Deep litter method

[Daisy8s]

I'm thinking I got mine too deep in their run. It's staying wetter than it was under it. Is this right? Is it suppose to stay wet like that or do I have it too deep. It's over a foot deep in there. Was wondering if I needed to get some of it out and throw it into the garden to let it break down in the garden.
It has been raining but not every day.

I clean out my litter once a year--each spring. By the time I clean it out it's 18-24 inches deep and my biggest birds cannot walk under the lowest roost. It's fine--there's plenty of other roosting space, they only use that roost for a step up to the top roost anyway.

Yes, there's quite a bit of moisture in deep litter, but that's okay. I treat mine like a compost pile and things compost better when they're wet (gardeners advise wetting down a compost pile if it gets dry).

My rule is that I don't want the hens to have wet feet when it's cold and I certainly don't want dirty eggs so I maintain the top of the litter with lots of dried leaves and grass (from our lawn that I spread on a tarp to dry, then bag and store). About every 2-3 weeks I go in and flip over the top layer with a pitchfork, then spread 3-4 inches of dried bedding on top. During this unusually cold spell when they've been inside much more, I do this bedding maintenance every 7-10 days.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I clean out my litter once a year--each spring. By the time I clean it out it's 18-24 inches deep and my biggest birds cannot walk under the lowest roost. It's fine--there's plenty of other roosting space, they only use that roost for a step up to the top roost anyway.

Yes, there's quite a bit of moisture in deep litter, but that's okay. I treat mine like a compost pile and things compost better when they're wet (gardeners advise wetting down a compost pile if it gets dry).

My rule is that I don't want the hens to have wet feet when it's cold and I certainly don't want dirty eggs so I maintain the top of the litter with lots of dried leaves and grass (from our lawn that I spread on a tarp to dry, then bag and store). About every 2-3 weeks I go in and flip over the top layer with a pitchfork, then spread 3-4 inches of dried bedding on top. During this unusually cold spell when they've been inside much more, I do this bedding maintenance every 7-10 days.

One of the reasons I asked was because we have one of those little mantis tillers and the pine straw gets tangled up around the tines like mad when we put it into the garden so I was wondering if I go ahead and put it in there would it help it to break down better so it would fall apart instead of get tangled.

 

[Daisy8s]

Ugh, that does sound frustrating. I don't know if the straw would break down faster if it was left in the coop versus being put in the garden now. Maybe you'll have to experiment to find out.

Just a note...I don't use straw in my bedding for these types of reasons. I find it very unmanageable at every stage. I think straw is best used for bedding for animals like horses because the straw holds their manure up so that a pitchfork can lift the whole pile out in one piece. This feature makes it terrible for a deep litter coop where you want something lightweight that the birds can easily turn under so their manure is mixed in and encouraged to compost.

I use grass and leaves from my lawn instead. When I mow I dump the grass onto a big tarp; let it dry for a 2-3 days, turning once; then bag it up in those big, sturdy black trash bags. 10 bags will take me through a full year for a 5x6 coop.

P.S. Just read back thru your post and noticed you said pine straw? My comments were about the yellow straw that is the stem portion of grains like wheat or oats. Can you explain pine straw to me...is it from pine trees?

 

[Mtn Laurel]

One of the reasons I asked was because we have one of those little mantis tillers and the pine straw gets tangled up around the tines like mad when we put it into the garden so I was wondering if I go ahead and put it in there would it help it to break down better so it would fall apart instead of get tangled.

Pine straw = pine needle mulch, right? It's usually used as a mulch as it takes a long time to break down. I keep away from straw of all type in the coop but will use regular straw in the run. Straw takes too long to break down in coop deep litter and can be prone to mold. I much prefer pine shavings and leaves for deep litter in the coop. I will use straw in the run, it breaks down much faster when exposed to the elements.

Those times I've removed straw from the run, I've not incorporated it into the garden soil but will use it as a weed barrier around plants and in the garden paths.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Ugh, that does sound frustrating. I don't know if the straw would break down faster if it was left in the coop versus being put in the garden now. Maybe you'll have to experiment to find out.

Just a note...I don't use straw in my bedding for these types of reasons. I find it very unmanageable at every stage. I think straw is best used for bedding for animals like horses because the straw holds their manure up so that a pitchfork can lift the whole pile out in one piece. This feature makes it terrible for a deep litter coop where you want something lightweight that the birds can easily turn under so their manure is mixed in and encouraged to compost.

I use grass and leaves from my lawn instead. When I mow I dump the grass onto a big tarp; let it dry for a 2-3 days, turning once; then bag it up in those big, sturdy black trash bags. 10 bags will take me through a full year for a 5x6 coop.

P.S. Just read back thru your post and noticed you said pine straw? My comments were about the yellow straw that is the stem portion of grains like wheat or oats. Can you explain pine straw to me...is it from pine trees?

yes the pine straw is from pine trees. It takes it a little while to break down.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Pine straw = pine needle mulch, right? It's usually used as a mulch as it takes a long time to break down. I keep away from straw of all type in the coop but will use regular straw in the run. Straw takes too long to break down in coop deep litter and can be prone to mold. I much prefer pine shavings and leaves for deep litter in the coop. I will use straw in the run, it breaks down much faster when exposed to the elements.

Those times I've removed straw from the run, I've not incorporated it into the garden soil but will use it as a weed barrier around plants and in the garden paths.

yep mulch.


My brother in law across the road has a tractor so I might just dump in in the garden and let him plow through it a few times for me to break it up really well in the spring time. Then maybe that would be better for the mantis then.

 

[gilcamp4]

yep mulch.


My brother in law across the road has a tractor so I might just dump in in the garden and let him plow through it a few times for me to break it up really well in the spring time. Then maybe that would be better for the mantis then.

it may be to fresh, we did that one year and our plants got burned we were told it was because we did not like the mulch set longer, they told us we should let it set till the next year, so if you clean coop out now wait till net spring to put it in garden.

 

[RoseMarie1]

it may be to fresh, we did that one year and our plants got burned we were told it was because we did not like the mulch set longer, they told us we should let it set till the next year, so if you clean coop out now wait till net spring to put it in garden.

oh that makes sense. Our soil is sooooooo sandy the fertilizer and water just goes right through it. You just about have to stand out there every day with the water hose in hand watering it. That's WHY I wanted to work the soil. I have put bought bags of cow manure and other things into it last year to help it but it didn't help it much I don't think but I really think THIS is going to be what it needs and I can't wait not to have to use commercial fertilizers on it! One year we used duck fertilizer and no commercial fertilizers and I could not believe the difference in the taste of my tomatoes. I ate them like apples and I have NEVER done that before. They were AWESOME!

 

[chickengirl1193]

Hello! I'm new to this thread, I just got my chickens back in October and I was trying to do the deep litter method but this morning I opened the coop and it was so smelly I had to clean it. This was the first day it smelled and it was more of a rotten smell, nothing close to an ammonia smell. I was using pine shavings and stirring it every day. I had about 6 inches built up and it never smelled until today. I think what happened is it got too wet because we have been getting a lot of rain. I'm thinking I'll make changes to my coop to keep out the water and try again. I have a 3'x4' coop with 4 LF living in there that free range. The floor of the coop is a plastic flooring abd I was wondering if this was making it so my litter wasn't able to compost properly

 

[gilcamp4]

oh that makes sense. Our soil is sooooooo sandy the fertilizer and water just goes right through it. You just about have to stand out there every day with the water hose in hand watering it. That's WHY I wanted to work the soil. I have put bought bags of cow manure and other things into it last year to help it but it didn't help it much I don't think but I really think THIS is going to be what it needs and I can't wait not to have to use commercial fertilizers on it! One year we used duck fertilizer and no commercial fertilizers and I could not believe the difference in the taste of my tomatoes. I ate them like apples and I have NEVER done that before. They were AWESOME!

that is the best way to eat a tomatoe we love them that way, just a dab of salt and oh so good