Deep litter method

[RoseMarie1]

I was raking leaves today too! We have more than we've ever had here because we have very little winds lately. I've compressed and stored three big trash cans and raked my coop as full as I can without drowning the chickens in leaves, but I'm also going to fill a huge tarp with leaves and try to somehow store that on the outside of one wall of my coop for insulation on that wall, as well as storage of bedding. When God rains down free bedding I'm not one to leave it lay there! I feel like it's going to be a pretty tough winter and I think I'll need more bedding than I stored last year.

good job and I know you will make good use of those! I swept up a whole bunch yesterday with the sweeper on the lawn mower. I think I got 6 of them full. That thing is a life saver for me because of this ruptured disk I have. It kills my back to rake or to mop. This thing has been such a blessing! I piled all mine out behind the flower beds to put them in there and the chickens have been sifting through them. lol

I sure hope you're about to get you a stock pile of the DL.
As well as everyone else to, hope you all can get you a pile to use later before you all have any snow. We usually don't have to worry about snow here. It has snowed but doesn't every year and not often thank goodness!

 

[Beekissed]

Free....that's the imperative word for me. Free bedding, even if it breaks down very quickly it is still really good compost and that's what I'm doing in this coop. My neighbors and co-workers at my last place of residence was used to me scavenging for things too.

I took home shredded paper, cardboard boxes, begged for leaves and grass clippings, old hay, pumpkins, etc.

I spotted a house that has about a truckload of pumpkins in front of their house just down the road from me...I'm going to stop and ask them for the pumpkins when they are done decorating with them because they will probably just toss them over the hill when they are done with them.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Free....that's the imperative word for me. Free bedding, even if it breaks down very quickly it is still really good compost and that's what I'm doing in this coop. My neighbors and co-workers at my last place of residence was used to me scavenging for things too.

I took home shredded paper, cardboard boxes, begged for leaves and grass clippings, old hay, pumpkins, etc.

I spotted a house that has about a truckload of pumpkins in front of their house just down the road from me...I'm going to stop and ask them for the pumpkins when they are done decorating with them because they will probably just toss them over the hill when they are done with them.

I've already put out word I want pumpkins to. yep free is ALWAYS NICE!

 

[niqueie]

I have a question about ventilation in a relatively warm climate. I'm in San Diego and it never freezes here, at least for more than a couple hours. It is most of the time around 45•f lows and 65•f highs in the winter. We do get very humid / foggy coastal air that feels really cold to me at night. I have tons of windows on my coop on all 4 sides, they are very large windows 30"x60" and such, (recycled from my home remodel/new windows). I have one 10"x10" vent at the floor of the coop where the wind will blow in to give ventilation. The roof also has a 4" gap all around the top 4 sides of coop. We have hardware mesh around it for predator control. Our coop is 8.5'x10.5' and 6'-7' tall and has external nest boxes. We have 20 birds and plan to have up to 25 (5 are bantams).

Here is my question. With the humid outside air should I open windows and how many should I open for night time (I have 6 large windows). Also, the coop is in a location on a hill that always has an onshore (humid) breeze and sometimes gets pretty windy. One window captures this breeze perfectly for the summer. But not sure if it would be way to cold for the winter to stay open.

I have 2 month old birds that will be going out there this weekend and I wanted to hear what you guys think. We will be doing the deep litter method on a dirt floor.

 

[Beekissed]

I would be keeping all those windows open all year round. It may feel cold to you, but those birds are wearing down coats all winter, so 45 is just right for them at night. If you close up a coop like that, it most definitely will keep too much humidity indoors and it will absorb quite a bit in the bedding. You won't have to worry about frostbite but you will have to worry about stale, damp conditions that will breed all kinds of bad things. The more airflow you have, the less chance you have of exposing your flock to airborne pathogens.

We have a 30s-50s here at night right now and my coop~a hoop coop~ is entirely open to air on all sides and won't be closed up in any way until those nighttime temps stay in the 30s or we start getting some really cold winds blowing through in addition to the cold nighttime temps.

 

[niqueie]

Thanks!! One more question. Where would you put roosts. Should I try to find places that won't receive as much breeze/wind? Or will they not really care?
I am so thankful for all of your help. It has been a great adventure so far and we are having so much fun with our birds.

 

[Beekissed]

That would be appropriate...just give them a wind block to put their backs to and they will do very well. As long as the wind isn't ruffling up their feathers as they roost and stealing their body warmth, they will be great. And healthier than living in a coop where the breeze doesn't clean out the germs and stale air for them.

My sister..a very, very poor farmer...doesn't even have a coop for her chickens and they sleep wherever they can find a spot at her place~and the wind just scours her place as she lives at a very high altitude and very cold temps, sometimes down into the single digits. Despite her poor care and management, her chickens seem very hardy and productive. I don't know how they are even alive...

 

[mynewbabies]

Do you have a picture of your droppings board under the roost, I am interested in seeing if this would work for mine , do you use it for the inside
Coop or outside, as I have both .? Thanks

 

[Lacy Blues]

Do you have a picture of your droppings board under the roost, I am interested in seeing if this would work for mine , do you use it for the inside
Coop or outside, as I have both .? Thanks

I'll try to get one for you. I only made them in my rooster pens. Never got around to doing it under the hens. You know, I didn't even think about it until this moment! But now, since I want to do deep litter, I won't need them anyway. But I'll try to get a picture. I posted one but I understand that it doesn't show very well.

 

[mynewbabies]

That would be great, thanks. Are your roosters separate from your hens?
I am not sure what you mean by you wouldn't need it doing deep method, maybe you
can help me understand it better the deep method, they are still going to poop all over
When they roost at night, is yours on a wood floor or dirt. ?