Deep litter method

[RoseMarie1]

Try it and see what happens! That's all you can do and then make adjustments as you go along.

OK thanx.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Deleted

 

[RoseMarie1]

I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have 63 trips around the sun so it is not my first rodeo.

I have anywhere from 10 to 15 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months it froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

Oh I might add I do have poop boards 3½" below my roost that I clean every 2 to 3 days (excellent for catching eggs laid through the night).

In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

Easy peasy!.

Chicken coop is salvaged 4x8 metal shed.

LOVE the deer in your garden! I tried the sand and was out there over and hour a day scooping poo out of it in this heat we have here in the south. Sweat rolling down my legs and my body and decided DL would be much less work and much better to. LOVVVVE the sand but much too much work in this heat PLUS I bet it will be freezing cold in the winter time to. My coop is larger as well so I just had to find something else and when Bee told me about DL I knew that was the way to go since I wanted more natural. ALSO had been using that DE in the sand and found out it is NOT GOOD on THEIR LUNGS OR mine. So I stopped using that mess and the sand really started smelling after I stop using it.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Wood pellets work well (when I can get them). I also put a large concentration of lime under my roost on my poop boards (especially in the summer) to combat ordour and flies. I also season my litter with lime from time to time with a light sprinkling with a plastic peanut butter bottle I drill holes into to emulate a salt shaker (it too is hard on the lungs and is caustic in large concentrations).

 

[Beekissed]

You might be able to avoid all those issues with smell and flies if you were to open up your coop with adequate ventilation and cultivate a true deep litter pack. I've never had to add lime to my litter and I haven't seen a fly in two years....and our temps are hot and humid as the average summer temps in the rest of the country.

 

[Hokum Coco]

@ Beekissed It is not shown in this picture however when I open the door on the left it reveals a second screened door with ¼ inch hardware cloth I just installed it this summer.

The added ventilation acts exactly like you suggest by keeping everything bone dry. I still use the lime (old habits die hard) but not nearly as much as I had in the past.

 

[Beekissed]

Ventilation sure does help, doesn't it? When I first started using deep litter I thought I had massive ventilation(one whole wall of windows covered in wire and half of another wall with the same) and it would be adequate...but things didn't start to work right until I opened up another area near the floor about 2 x 2 and then it all started working fine.

 

[iwanaplae2]

I've learned a lot reading this thread. And I had decided not to do the deep litter because I just didn't think it was something that would work for me. But now that we've had our first big storm of the season, I'm re-thinking things.
We got almost 2" of rain the other day, and when I went out to check on the girls, I found that the roof on our coop had a few leaks Nothing TO major. Just some wet spots.
So instead of clearing out the wet bedding I just added more bedding and mixed it up a bit. So I think I will use this method at least for the fall/winter and see how it goes...

 

[Beekissed]

Good idea. I can't imagine any coop or run that this would not benefit, with some adaptation of ventilation. I can't imagine ever going back to the old way of doing things now because this has been such an easy care solution to poop, smells and flies. I like easy and I like healthy and deep litter provides both for me...you might find you'll like it so much that you never want to go back!

 

[RoseMarie1]

I was just out there in mine earlier moving around the DL to put those grazing frames in place. I did not find one poop not one in all that DL. It blew my mind because it's DEEP and I moved a herd of it to get those frames in place and I didn't see ANY poop. No smell or nothing. The soil has even changed colors under there as well and looks nice and not like powder anymore.

Yes this IS the way to go because they don't have to constantly be walking on their own poop.