Deep litter method

[tdgill]

food grade diatomaceous earth. emphasis on FOOD GRADE - not the stuff that is used in pool filters. Do a search and lots of stuff to read.

 

[Twobrookschickens]

What is DE? I use wood shavings and straw. Can hens have hay too? I thought the hay would be bothersome to their intestinal tract. I've been cleaning the hen house out once a week. But now I'm thinking of the deep litter method. Sounds like it should work, especially for cold winter months that we have here in Eastern Canada.

 

[patandchickens]

What is DE?

Diatomaceous earth. You need to get FOOD-GRADE stuff (or the Red Lake Earth your feedstore may sell, which is DE mixed with clay), the pool-filter or insecticide-grade DE is considerably more harmful to lungs. It is totally optional whether to use DE.

I use wood shavings and straw. Can hens have hay too?

Yes, but it is more expensive, will mat together worse (harder to clean), and a fair number of people have problems with hens getting impacted crops from eating it. I wouldn't use it myself, but some do with no problem.

You might consider using ONLY shavings OR straw, since unless the straw is chopped it is usually a whole lot harder to clean (or turn) a mixture than just shavings or just straw. Even with any of a variety of deep litter methods, you still can't be letting things get all matted and awful, which is harder to prevent with whole straw.

I'm thinking of the deep litter method. Sounds like it should work, especially for cold winter months that we have here in Eastern Canada.

If you are going to try using deep litter in Eastern Canada you need to have VERY AMPLE ventilation, like really very much more than you may think of, instead of trying to keep the coop 'tight' to 'hold in heat'. A very traditional and widespread Canadian custom is giving yer chickens frostbite and respiratory problems by shutting the coop up for the winter, and you are under-ventilated to start with, trying to leave the poo in there for deep litter will only make the problem worse.

(That said, I *do* use a version of deep litter management, and I live not quite an hour north of Toronto... all's I;m saying is that it is not one size fits all, and in many cases the way people do things up here it can make things worse)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[Twobrookschickens]

Thanks so much. Appreciate the information.

 

[sunnyzoopet]

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[ChickenLoverChrista]

We live in an area that has "long leaf" pines. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr003

There are LOTS of pine needles on the ground. Can I safety use these needles mixed in with pine shaving ?

thank you

 

[spook]

Thank heavens for deep litter method, it has kept the hen house just above freezing! Frost on the walls and windows, I keep adding a nice layer of shavings to prevent ammonia build up.

 

[patandchickens]

Spook - if you have frost *on the walls* not just windows, you have awfully high humidity and are at risk of frostbite, I would seriously consider getting a lot more ventilation in there even though it will be at the expense of some of the warmth. Cold and dry is much safer than slightly-less-cold-but-real-humid.

ChickenLoverChrista - lots of people do use pinestraw as bedding, although a few are opposed to it for fear of bumblefoot infections from the sharp pointy bits. However if you want to try it I would be cautious about this business of *mixing* it with shavings, as that will make a hard-to-clean mess. I mean, you can try it, but I would suggest trying it in a small controlled area, perhaps just one part (tho of course the chickens may decide to rearrange things!) and see how you like its cleaning properties. I can tell you that with horse stalls, the hardest thing in the world to spot-clean is if you have a combination of straw AND shavings, and pinestraw+shavings would not be that different.

Pat

 

[spook]

Quote:
Thank you Pat. I will put plastic up on the door, 3/4 of the way down so to open the door for ventilation. Also we have heated water dishes. The coop doesn't get as much sun as I (and the girls) wish, of course, no one is getting that much sun! We all need to get together on a meditation for spring, green grass and sunburns- er sunscreens!

 

[Kathleen1115]

Thanks so much for all of the information in this thread -- it's been incredibly helpful. We've been using the DLM since the fall with our young (just 22 weeks now and starting to lay) flock of six. We haven't been using DE but will start now. We have 3-4 inches of shavings on a linoleum floor. I rake the shavings every other day or so and add more shavings about once a week. We keep the windows and doors open during the day and closed at night (Georgia winters are not bad) and haven't noticed smell build-up during the night. Our food and water is hanging inside the hen house but I usually move them both our into the run during the day. In the run -- which is large (12 by 18, with an 8 by 8 coop inside the run) we use cedar mulch on the ground. About once a week I stir up the mulch in the run also and have been adding about 2 bags of mulch (2 cu ft each) once a month. My girls love it when I rake or add mulch -- it's like a big treasure hunt for them.

So -- thanks again for being such a great resource!