Deliberately sloped deep litter coop for easy clean out?

[impr3]

I've noticed several folks on this forum mentioning deliberately building their coops on a slope to make a low-labor flow-through deep litter system (ie. add litter at the top of the hill, harvest from the bottom, let the chickens turn it to move everything down the hill). Sadly, my searching skills are failing me when it comes to finding details of folks' setups. For those that have tried it:

1. How steep is your slope and do you find the litter collects downhill too quickly/too slowly/just right?

2. What has your general experience with this been? Anything you would change next time?

Thanks!

 

[aart]

How steep is your slope and do you find the litter collects downhill too quickly/too slowly/just right?

Not that steep, but steep enough that I find it annoying that the litter gets scratched down slope.
But I am not trying to make garden soil, I have coarse wood chippings to break down poops to eliminate odors and flies.

I've noticed several folks on this forum mentioning deliberately building their coops on a slope to make a low-labor flow-through deep litter system

@3KillerBs is the only one I know who does this.

 

[impr3]

Not that steep, but steep enough that I find it annoying that the litter gets scratched down slope.
But I am not trying to make garden soil, I have coarse wood chippings to break down poops to eliminate odors and flies.


@3KillerBs is the only one I know who does this.

@3KillerBs Neuchickenstein coop has been a great source of ideas for us. I noticed in another thread that she mentioned having to rake bedding up the hill on occasion so I'm thinking less steep than she has. Just from looking at her photos, seems like about 1:10 (rise:run) but hopefully she'll see this thread and be able to offer a more accurate measurement.

 

[3KillerBs]

@3KillerBs is the only one I know who does this.

And I goofed by forgetting to design in a hatch on the uphill side.

@3KillerBs Neuchickenstein coop has been a great source of ideas for us. I noticed in another thread that she mentioned having to rake bedding up the hill on occasion so I'm thinking less steep than she has. Just from looking at her photos, seems like about 1:10 (rise:run) but hopefully she'll see this thread and be able to offer a more accurate measurement.

It wasn't really a deliberate choice, since getting heavy equipment to grade the site wasn't an option. The location was chosen for convenience to the house, for good drainage, and for a favorable microclimate. We're trying to make a virtue of the necessity with the flow-through on the slope.

I've added some logs across the slope in a couple places to create terraces to slow down the bedding creep.

I'm going to be taking bedding out of the bottom half within the next month or so in order to get it onto the garden in time to mellow a bit before planting.

 

[impr3]

And I goofed by forgetting to design in a hatch on the uphill side.

You'd mentioned wishing you had an uphill hatch in another thread so hatches on both ends went into the design as soon as we started thinking about building on a slope. If we settle on the spot we're currently considering, we'll probably need a little grading anyway to decrease the steepness a tad. However, the less grading is involved, the less significant the uphill retaining wall would need to be .

 

[perkolator]

My setup is on a slope. Dunno the exact angle but I'd guess around 3 to 5 degrees. It's enough of a slope that the bedding materials on the ground migrate downhill, intended or not.

Because of the slope I terraced my block foundation and coop walls. The bedding moved faster downhill than I anticipated and I ended up adding board extensions to the downhill side, due to the bedding getting deep enough that it was spilling over the top of the cinder block and pushing outward on the hardware cloth. The materials that accumulate on the deep side seem to be chunkier material that doesn't decompose as quickly as the rest, even down 8-12" from the top surface.

Similar experience in the outdoor run that's connected - the materials migrate to the downhill side. Currently I'd say the bedding level on the downhill side is ~12" higher than outside the fence, whereas the uphill side is closer to being level with the surrounding terrain. I only add leaves/wood chips to the uphill side and let the chickens move it around themselves. The deep side in this outdoor run seems to be more decomposed than inside the coop, likely because it gets wet/watered through the year like a deep litter system, whereas I try to keep the bedding under the roof dry, with a deep dry bedding system

In agreement with the annoyance of materials migrating to the downhill side, I've had the idea of adding weirs to my setup to slow down the migration. Over the past year I tried one out inside the enclosed run, using a fence board propped up with some bricks - it seemed to help, so this year I'm likely going to add more weirs.

 

[impr3]

My setup is on a slope. Dunno the exact angle but I'd guess around 3 to 5 degrees. It's enough of a slope that the bedding materials on the ground migrate downhill, intended or not.

Because of the slope I terraced my block foundation and coop walls. The bedding moved faster downhill than I anticipated and I ended up adding board extensions to the downhill side, due to the bedding getting deep enough that it was spilling over the top of the cinder block and pushing outward on the hardware cloth. The materials that accumulate on the deep side seem to be chunkier material that doesn't decompose as quickly as the rest, even down 8-12" from the top surface.

Similar experience in the outdoor run that's connected - the materials migrate to the downhill side. Currently I'd say the bedding level on the downhill side is ~12" higher than outside the fence, whereas the uphill side is closer to being level with the surrounding terrain. I only add leaves/wood chips to the uphill side and let the chickens move it around themselves. The deep side in this outdoor run seems to be more decomposed than inside the coop, likely because it gets wet/watered through the year like a deep litter system, whereas I try to keep the bedding under the roof dry, with a deep dry bedding system

In agreement with the annoyance of materials migrating to the downhill side, I've had the idea of adding weirs to my setup to slow down the migration. Over the past year I tried one out inside the enclosed run, using a fence board propped up with some bricks - it seemed to help, so this year I'm likely going to add more weirs.

Thank you for sharing your experience! 3KillerBs also mentioned using a weir so I'd been thinking about that. I'm inclined to build without for now and then add later as needed to slow the flow of litter, similar to what you're doing now.

 

[3KillerBs]

In agreement with the annoyance of materials migrating to the downhill side, I've had the idea of adding weirs to my setup to slow down the migration.

3KillerBs also mentioned using a weir

Yes, we cut down some trees and I snagged some of the straighter branches to lay across the hill to slow down the movement and create terraces.