Deep litter question!

[cp2894_]

Hi, I'm new here. I've heard lots of stuff about the deep litter method - but I just don't agree that it's healthy. I've had chickens for over a year, although I grew up on a farm raising other types of animals and I firmly believe in a clean house for them. The idea of allowing poop to collect for months is just gross. I clean my chicken house once per week, minimum. I have a 4' x 8' shed-type coop that I built, with roost bars so they're not sitting in their own poop, wood shavings on the floor for bedding and absorbtion, and I clean it out every week and put the soiled shavings in my garden, which loves it. To me, not cleaning the coop is like humans not flushing their toilets. Sorry, but germs and bugs are going to grow. That's just me, but I just don't think it's good for them. If you're going to raise animals, clean up after them Allowing it to sit for months while you add more bedding on top of it... yuck, sorry. No offense to anybody using this method and succeeding with it, I would just never do it.

I totally understand where you're coming from! Personally, from what I've read and been told, deep litter can be really healthy for the chickens! Supposedly it's supposed to ward off parasites and prevent coccidiosis. I think of it like compost. Once it breaks down, it won't smell or even look like poop. It's supposed to smell a lot better and personally I like the convenience that comes with it of having to do minimal cleaning for results that are great for the chickens. Not to say I'm trying to get away with neglecting chickens! if I didn't think deep litter was healthy for them, I'd put in the work to thoroughly clean their coop every day

 

[ChickNanny13]

I read that about straw too but I'm not sure how many grass clippings I could get. We don't cut our grass often and don't really have a huge yard.

Do you have trees around? Leaves work too, during the Fall Season is a good time to rake up & dry out or just toss some into the run. If there's Mill, see what they have for mulching, dried pine needles, alfalfa hay can .... In the Mainland you all have so much more options ... Once you get started you shouldn't have to "replenish" for awhile.

 

[aart]

Hi! So sorry to bother you again. I went out to measure again and realized I wrote the measurement of the width down wrong. It's actually 3'8 not 2'8. If I found a way to make the coop taller, do you think that would still be too small? The length and width together would be a little less than 24 ft². I'd also be adding much more ventilation.

Yes. Sorry.

 

[NatJ]

I went out to measure again and realized I wrote the measurement of the width down wrong. It's actually 3'8 not 2'8. If I found a way to make the coop taller, do you think that would still be too small? The length and width together would be a little less than 24 ft². I'd also be adding much more ventilation.

So the correct dimensions are 6 feet 5 inches by 3 feet 8 inches?

That makes 23.5 square feet.
For 5 chickens, that should be enough floor space.
I agree with your idea of making it taller.

Maybe you can take the top off, and expand it to the full height of the shed. That would make a fairly nice coop for 5 chickens, and you would be able to walk into it if you want to.

Running one roost the long way would cause trouble when they try to fly down and then run into the wall, but running two roosts across it the short way would probably work. I would probably put a roost 1 foot in from each end, which keeps them far enough apart that a chicken on one roost cannot peck a chicken on the other roost.

You could put two nestboxes on the walls, or even have the nestboxes stick out into the shed so you can easily collect eggs without walking into the coop.

 

[NatJ]

Yes. Sorry.

Why would almost 24 square feet be too small as a coop for 5 chickens? (Assuming more height, and increased ventilation.)

 

[3KillerBs]

Hi! So sorry to bother you again. I went out to measure again and realized I wrote the measurement of the width down wrong. It's actually 3'8 not 2'8. If I found a way to make the coop taller, do you think that would still be too small? The length and width together would be a little less than 24 ft². I'd also be adding much more ventilation.

That comes up just shy of 4 square feet per chicken. How well it works will depend on the breed characteristics (look for "tolerates confinement" in the breed description rather than "good foragers" or "good for ranging" and don't choose the larger dual purpose breeds like Brahmas, Jersey Giants, or Marans).

BUT, you're in Indiana.

That means that you're going to lose the use of that run in the winter due to the snow unless you put a roof on it. That's a situation that would call for significantly more coop space than the minimum.

This is what 18-week cockerels, who were just slightly smaller than an adult hen of that age, look like in an 8x4 space -- 32 square feet.

You could put two nestboxes on the walls, or even have the nestboxes stick out into the shed so you can easily collect eggs without walking into the coop.

The ability to gather eggs without having to stand in a downpour is WONDERFUL.

 

[NatJ]

That comes up just shy of 4 square feet per chicken.

5 chicks x 4 square feet would be 20 square feet.
So "almost 24 square feet" is MORE than 4 square feet per chicken.
(Unless I am missing something here?)

 

[aart]

Why would almost 24 square feet be too small as a coop for 5 chickens? (Assuming more height, and increased ventilation.)

Because I don't think 4sqft is enough in a winter climate without an extensive weather protected run.

 

[3KillerBs]

5 chicks x 4 square feet would be 20 square feet.
So "almost 24 square feet" is MORE than 4 square feet per chicken.
(Unless I am missing something here?)

I must have made a dyslexic error entering numbers in the calculator.

Having 3 LDs can be interesting sometimes.

 

[knobhillfarm]

Hi! So sorry to bother you again. I went out to measure again and realized I wrote the measurement of the width down wrong. It's actually 3'8 not 2'8. If I found a way to make the coop taller, do you think that would still be too small? The length and width together would be a little less than 24 ft². I'd also be adding much more ventilation.

I think you can see from many of the comments that there are some guidelines but there are plenty of conditions that dictate more or less space may be needed based on individual conditions. Look at it this way, make use of the most space you can reasonably accommodate now because there will be many situations where more space will be greatly beneficial (weather, ease of cleaning, room for more chickens!) and almost no reasons to go smaller other than lack of space or budget. You have a good starting point already with the shed structure and beginning of a run so cost will not be as significant as starting from scratch. Once you decide on size, think about covering the run and adding more predator protection with hardware cloth over the chain link and a predator apron. Figure out a protected place for food and water to live outside the coop. Think about the height of roosting bars and nesting boxes and how you can maximize the floor space inside the coop. Look at lots and lots of pictures for ideas. This is something you want to do right up front rather than trying to reconfigure with grown up chicks in the structure.