Deep Litter Method Smell

[Beekissed]

Of course, if one is keeping bedding that is soaking wet~which they shouldn't~the flooring would be compromised eventually. There is a vast difference in slightly moist(wherein it can start decomposition)and wet enough to rot floorboards. Keeping the bedding fluffed should keep the moisture from absorbing into flooring and keep it primarily in the bedding by displacing the moist pieces into the dry, creating an opportunity for moisture wicking....which is why one adds dry bedding to the old.

Been doing this for the past 6 years on an old, old, old untreated/unpainted/unstained oak floor in an ancient hen house and only cleaning out twice a year...the floor shows absolutely no breakdown or compromise.

 

[FenDruadin]

A deep, earthy smell is exactly what you *should* have with DLM. Basically, it's composing in place--so it will smell like compost. What the OP is describing sounds exactly right. Of course, it should not smell offensive--if there's a strong bad odor, then you probably either have too much moisture or not enough carbon (straw, leaves, shavings, whatever)--which is also true in a compost heap (manure, green grass, and other high-nitrogen materials stink when they decompose unless you add plenty of carbon).

About the wood floor--I'd be worried about the floor rotting under all that decomposing material. "Decompose" is just a fancy word for "rot," and if you have rotting material on top of the wood, chances are... you're going to have rotting wood.

Adding linoleum or other water-impermeable material will help. Otherwise, you might be better off sweeping out the shavings periodically and keeping everything super dry.

Good luck!

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Quote:
Thank you for your post, it gives me a lot of encouragement to hear that another chicken keeper with a wood floor has had good success with the
DLM on a wood floor. The floor in our coop is treated with some kind of water seal. Not too sure what kind, but when I rinse the chicken coop out
with water in the spring the water beads off the wood.

Thank again

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Quote:
So if it does not decompose is it doing something to work as a DLM? I was just wondering because I have a raised wood surface in my coop too.

 

[cedarcroft]

Hi folks, i too will be using a horse stall like the other poster is, except our barn floor is concrete - anyone have any suggestions for maintaining on concrete? all this about "turning" is new to me, in fact i thought i read somewhere you weren't supposed to disturb litter unless it was to remove it completly, due to harmful particles. Maybe that was just regarding bAbies.

 

[debbie_nibbles]

I use the diatamacious earth and haven't had any smells, people are suprised when they see we have chickens

I also sprinkle it in the run. I just stir it up every now and then, havn't done it yet but I hear you only need to change it once a year? I'm to picky on how things look LOL But so far at 4 months still fine.

 

[FenDruadin]

Concrete should be fine, and there is no particular reason to "fluff" the litter (wow, what a lot of work!) unless you have a unique situation. Holderread, the foremost duck expert in the world, does recommend "stirring" the bedding periodically, but I find that just adding more litter is more effective for my situation. The point of DLM (besides making awesome compost) is to save you work & keep your shelter warm... so if you're treating it like a compost pile and turning it daily, you're kind of defeating part of the purpose (although it will stay warm that way), imo.

If your floor is treated to be moisture-resistant, then you will have less trouble with it rotting. Basically, your issue is that the DLM becomes dirt, complete with all the microbes and probably earthworms and wood decomposing organisms, etc. that come with dirt. So anything that you would not want in contact with dirt (like untreated plywood, for instance), you don't want in contact with your DLM. But if the floor is treated and you'd put it right on top of dirt without worry, then you can put DLM on it without worry.

 

[claudicles]

Quote:
So if it does not decompose is it doing something to work as a DLM? I was just wondering because I have a raised wood surface in my coop too.

It is absorbing the poop and keeping the smell down. The pine shavings dry out the poop so it doesn't end up rotting. If you use that method then you need to compost the litter in a conventional, moist, fashion before using it on your garden. I use two methods. I use dry litter (shredded paper - I have tons of confidential material to get rid of. Good thing the chooks can't read) in the hen house and change it often. There is not enough depth there for deep litter. I compost that stuff before use. I use deep litter in my run with loads of garden waste, regularly topped up and rained on so it decomposes on site. The bottom layers are ready for the garden when I clean it out.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Quote:
So if it does not decompose is it doing something to work as a DLM? I was just wondering because I have a raised wood surface in my coop too.

It is absorbing the poop and keeping the smell down. The pine shavings dry out the poop so it doesn't end up rotting. If you use that method then you need to compost the litter in a conventional, moist, fashion before using it on your garden. I use two methods. I use dry litter (shredded paper - I have tons of confidential material to get rid of. Good thing the chooks can't read) in the hen house and change it often. There is not enough depth there for deep litter. I compost that stuff before use. I use deep litter in my run with loads of garden waste, regularly topped up and rained on so it decomposes on site. The bottom layers are ready for the garden when I clean it out.

Ok, so is the DLM not something that I should be doing? Before I was changing out the coop every month and putting new litter in. The problems with that was
that the used litter was starting to stack up and I was really wearing my self out. I heard about this method and was very excited to start this so that I can
enjoy my chickens a little bit more. Now I am hearing that this method is not really working in my coop because I have an elevated coop with a solid wood floor.
what is best to do then?

 

[Aria]

We use hay. Daily we use a pooper scooper and add to our flower beds. AND we keep adding clean hay. NEVER SMELLS.

Once a year we remove all the Hay and wash down the Barn. Let id DRY and add new Hay and keep adding hay.

We have done this for 15 years and it works fine. If there is a offensive SMELL...ther is a problem. Probably too much moisture. We keep our windows always open. Less in the Winter...but always open for fresh air. Regards, Aria