Deep litter method

[father-clucker]

Thanks! Will-do!

 

[joebryant]

I do deep litter, and I replace my wood shavings/poo with fresh twice a year, putting it all into the compost bin for use in the garden later. I keep everything dry by spreading food grade diatomaceous earth over everything about once a month. I catch poo over a layer of wood shavings/diatomaceous earth under the roosts with a black two- X four-foot X nine-inch-high concrete mixing box that I bought at Home Depot for $10; poo and wood shavings in the black box all get dumped every other month into the compost bins. I blow out all dust with my electric air blower by opening all doors and windows and wearing a dust mask.
I never have a smell or flies or any problems whatsoever doing it this way. See My BYC Page.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

Quote:
Personally I think you are doing your birds a great dis-service.
Keeping the birds environment spotless does not allow the build up of microorganisms that assist the immune systems in the birds.
Then you end up with fragile birds that were raised in a bubble and can't survive outside that bubble.

I believe the deep littler method is far Superior to any other method that I've seen posted here.

 

[Hen-O-Pause]

Quote:
This is a great idea! Is the concrete mixing box made out of a plastic?

 

[father-clucker]

if it's the one I'm thinking of, it is.. I've got a green one..

 

[4theloveofhens]

Do you reccommend deep litter if my coop is 4x4 with 4 hens and I won't be living at this place more than a couple years?

Thanks

Makenzie

 

[father-clucker]

Quote:
Why not go for it? Our coop is just a hair smaller than yours (4x3.5) and we're going to be doing DLM once I get the walls on..

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Yep. Your space is too small for 4 hens and they may have to spend time in there on rainy/snowy days....the deep litter will give them something to do, will help keep them warm, and will save you the daily clean up of four birds in a small space during the winter months.

 

[tdgill]

may I remind that there needs to be adequate ventilation and no amonia odor at chicken height.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
The brown:green (really, carbon:nitrogen) ratio of your coop cleanings will depends HUGELY on how you manage your coop sanitation.

If your coop cleanings consist only of bedding-free scrapings from a droppings board, then it is very high nitrogen and will indeed need some shredded paper or straw or used shavings or whatever added to it to compost well.

However if you follow the common plan of cleaning all the bedding+poo out of the coop every week or two, and use a reasonable depth of bedding, and do not have your chickens crowded severely, then you will be having quite a lot more carbon than nitrogen, relative to what composts well; and you would want to add NOT another brown material such as shredded paper, but rather more of a so-called green material such as pure poo, fresh grass clippings or fresh veg/fruit scraps, urine, ammonia, high-nitrogen commercial fertilizer, or such.

I would suggest, particular with respect to processing coop cleanings, that you regard this brown:green ratio business as a starting place for experimentation, not an actual guideline, because it is fantastically difficult to correctly guess what the REAL ratio of C:N is in your particular coop cleanings. So, try it, see what happens, then adapt

Good luck, ahve fun,

Pat