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Pretty much. It needn't be gross and smelly though. Properly maintained, the manure just dries out and crumbles into a dirt like consistency. With enough manure it will produce a low level of ammonia that effectively self-sanitizes the litter. It needs to be kept fairly dry to keep the manure from blowing off large amounts of ammonia, but not so dry that it creates a large dust cloud every time the birds get a little rambunctious. The amount of bedding or when it needs to be added is up to you. Deep-litter can vary from being maintained as mostly manure to mostly bedding or anywhere in between.
You can throw some scratch in there to encourage the birds to turn it, otherwise just turn over and break up any caked or matted areas with a fork.
Pretty much. It needn't be gross and smelly though. Properly maintained, the manure just dries out and crumbles into a dirt like consistency. With enough manure it will produce a low level of ammonia that effectively self-sanitizes the litter. It needs to be kept fairly dry to keep the manure from blowing off large amounts of ammonia, but not so dry that it creates a large dust cloud every time the birds get a little rambunctious. The amount of bedding or when it needs to be added is up to you. Deep-litter can vary from being maintained as mostly manure to mostly bedding or anywhere in between.
You can throw some scratch in there to encourage the birds to turn it, otherwise just turn over and break up any caked or matted areas with a fork.