deep litter method

[duckie2]

I am trying the deep litter method and need some advice. I have 10 hens in a 8x10 coop with cement floor. They free range but get locked up at night so most of the poop collects under the roost. Is it OK to scatter scratch under the roost and let the hens to the "turning"?
Thanks for any advice!

 

[DobieLover]

I am trying the deep litter method and need some advice. I have 10 hens in a 8x10 coop with cement floor. They free range but get locked up at night so most of the poop collects under the roost. Is it OK to scatter scratch under the roost and let the hens to the "turning"?
Thanks for any advice!

Well... DLM works best with an earthen floor. It needs some moisture to kick off the composting.
If I had a cement floor coop, I'd bed down the floor with about 6" of shavings or hemp bedding or something equivalent to cushion their landing and just install poop boards with Sweet PDZ under the roost. Scoop them each morning.
That is the way I manage my coop and I didn't have to change the floor bedding until the coop had been in service for a year.
But the chickens don't spend a whole lot of time in the coop. They head out to the run as soon as they are off the roost in the morning.
Poop boards before cleaning.

After cleaning.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What you describe is deep bedding, the difference being deep litter is active composting, a "wet" process, deep litter is a dry process.
Putting the birds to work is a great part of both.