Deep litter method

[HudsonValleyGirl]

I am not a fan of this method. I personally treat my chicken coop like my house.
Every morning I clean up their droppings from both their run and coop. I have gotten it down to 25 minutes. It is great because it makes me get up early and now i am 15 minutes early to work every day. The coop never smells and after 2 weeks I take out the bedding and replace with new bedding and a treatment of DE.

 

[Hen-O-Pause]

you will no doubt tell how new I am to all this chicken talk when I ask... You clean out the run? Really? How so?

I'm gearing up to get my chickens this weekend - the coop is almost ready. I'm stoked!

 

[tdgill]

I'm curious too!

I have discovered that I will use any excuse to spend more time with my chickens and ducks.

 

[darkmatter]

I've been using the deep litter method for over 15 years now; I only clean out the coop once or twice a year when I want fertilizer for the garden. See my BYC page for pics. But........I have a coop that different then others I've seen here on BYC. Mine is a brick foundation I built with a sub-ground level dirt floor. The deep litter can built up to 18" before it reaches any wood, it composts well, I turn it over sometimes, although the chickens tend to do that for me. I only fork it up if it looks likes it starts to get matted. I usually clean it out in the spring for the garden and spend all summer adding my lawnmower clippings and raked up pine needles/cones etc. I have been in others coops and had my eyes water from the smell---never in mine, I only smell the rich compost earthy odor. I started my Coop in B.C. (Before Computers) and got my ideas from organic gardening publications written in the fifties comparing commercial endeavors to homestead methods. When possible mimic the natural processes and techniques rather then brute force like a commercial production.

 

[becstalls]

For those that use diatomaceous earth as a drying agent, do you use the food grade kind, or the kind that is promoted as an earth friendly pesticide that is sold at feed stores? I read on here that you're supposed to use the food grade kind, but the only way for me to get that is to order it online, and I'd prefer to give the local store the business if it won't hurt the chickens. Thanks!!

 

[ladybuglives]

I would contact the company that makes the DE because when I called the one that my feed store carries they said that I should look for a number on the bag -- the number was what told them if it was food grade or not. I had been looking for big words "Food Grade" printed on the bag and it wasn't. I found out the number matched the one the company deems as food grade.

 

[father-clucker]

Quote:
When doing the composting that you refer to, is the coopy cleanout material considered the "brown" part of the compost equation or the "green"?? I'm guessing it plays the role of the brown material meaning I could in theory add what you're mentioning (lawn clippings, fresh weeds,etc) and the 50-50% mixture will do it's magic.. Correct?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Used coop litter is a combination of brown and green material. The clean litter is a brown and the high nitrogen, wet chicken poop is a green.

 

[father-clucker]

So I may still want to add shredded paper to ensure proper brown ratio...? I'd guess it's more brown than green but haven't been there yet -- still in the coop building phase..

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I can just pile it as is and have it finish into nice compost.