Deep litter: too good to be true?

[Chicken_Ninja]

Hello guys

So I have been seeing videos and reading a lot on the deep litter method and it seems very convenient especially to someone who can use lot of compost for the plantation.

I would appreciate your personal knowledge and experience with that, how to do it, what to do, and most importantly what can go wrong with it.

My coop is planned to be 8x13 ft and the run 26x10 ft. I am planning to protect the run from the rain too (zinc plates roof and fenced walls with nylon protection from the rain). The coop and run will be constructed over concrete. The location is dry, windy with hot summers and somehow cold winters (that includes a total of 20 days of frost).

Questions are something like:

• Does this work for coop and run?
  
  
• What is the initial depth of litter? How often you add new layers of litter? When to stop?
  
  
• What material to use? ( I don't have lot of pine shaving supply but random types of wood shavings available), does green plants count as litter?
  
  
• Do you need to add some moisture especially in a hot dry summer?
  
  
• Do you keep a base from the previous bedding for the next one? I have read this would keep some of the good composting bacteria for the next bedding.
  
  
• And one last question, is deep litter different than deep bedding?

Thanks folks!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello guys

So I have been seeing videos and reading a lot on the deep litter method and it seems very convenient especially to someone who can use lot of compost for the plantation.

I would appreciate your personal knowledge and experience with that, how to do it, what to do, and most importantly what can go wrong with it.

My coop is planned to be 8x13 ft and the run 26x10 ft. I am planning to protect the run from the rain too (zinc plates roof and fenced walls with nylon protection from the rain). The coop and run will be constructed over concrete. The location is dry, windy with hot summers and somehow cold winters (that includes a total of 20 days of frost).

Questions are something like:

• Does this work for coop and run?
  
  
• What is the initial depth of litter? How often you add new layers of litter? When to stop?
  
  
• What material to use? ( I don't have lot of pine shaving supply but random types of wood shavings available), does green plants count as litter?
  
  
• Do you need to add some moisture especially in a hot dry summer?
  
  
• Do you keep a base from the previous bedding for the next one? I have read this would keep some of the good composting bacteria for the next bedding.
  
  
• And one last question, is deep litter different than deep bedding?

Thanks folks!

DLM works best over an earthen floor.
Why are you constructing everything over concrete? It is very tough on the legs when the birds jump off the roosts, it absorbs odors and is not conducive to scratching in and making dust baths.
DLM is different from deep bedding. DLM is based on having a thriving bacteria colony to break down the waste by composting as it is produced. The idea is to add dry leaves, shavings or other compostable materials to create a deep bed of litter. Keeping it damp will help the composting kick off. Too wet or too dry will not compost. This is why the earth floor is so helpful. It can provide the moisture from below as well as beneficial bacteria. It needs to be turned over regularly to work.

 

[OlympicChick]

I don't have my deep litter over concrete (it is just earth), so I don't know how the concrete would make the process different, but I figure if you made the litter deep enough (how deep I don't know...at LEAST one foot) it would function similarly. In the summertime when it is dry and dusty I do spray water on it (I have a hoop house that I can walk into) and turn it over.