Deep litter method

[lawatt]

i don't have pine trees here, but oak leaves are starting to fall, & i'll be putting some in my chickens' runs -- my set-up has enclosed henhouses up above a run, so i can just sweep the dirty bedding (pine shavings) down onto the floor of the run, which have from 4-10" of deep litter going (shallower in the newer pens still) -- and i've just bought some compressed pine pellets, to try instead of shavings -- will report on how well they work!

 

[Beekissed]

got any pine straw to toss into there to? I added some more to mine today. Swept up 2 huge sweeper fulls of leaves, pine straw and grass clippings. Piled them out by the door of their run and before I could get it IN to the run they had already started sifting through it.

I had to rake it back up so I could get it with my pitchfork to put it inside their run.

That's what I do too, Rose...I just rake up leaves, pine needles, small twigs, pine cones, hay and other yard debris and put it right into my coop. I have deer hair, ancient turtle shells, bones, sticks, feathers...you name it, whatever was in the yard got tossed into the coop to be buried into the DL. This coop just EATS my bedding materials unless they are pine shavings..they last a bit longer but are slowly getting composted as well. The grass around the coop has grown more and more lush and green with time as the rich nutrients get washed into the surrounding soils by the heavy rains we've had this year.

I love the diversity of the bedding materials and the texture they lend to the litter pack as they have different levels of moisture retention than if it were just one thing, such as all shavings or all leaves. As poop gets dropped under the roosts, every few days or so if the chickens haven't done it for me, I'll take the pitchfork and lightly toss some bedding on top of it or turn it under a little. There is absolutely no smells or flies in this coop, even after rain, heat and humidity...no smells. Just clean, earthy, outdoors...can't tell chickens live there. My ol' ma is constantly amazed and wished she had tried that back in her day.

 

[armorfirelady]

I will be taking a few trees down this fall and am going to rent a chipper so I can have the chips for the coop. That way I get free chips instead of putting them out for the town to pick up

 

[RoseMarie1]

I will be taking a few trees down this fall and am going to rent a chipper so I can have the chips for the coop. That way I get free chips instead of putting them out for the town to pick up

GOOD idea Armorfirelady!
We've got to do a lot of repair work on my pen but I am trying to think ahead and put the grazing frames in place so they wont be in the way of all the repair work that's got to be done. Someone really gave me a blessing the other day and I KNOW where ALL of them REALLY come from but he is going to get me some posts his company doesn't use and gives away ever so often and that way I/we wont have to buy the post. DON'T USE landscaping timbers for your posts on your chicken pens or any other pens for that matter. They don't last no time once they've been put into the soil.
Anyway to say I am excited is putting it mildly about those free post.

and SO VERY thankful!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Be aware that treated lumber leeches arsenic into the soil for a long, long time. I wasn't really thinking about that when I built this hoopty coopty as I was envisioning it as something that would be moved so frequently that this would not be an issue in any one place...but now I wish I had used some cypress or similar lumber for the frame.

 

[RoseMarie1]

That's what I do too, Rose...I just rake up leaves, pine needles, small twigs, pine cones, hay and other yard debris and put it right into my coop. I have deer hair, ancient turtle shells, bones, sticks, feathers...you name it, whatever was in the yard got tossed into the coop to be buried into the DL. This coop just EATS my bedding materials unless they are pine shavings..they last a bit longer but are slowly getting composted as well. The grass around the coop has grown more and more lush and green with time as the rich nutrients get washed into the surrounding soils by the heavy rains we've had this year.

I love the diversity of the bedding materials and the texture they lend to the litter pack as they have different levels of moisture retention than if it were just one thing, such as all shavings or all leaves. As poop gets dropped under the roosts, every few days or so if the chickens haven't done it for me, I'll take the pitchfork and lightly toss some bedding on top of it or turn it under a little. There is absolutely no smells or flies in this coop, even after rain, heat and humidity...no smells. Just clean, earthy, outdoors...can't tell chickens live there. My ol' ma is constantly amazed and wished she had tried that back in her day.

Oh yeah there was feathers and pine cones and you name it in there. In fact probably a squirrel tail to.

The white cat the ole man (the old cat) trained to hunt got herself a half grown squirrel the other day and I noticed the tail lying out there in the grass so it's probably also in there.

Yep I turned their poop under this morning under their roost and it's finally not smelling now so there must be some critter activity going on under there. Mine was smelling and drawing flies but I started turning it under more since they wasn't doing that.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Be aware that treated lumber leeches arsenic into the soil for a long, long time. I wasn't really thinking about that when I built this hoopty coopty as I was envisioning it as something that would be moved so frequently that this would not be an issue in any one place...but now I wish I had used some cypress or similar lumber for the frame.

ok thanx Bee.

 

[RoseMarie1]

It's cool, isn't it? Like the litter just eats the poop and the soil turns rich in the process...love that concept of the poop being digested into something better and that smells healthy. I've noticed, too, that the poop is more easily digested now that I'm using the FF, than it was before with regular feeds. I think it has less far to go to composting when the grains are transformed in that way and are not coming out in the feces undigested.

yes it is, it really surprised me when I used the pitchfork to move all that out of the way and I did not see ANY poop. The soil looks so nice under there to not all powdery like it was before. Our soil is sooooo sandy and the nutrients and water just flows right through it so this is going to be SOOOOOOOO GOOD for our garden when I put it in there!!!! We have tried to build the soil with stuff in the bags from Walmart BUT this is going to REALLY be awesome for it!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Salatin does this in large hoop greenhouse style houses and then plants tomatoes inside the hoop houses after the chickens and pigs are moved out. Would be kind of neat to put plastic over a bit of that run and fence out the chickens to plant some things in it early, then let the chickens in later to clean up after you were done using the temporary "greenhouse".

 

[RoseMarie1]

Salatin does this in large hoop greenhouse style houses and then plants tomatoes inside the hoop houses after the chickens and pigs are moved out. Would be kind of neat to put plastic over a bit of that run and fence out the chickens to plant some things in it early, then let the chickens in later to clean up after you were done using the temporary "greenhouse".

That's a REALLY NEAT idea Bee. I have ALWAYS wanted a hoop house!! My friend Marilyn has one that she uses for her chickens and then she plants stuff in it. She grows her own lettuce and everything in there. She's an online friend of mine and we've been emailing one another for years now. She's such an interesting lady! She has sheep and goats and cows and chickens. She does all sorts of things I have never heard of. But ever since she told me what all she does in her hoop houses I have been wanting one. She said in the winter time it soothing to her soul to get inside when the weathers all nasty and dreary out and work in the greenhouse since it's soooo warm inside it. Sounds awesome to me. She lives in MO.so she gets more snow than we do here. We hardly ever get snow. But it just sounds soooo awesome to me and with the idea you just gave me that would be cool to do as well and it does get some sunshine to! hmmmmmm something else to think on.