Deep litter method

[schnebbles]

I'll try it, I have some I can add now. May as well put them to some kind of use!

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I have been doing DL since about June or July of this year; currently I have 14 chickens in a 4x8 coop, they free range during the day. I have been using pine shavings since the beginning and I maintain it at about 6", stir it about once per week and add a little more clean shavings to the top at that time. For some reason when I stir it up it has an ammonia smell that I just can't seem to get rid of. I have good ventilation in the coop and I don't let all the droppings get stirred in the DL because I don't want a nitrogen overload to upset the process, I usually remove half of the manure on top of the DL about once per week and leave the other half to stir into the mix... Any idea why I can't seem to conquer that ammonia smell ?

 

[schnebbles]

I put some stuff from TSC in mine. Sweet PDZ I think it was, 9.99 for a 25# bag and I just put a few cups in and stirred it in. Someone else suggested that.

 

[Beekissed]

I have been doing DL since about June or July of this year; currently I have 14 chickens in a 4x8 coop, they free range during the day. I have been using pine shavings since the beginning and I maintain it at about 6", stir it about once per week and add a little more clean shavings to the top at that time. For some reason when I stir it up it has an ammonia smell that I just can't seem to get rid of. I have good ventilation in the coop and I don't let all the droppings get stirred in the DL because I don't want a nitrogen overload to upset the process, I usually remove half of the manure on top of the DL about once per week and leave the other half to stir into the mix... Any idea why I can't seem to conquer that ammonia smell ?

Yep...stop stirring it. And you'll want to go deeper than 6 in. to get a really good manure pack going. It also helps to open up more ventilation near the floor if you are having a lot of ammonia being generated. Mostly, though, I think that composting is going on under your litter and when you stir it, you are releasing that byproduct of composting into the air.

I've made that mistake and I finally learned...leave the litter alone. The most I do now is pick up a fork full of litter from one area and throw it lightly over the poop deposited under the roosts a couple of times a week. Your stocking rate in your coop is pretty high, particularly for winter month use, so that might be a factor also. In that kind of space I'd put no more than 8 LF and even that would be pushing it in the winter months.

If you can't decrease your stocking rate, you'll need to deepen your litter and increase your ventilation considerably. Then leave it alone, other than tossing clean litter onto the dirty areas. For the winter months I keep a pretty deep litter as the birds are in the coop more, the coop is more closed up and there is more poop being deposited there.

Just minor tweaks here and there can get you where you are going.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Yep...stop stirring it.  And you'll want to go deeper than 6 in. to get a really good manure pack going.  It also helps to open up more ventilation near the floor if you are having a lot of ammonia being generated. Mostly, though, I think that composting is going on under your litter and when you stir it, you are releasing that byproduct of composting into the air. 

I've made that mistake and I finally learned...leave the litter alone.  The most I do now is pick up a fork full of litter from one area and throw it lightly over the poop deposited under the roosts a couple of times a week.  Your stocking rate in your coop is pretty high, particularly for winter month use, so that might be a factor also.  In that kind of space I'd put no more than 8 LF and even that would be pushing it in the winter months.

If you can't decrease your stocking rate, you'll need to deepen your litter and increase your ventilation considerably.  Then leave it alone, other than tossing clean litter onto the dirty areas.  For the winter months I keep a pretty deep litter as the birds are in the coop more, the coop is more closed up and there is more poop being deposited there.  

Just minor tweaks here and there can get you where you are going.   

So perhaps if I quit stirring it, deepen the litter, increase ventilation and add new to only the dirty areas, that will perhaps solve the problem ?

 

[Beekissed]

You can try it! Nothing to lose! It worked for me and a couple of others to just leave the litter alone. The bugs will start collecting up under it when it's not disturbed and start eating on those feces. With feeding this FF it seems like the poop just simply disappears after I cover it lightly with litter...if you look in the same spot for the poop in a couple of days it's just gone! Like vanishing poop...Rosemarie said hers is doing the same thing. Now ya see it, now ya don't.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

You can try it!  Nothing to lose!  It worked for me and a couple of others to just leave the litter alone.  The bugs will start collecting up under it when it's not disturbed and start eating on those feces.  With feeding this FF it seems like the poop just simply disappears after I cover it lightly with litter...if you look in the same spot for the poop in a couple of days it's just gone!  Like vanishing poop...Rosemarie said hers is doing the same thing.  Now ya see it, now ya don't. 

That's what I'm going to do, just leave it and let it work its magic ! With the FF their poop is definitely less smelly ... And once I get the DL to where it should be then it will be smooth sailing ... Thanks as always, Bee ... Much appreciated !

 

[henless]

Ashes are a natural repellent of lice and mites. I keep a litter box full of them with some peat moss mixed in for them to dust bathe in.

I don't have a fireplace. I'll have to hit up my mom to save hers when she cleans out her fireplace.

What does the peat moss do?

 

[armorfirelady]

Ashes are a natural repellent of lice and mites. I keep a litter box full of them with some peat moss mixed in for them to dust bathe in.

I don't have a fireplace. I'll have to hit up my mom to save hers when she cleans out her fireplace. 

What does the peat moss do?

It does nothing for the chickens. To me it just makes the ashes less dusty. And it a good add to the DL to help break it down and stop it from compacting into chunks especially when its cold.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I made a great score today! A local trailer park situated under a bunch of cottonwood trees (and a few others) had no idea what to do with all those leaves! I showed up at the right time. Today alone, I brought home ELEVEN bags of leaves. I plan to go back tomorrow and do another yard. Yep, that's right. 11 bags of leaves in one person's front yard! These are 50 gallon contractor bagfuls! I dumped them all into the different yards as they are quite wet from the snow and rain we had last week. After they've been there long enough to dry out, I'll rake them into the coops.

Yippee!