Deep litter too damp?

[awkwardkale]

Yep, my county has cardboard-only dumpster locations - so a few times per year I go and fill up my truck with the biggest sheets I can find, for sheet mulching underneath the wood chips I get from arborists. If you don't have that around, maybe find a store that gets things in large boxes and doesn't bale up their cardboard for recycling like large stores do, such as a bicycle shop

Do you just go to a local tree trimming company to get the chips? Or do you go to a landfill?

 

[perkolator]

Do you just go to a local tree trimming company to get the chips? Or do you go to a landfill?

I tried ChipDrop service for a while but it was less than stellar, so I just started calling local arborist companies to get on their list of local drop spots. I used to buy compost at our local dump but stopped now that I have PLENTY of volume just from the old chicken bedding and whatever else I collect on my property; that’s where I learned about their huge and awesome composting operation and how they separated everything.

 

[3KillerBs]

Do you just go to a local tree trimming company to get the chips? Or do you go to a landfill?

We got ours from having had tree work done on our property.

 

[aart]

IMO if the goal is deep litter, just keep topping off the existing base with fresh dry material. I think the variety of organic materials will be better results, especially over straw - ever seen how a straw bale collapses into a slimy wet mess as it decomposes? A bale of wood shavings will help, but I'd be trying to source some arborist wood chips for adding in - they have a variety of sizes from the chunkier woody bits, as well as the smaller ramial bits (canopy/twigs/foliage) which will fill in some of the spaces so it's friendlier on the feet and help to decompose things. In the coop section where they're sleeping and pooping out these wet poops in high volume, you may want a system you clean out more regularly vs the deep litter.

Do you use these chippings to 'make' garden soil @perkolator ?

I love them for breaking down the poops in the run with no real maintenance because they don't break down quickly. But you need a large area to store the pile you'll get from a tree trimmer.

 

[perkolator]

Do you use these chippings to 'make' garden soil @perkolator ?

I love them for breaking down the poops in the run with no real maintenance because they don't break down quickly. But you need a large area to store the pile you'll get from a tree trimmer.

I use wood chips in the chicken area, around all my fruit trees/orchard, and around my garden - I go through maybe 4+ chip drops per year if my back can handle it, lol. I kinda always have a pile of wood chips so I don't run out. Leaving it to age actually makes a really nice fungal-dominant compost all on it's own.

For making garden soil from the chicken area - I harvest old bedding from my main coop that I just add more material to for the last 2yrs - it gets around 16" deep on the downhill side. I skim the chunky bits off the top and transfer that into the larger run I've added; all the finer material from the bottom goes into my compost pile so I can water it and get it hot and improve it, then later use it in my garden beds, around plants, around my fruit trees, etc. I also started harvesting soil from the additional run, since I've got lots of wood chips in there too - that stuff has more dirt/mineral content, but is a great topsoil-type of material. Planning to use more of this in the future now that the downhill side of that run is like a foot deep above the surrounding terrain, it's just going to improve with time and more bedding and more chicken activity over it.

Just last weekend I extracted 6 wheelbarrows from the coop and with just some water it's now sitting at 140f. To get it hotter I might spike the pile with some fresh grass clippings or plant trimmings, soaked alfalfa pellets, or blood meal solution. Ends up great compost in the end, even better than when I was just composting plant trimmings and leaves - all that wood chip content gives it a nicer texture to turn and doesn't really need to be sieved in the end product

 

[ruthhope]

Hi @awkwardkale and welcome to BYC

I see lots of good advice already offered to you. But I would like to chip in my experience with deep littering.

I am in NE Florida on very sandy soil and both my duck coop and my son's duck coop are directly onto quarter inch hardware cloth [to keep out predators] on the sandy soil. So our duck houses drain really well

We use pine shavings [not fine ones as they are too dusty for ducks] in the coop.

But we also gather live oak/laurel oak leaves in March every year. These are put out by neighbors by the sackload for the county to collect. I am the early bird that drives round and collects them before the garden trash collectors get there!! If you have access to live oak/laurel oak leaves in the spring -- collect them and store them either in trash cans with lids or strong black plastic bags. Clean dry live oak/laurel oak leaves are an excellent addition to the bedding.

When the pine shaving bedding is looking wet [we do give our ducks access to water in the coop -- its possible to reduce the wetness by not offering food and water in the coop] we add a layer of oak leaves. Then continue the pine shavings on top.

In the cold months -- we do get some nights that are 32F and below in NE Florida -- we use pine straw. I put bales round the walls of the coop and break up a bale for the ducks to snuggle into in the middle of the floor. They rarely snuggle in: they mainly stomp it down!!!

I find I need to dig out the deep bedding twice a year and so make sure I do it in October so that a layer is building up again before the cold weather. The lower layers of bedding maybe damp but they are also hot as they have begun to compost. That is the beauty of deep layering -- the bedding helps to keep your ducks warm in winter. My son digs out more often -- quarterly -- as his duck house has a low roof [that opens to get inside and clean] and more than 6-8 inches of deep layer bedding leaves too little "head room". The deep layer in my duck house will get to 10-12 inches deep over 6 months.

When we dig out, we put our composting bedding into a compost pile.

I have separate rotating drum composters that I have to make sure the mix of brown and green is correct. But we just keep a pile for the duck bedding. My son adds lawn clippings. I do not as I don't have a lawn. I find the the duck bedding breaks down into good mulch [not compost] within 6 months. So that I can dig out the mulch and spread it on my growing beds, before digging out my duck coop again.

Our ducks free range during the day. I know people who have a confined run -- where the ducks have to have access to water even if they do not at night in the coop -- dig out their deep layer bedding from the coop and leave it in the run to absorb excess water and mud. even wet deep layer bedding is less messy than mud!! It will eventually need raking out from the run and putting in a composting pile

 

[awkwardkale]

Hi @awkwardkale and welcome to BYC

I see lots of good advice already offered to you. But I would like to chip in my experience with deep littering.

I am in NE Florida on very sandy soil and both my duck coop and my son's duck coop are directly onto quarter inch hardware cloth [to keep out predators] on the sandy soil. So our duck houses drain really well

We use pine shavings [not fine ones as they are too dusty for ducks] in the coop.

But we also gather live oak/laurel oak leaves in March every year. These are put out by neighbors by the sackload for the county to collect. I am the early bird that drives round and collects them before the garden trash collectors get there!! If you have access to live oak/laurel oak leaves in the spring -- collect them and store them either in trash cans with lids or strong black plastic bags. Clean dry live oak/laurel oak leaves are an excellent addition to the bedding.

When the pine shaving bedding is looking wet [we do give our ducks access to water in the coop -- its possible to reduce the wetness by not offering food and water in the coop] we add a layer of oak leaves. Then continue the pine shavings on top.

In the cold months -- we do get some nights that are 32F and below in NE Florida -- we use pine straw. I put bales round the walls of the coop and break up a bale for the ducks to snuggle into in the middle of the floor. They rarely snuggle in: they mainly stomp it down!!!

I find I need to dig out the deep bedding twice a year and so make sure I do it in October so that a layer is building up again before the cold weather. The lower layers of bedding maybe damp but they are also hot as they have begun to compost. That is the beauty of deep layering -- the bedding helps to keep your ducks warm in winter. My son digs out more often -- quarterly -- as his duck house has a low roof [that opens to get inside and clean] and more than 6-8 inches of deep layer bedding leaves too little "head room". The deep layer in my duck house will get to 10-12 inches deep over 6 months.

When we dig out, we put our composting bedding into a compost pile.

I have separate rotating drum composters that I have to make sure the mix of brown and green is correct. But we just keep a pile for the duck bedding. My son adds lawn clippings. I do not as I don't have a lawn. I find the the duck bedding breaks down into good mulch [not compost] within 6 months. So that I can dig out the mulch and spread it on my growing beds, before digging out my duck coop again.

Our ducks free range during the day. I know people who have a confined run -- where the ducks have to have access to water even if they do not at night in the coop -- dig out their deep layer bedding from the coop and leave it in the run to absorb excess water and mud. even wet deep layer bedding is less messy than mud!! It will eventually need raking out from the run and putting in a composting pile

Thank you so much for the info! I think I might actually have an oak or two in my backyard.

Yesterday I went around collecting leaves and I added it to the straw. It seems a lot fluffier now.

At what age can ducks be without water at night? And for how long?

I’m honestly on the fence about deep litter for the summer. I’m noticing there’s a lot of bugs here compared to Colorado. The flies (little gnats so far) are definitely attracted to the bedding, and I’ve already got 6+ inches of materials built up from trying to cover all the damp spots. They not seem to be bothering the ducks, it’s more just bothering me haha. Some spiders have moved into the upper corners of the roof already. I don’t mind them at all, Im more afraid of pests and molds.

Since it’s my first time attempting deep litter, I’m considering waiting until fall when there’s less bugs around. I may be overly worried about the flies, but I’m concerned they’re breeding in the wet bedding. I’m making sure it’s covered with fresh straw, though. And if I catch any spills from the ducks I’ve been removing the soaked bedding entirely.

 

[awkwardkale]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give an update. I’m going to wait to try the deep litter method until the fall. I ended up cleaning out all the bedding, and I’m just going to do a weekly cleaning in the summer. It’s mostly the bugs bothering me but I won’t have to worry about those in the fall

maybe I just needed to wait it out a bit longer, but since I’ve cleaned it out, there’s less gnats and it smells better! I think there was just too much moisture in the bedding

I still want to give deep litter another shot, but I think I just need some more time to research and also figure out a system that works well! Thank you all so much for the advice, I’ve learned a lot and I’ll keep it all in mind when I give it a second try!