Deep litter method

[Arielle]

I, too, clean out my coop in the late Fall and toss it all onto the garden for overwintering.
I use shavings.
Whenever I toss in some bread crumbs or scratch, the chickens mix the DL up very well.
My litter is kept dry since my coop has a wood floor.

My DL isn't what I would expect-- you actually have the microbes in it? ANy other visible critters?? My coop is a combo of leaves and poo. ANd hasn't done anything to decompose.

SUggestions welcome from anyone.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I have dirt under my DL. When I turn the DL the dirt underneath is still soft and gets turned into the DL even with the temps being in the low 20s the last few weeks.
perhaps you need to add some other items to the DL as well. I use grass clippings, leaves, straw,hay, pine shavings, fire wood ash ...basically whatever I have on hand.

I started my DL in august and its broken down beautifully. Smells like fresh earth. My litter is dry except around the edges where there is ventilation. I toss it once a week or so no moisture caps form. But the moisture does aid in the decomposition you just dont want it so damp/wet that it would problems with the birds.

I would suggest more different kinds of materials and turning it once a week or so. Throwing some boss in lets the bords do work as well

 

[Kismet]

Until this year, I only used shavings in my litter. The birds' droppings contribute the microbes that aid it in decomposing. This year I added the leaves and pine needles - a frugal addition that someone on this forum suggested. My floor is wood, covered with linoleum. A trap door in the coop leads down underneath to dirt and a permanent run of 12 x 18 square feet, the area of the building.

As I add materials on top, all the materials that are underneath begin to decompose and after a year, it is beautiful compost. I would think that if you turned it too deeply (rather than just ruffling up the top), you might get too much moisture on the surface. You want nice dry bedding for the birds; compost is a perk.

 

[ForgePondFarm]

Plan on having a lot of fun but also plan on being very attentive. We use wood shavings, hay, leaves, and grass cuttings in season. I would be careful with the hay as to much becomes matted and difficult to keep turned over. Our coops have dirt floors that are about 18 inches below the frame of the building on the inside. The resulting "basement" is lined with two types and sizes of wire fencing to keep out predators and about three inches of dirt is tossed on top of that before we start layering. The first layer is always wood chips but that is not a hard and fast rule just a personal preference. We empty the coop in the fall and again in the spring and turn it over at least once per week adding additional material as required. We do not use scratch because I have not been able to source any organic scratch or corn but the girls have never figured that out and enjoy digging whenever we turn the litter over. The lime powder you are hearing about is the same stuff you would use on your lawn or garden. Chicken manure is very acidic. Lime helps bring the composting material to a neutral PH. I use agricultural lime or garden lime made from pulverized limestone. It has the added benefits of adding trace elements to the composting material and is high in calcium. That does not mean the birds should eat it! I dust it over the entire floor before turning the bedding over letting it work in. On occasion I will use some food grade diatomaceous earth which you should be able to get at your local feed store or Agway, or Tractor Supply, I sprinkle this around the inside perimeter of the coops and on the exposed wood at the base of the frames nearest the litter. I do this after scraping any manure off the wood. This material is natural and helps dry out manure and control mites and other insects that are not beneficial. I use it a couple of times a year and during the spring and fall clean outs. I hope you enjoy your new flock!

 

[Costa Rica Art]

When I built my coop here in Costa Rica I had read up on deep litter. I was impressed by the article written up in Mother Earth News about Harvey Ussery, who wrote an article about the deep litter method. I went to his site to read what he had to say about raising chickens and deep littler. Here is a link to the page about deep litter,
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Beginners.html#4, scroll down to housing then to the 4th paragraph. Having read what Mother Earth News said about him as well as Back Yard Chickens magazine I figured that he knew what he was talking about. I built my coop knowing that we get over 100 inches of rain a year so it has deep footings (6" below ground level, 18" deep) with 3 rows of concrete block on top of the footings. My coop floor is dirt, my litter (wood shavings) averages from 8" to 6" deep. It has gone through 3 rainy seasons (we get that 100" of rain from May thru November) and the dirt remains dry. The litter usually is changed a couple of 5 gallon buckets full at a time. The chickens and 4 guineas share the 10'X16' space along with 20/12 week old chicks. the day time temps now are around 75 soon to hit 80 every now and then but there is no bad smell in the coop. I add a sack, like a 100 pound feed sack, of wood shavings as the chickens scratch it out the doors. With those chicks being about half grown I take out more litter in the 5 gallon buckets to scatter around our trees and plants more often as it is getting very crowded at night in the coop (they have the run of the back yard during the day. I have not lost a chicken to sickness since we started. In a smaller area we use for a brooder there is a silkie hen with 10 healthy mixed chicks, some hers and some from our other hens who just happened to lay eggs where she was going to sit so there is quit a mixture of chicks. This silkie actually brooded the 30 chicks I got locally but that is another story. Oh yeah, I also do fermented feed which I learned about here on the forum about FF and meat chickens. I also feed yogurt made from raw whole milk I get from a farmer near by. The chickens love the feed and yogurt and provide us with great eggs and meat. Oh the chickens we have are just a local breed of dual purpose chickens, no actual breed name. Photos if you PM me.


CR Art

 

[feeding frenzy]

I have used the deep litter method in my coop for 2-3 months now and love it. I have a coop with no floor-just natural dirt. I found that the coop smelled bad each morning when I let my 2 chickens out. Even 2 chickens overnight can make a very smelly coop. I read up on the deep litter method and use weeds and grasses I get from my garden. First time I put the weeds in, it took me a lot of weeding to get enough to cover entire coop to make a fluffy bed for my chickens. I found that the chickens were even digging around in the litter and eating all the small weeds and grass! Saved me on feed cost so can't complain too much. I find there was only one corner the chickens like to roost in so now I pushed all the litter to one side, leaving the other half with dirt. When it rained, it was good for my chickens because they could dust bathe inside the dry coop and forage in the litter for greens.

Now I throw all the stuff I weed out of my garden and throw it all into the coop. I turn the bedding a few times a month. No funny smell from my coop no more! I still have not seen compost yet. Maybe I need more chicken poop for stuff to compost faster. Now that it is getting warm here and my pullet will start laying in spring time, I might get a larger flock and will have compost in the summer and fall for my garden! Love this method!

 

[feeding frenzy]

http://s1247.beta.photobucket.com/u...-C14832FE5B7F-19891-00000F0827DA1F6A.mp4.html

I know others had asked what peoples DL looks like. I tried my best to video tape as I stirred up the DL today. I use straw, pine shavings, leaves, & grass clippings for the bedding. I stir up like twice a month with the hens getting scratch in it once a week or so to help out. I only add a small amount of bedding each time. Today it was leaves.

I had dirt initially in here as the base. I do add dirt in a pile for dust bathing in this cold weather plus there are wood stove ashes in here from dust bathing as well. You can see in the video that its breaking down wonderfully. Beautiful black mulch like mixture when I turn it. I did the Bee sniff test by taking a handful up to my nose and it smells like wonderful fresh soil. And its dry and no smells at all. The soil underneath was easily broken with the pitch fork even with freezing temps the last few days. The hens also like to dust bath in the DL.

Dont mind the hens chatter.....they get very excited when I toss the DL......its like I am digging up gold for them

(If link doesnt work I will try again-sorry for jittery video at beginning)

Armorfirelady, just wondering how big is your flock and how fast does the litter compost? I have only 2 chickens and don't see any compost yet. Been using the DLM for 2-3 months now.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I have 4 hens. They have a 4x8 enclosed run & a 4x2 doll house (Only used to roost in at night) They are outside all day except to eat or lay eggs

 

[feeding frenzy]

how long does it take for you to get compost?

 

[armorfirelady]

how long does it take for you to get compost?

I would have to guess a couple months? I got the hens in early August and by looking back at pictures by the end of September beginning of October it was already starting to compost down. That would of been when I was adding grass clippings & leaves as well. I think using different materials helped it to break down faster.

I notice the same thing with my compost pile. The more variety of materials the quicker it breaks down.