Deep litter method

[chickenlover45]

Nice pictures

 

[niqueie]

Whoops! Cedar chips is what I am using for my chicks! They were out of pine chips and the feed store said cedar was all they had left and she said the are more expensive and just as good as pine chips! Should I take them out????

Maybe if you diluted the cedar chips out in an open run area with other leaves and grass clipping and pine needles/mulch it would be salvageable. I would not risk the cedar in any enclosed area. If you are able to get tons of ventilation and keep the dust down then you will be doing better. It's stated by many sources to not use cedar with chickens.

 

[armorfirelady]

Whoops! Cedar chips is what I am using for my chicks! They were out of pine chips and the feed store said cedar was all they had left and she said the are more expensive and just as good as pine chips! Should I take them out????

Maybe if you diluted the cedar chips out in an open run area with other leaves and grass clipping and pine needles/mulch it would be salvageable. I would not risk the cedar in any enclosed area. If you are able to get tons of ventilation and keep the dust down then you will be doing better. It's stated by many sources to not use cedar with chickens.

I agree great idea of putting in outside run and mixing with other stuff. But if you see you chickens sneezing, nasal discharge or looking poorly I would guess the cedar shavings would be the cause and remove them.

 

[Beekissed]

Or hear wheezing and they look like they are struggling to breathe. That's the only symptom mine had was that wheezing.

 

[CrossedSabers]

I tried using the deep litter method in our large coop with 18 chickens. It does work. And it's so easy to manage. The litter has been building up for about 8 months. Just cleaned it out yesterday for the first time. The bottom layers were all broken down and composted. I dug it all right into the garden.

It's easy peasy! And it doesn't smell. Trust me. If you are doing it right, there's no unpleasant smell.

I wrote an article on my blog about my experience with deep litter. Hope this helps! It's the second part of the article, after the update about the hen who is foster mothering some chicks from the farm store.

http://crossedsabersranch.blogspot.com/2014/03/deep-doo-doo.html

 

[LindaB220]

I tried using the deep litter method in our large coop with 18 chickens. It does work. And it's so easy to manage. The litter has been building up for about 8 months. Just cleaned it out yesterday for the first time. The bottom layers were all broken down and composted. I dug it all right into the garden.

It's easy peasy! And it doesn't smell. Trust me. If you are doing it right, there's no unpleasant smell.

I wrote an article on my blog about my experience with deep litter. Hope this helps! It's the second part of the article, after the update about the hen who is foster mothering some chicks from the farm store.

http://crossedsabersranch.blogspot.com/2014/03/deep-doo-doo.html

Stay a spell. Will check out your blog.

edited for content: Really liking your blog

 

[goodb]

If getting chicks and using it in the brooder, you might want to start them out on large flake pine shavings so they won't be eating them, but for bigger birds and in your coop and run, the sawdust will be great! It's in smaller pieces so it will break down well and also absorb well, while being easy to shuffle. Be careful what sawdust you use~try to keep it to pine and hard woods, but not cedar or walnut~and try not to let it get too dry in the summer.

"try not to let it get too dry in the summer"

Why not?

 

[Beekissed]

Extremely dusty...and it won't compost without some moisture. Building it deep can keep the bottom layers more moist if you don't stir it around like some do, but if you are having a really dry summer, I'd throw some water into the DL just to give it a boost on composting and also attract bugs to the mix. Whenever it rains here in the summer and the edges of my DL get wet, within 3-4 days my birds are digging all that wet bedding up in search for bug and worms, so I know the moisture attracts them into the DL. They are important to the process.

 

[lawatt]

Extremely dusty...and it won't compost without some moisture. Building it deep can keep the bottom layers more moist if you don't stir it around like some do, but if you are having a really dry summer, I'd throw some water into the DL just to give it a boost on composting and also attract bugs to the mix. Whenever it rains here in the summer and the edges of my DL get wet, within 3-4 days my birds are digging all that wet bedding up in search for bug and worms, so I know the moisture attracts them into the DL. They are important to the process.

I will ditto this, especially if you live in a dry-summer climate like I do, here in CA (it basically stops raining in april or may and not another drop falls until Oct/Nov) -- last summer i overlooked adding moisture to my pens' DL, and it got VERY dusty & a few chickens had lung troubles as a result -- plus the composting process more or less stopped and there was more smell. sprinkling the DL now and then solved the problems.

 

[mamabear72]

I will ditto this, especially if you live in a dry-summer climate like I do, here in CA

Thank you for the advice I have to tell you I giggled to see where you live because you said it was so dry there.

We're from the Bay area originally but have lived in Reno for the past 20 years. When we go back to visit it feels like we're breathing under water it's so humid and moist to our lungs now. Oh how I long for that Baby Area atmosphere. My desert chicks would love the Martinez earthworms, slugs and snails which are not heard of in my dry backyard. I'm thinking I might have to pass on the DLM for now and see what happens this winter moisture wise.