens]

Edited because, RATS, I *always* check the dates on posts except not this one time

-- y'all, it really does not work well to piggyback new questions onto OLD threads because most people check dates even less than *I* do and will reply to the ORIGINAL post not to yours

You can put old deep litter directly into your garden AS LONG AS you recognize that it does contain some pretty fresh poo too. If you have plants likely to be sensitive to that or if (more commonly) you have concerns about not wanting fresh poo amongst veggies likely to get dirt splashed on them e.g. lettuce, then you would still want to let it age a month or two. 'Sup to you.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[lenn1e]

Hi Everyone

I am new to this site and new to chickens. I have 2 rescue broilers which are really funny characters. However I have stumbled across this DLM and this really interests me. I have just built a coop (well my 16 year old son did) I have the nesting box on the back, a small coop approx 3ft by 5ft with a height of 31/2ft the run is attached with fencing all around and a roof. My question is would DLM be suitable for my little coop? obviously on a smaller scale once a week clear out or even bi weekly. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Lorraine

 

[Roan]

I have been raising chickens off and on for years and the struggle has always been the high food bill and back-breaking coop cleaning.

Having read this, I am kicking myself for all of it! lol

So now the question that comes to mind is, what makes a good base litter? For instance, my family shreds all paper material so would that work as a base litter? Also, we live in the country and have access to millions of leaves and grass clippings. I'm guessing I could collect all of those and just throw them in the coop?

I figured up that based on our current coop (19 total birds), we spend $9.98 each month in bedding material and $30.58 each month in feed! From what I'm reading (correct me if I'm wrong) but I can cut out all food and bedding expense doing the deep litter method???