Deep litter method

[jvls1942]

I have been doing chickens for over 50 years.
I am really old school.
what is referred to as deep litter today is not what I am familiar with..
we deep litter. and by that, I mean that the "bedding" on the floor of the coop is deep. it acts like insulation if kept dry.. when it gets soiled and matted down, we add more straw.
by spring it is a good foot deep.
I never throw table scraps down. it rots and stinks.
fo me it sounds like you folks today are trying to make compost in the coop.
when I clean out the coop in the springtime, then I toss everything onto the compost pile.
I would never put compost into my coop for litter..
..

 

[aart]

it sounds like you folks today are trying to make compost in the coop.

Yep, some are...some think they are...
...it does work well in some situations, if constructed and managed properly.
I, like you, use a deep dry bedding in coop.

 

[betR2]

All experimental for me at the moment, but, I do a deep litter in the small run under my coop/bedding box. The upstairs bedding area has a fairly normal layer of bedding material which is kept as clean as possible and DRY. In my outdoor chicken yard, I do a compost system - Jason Rhodes style but scaled a little for my suburban backyard.

The inside run is on concrete so I put a layer of good soil to bring in necessary good guys to make the system work.

I wanted to try this without too much expenditure (because I was not confident it would even work) so I used homemade lemon grass mulch and grass clippings (fairly dry - ie mowed when lawn low and dry) to bring up to about 6 inches (much higher than that and the hens have no headroom under the bedding box and the ramp up.) A low board across the doorway keeps the depth inside instead of it being spread across the doorway and out of the coop by all the scratching and digging activities. The number of evenings I had to get my spade and clear the doorway before I could shut the coop up, the lazy chicken-lover in me was happy to see the difference a little bit of timber made.

If the hens don't dig it all over during the day, I rake it every evening, to make sure all dropping are turned into the top layer, and I add more bedding or clippings as needed. I also throw in a shovel or two of soil, which is full of life, to encourage them to do the work of turning the soiled top layer in as well as to provide the joy of dirt baths and foraging for worms and bugs.

It ain't a great way to make compost as far as I can tell (though I haven't got the depth to do a proper whatever-it-is-I'm-doing, anyway, but the hens love to dig through it, lay in it and find yummy critters that might be hiding there and I have yet to clean the inside run out (after 2 1/2 months) and it doesn't look like I will need to for some time yet.

Although under roof, the whole lot gets some driving rain occasionally and a bit of run-off across the concrete, too. Still stays overall dry and no sign of mould or bad smells. I never put food scraps down in the inside run, though I do occasionally throw in various healthy and sweet smelling herbs (Lisa Steele style) and maybe a handful of seeds or grains to encourage scratching.

I don't throw their food on the ground in the outside run, either, though they sometimes make a mess, which I pick up and throw in the in-yard compost. They usually jump straight in there and clean it up, anyway.

I'm pretty happy with all three areas and basically the only money I am spending is on the nesting and sleeping areas where I use commercial absorbent bedding as well as some homemade lemon grass bedding (that stuff smells divine). It is a bit of work keeping up to the actual sleeping quarters, but I would rather that area be as clean and comfy as possible as they can't just move away if they don't want to be there.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I have been doing chickens for over 50 years.
I am really old school.
what is referred to as deep litter today is not what I am familiar with..
we deep litter. and by that, I mean that the "bedding" on the floor of the coop is deep. it acts like insulation if kept dry.. when it gets soiled and matted down, we add more straw.
by spring it is a good foot deep.
I never throw table scraps down. it rots and stinks.
fo me it sounds like you folks today are trying to make compost in the coop.
when I clean out the coop in the springtime, then I toss everything onto the compost pile.
I would never put compost into my coop for litter..
..

Deep l

Yep, some are...some think they are...
...it does work well in some situations, if constructed and managed properly.
I, like you, use a deep dry bedding in coop.

X2
I deep bed the coop, my run is deep litter

 

[Kusanar]

I have been doing chickens for over 50 years.
I am really old school.
what is referred to as deep litter today is not what I am familiar with..
we deep litter. and by that, I mean that the "bedding" on the floor of the coop is deep. it acts like insulation if kept dry.. when it gets soiled and matted down, we add more straw.
by spring it is a good foot deep.
I never throw table scraps down. it rots and stinks.
fo me it sounds like you folks today are trying to make compost in the coop.
when I clean out the coop in the springtime, then I toss everything onto the compost pile.
I would never put compost into my coop for litter..
..

What you are referring to is "Deep Bedding" with Deep litter, you don't clean the coup or run, it just breaks down in place, with Deep Bedding you have to clean the coup out in the spring and then compost.

 

[armorfirelady]

I want to build a chicken coop specifically made for deep littering but cannot find plans! Help! I have 13 chickens

I used cattle panels when I made my coop. Very simple & can even be portable if needed. It can be as big as you need it as well. And if you live in an area where its cold & snowy it still works!

You can click on my avatar and see the link to my coop

 

[kbarnes1210]

Can this method be used in a smaller coop? Mine is 4'x5'

 

[OlympicChick]

Found this fantastic video explaining deep litter:

 

[nminusyplusm]

Found this fantastic video explaining deep litter:

Thanks for posting this! I saw that video when I was designing my coop and incorporated some of that design into mine on a smaller scale. I dug down and built the coop on a foundation of rows of cement blocks. It's not as deep as a meter but it still works really well!

 

[OlympicChick]

Mine will not be as deep as a meter either, but I'm on dirt and planning to loosen up the whole dirt floor so that eventually *maybe* it might get almost that deep.