DLM and mesh floor

[Rosalinda-84]

My husband is working on the coop and he insist on a 1/4" wire mesh for the floor with a pan underneath. Both will be able to slide out. Will the DLM work with this set up? Are the pine shavings going to fall through and not stay put? It's for a small coop, 3'x4' for 3 chickens with an attached run which he has not completed. I could put liquidambar leaves in the fall and pine needles in the summer, but meanwhile when the free, dry leaves are not available, I will have to use pine shaving. We are in the city and the chicken will free range in the early evenings and more on weekends.

 

[Judy]

Chickens do not do well on wire. But it is good predator prevention underneath something else. They have hay at my feed store so that's what I'd put on the wire.

 

[patandchickens]

Totally no point in it whatsoever at all.

The whole point of a mesh floor (1/4" is too small, btw, next to nothing will fall through it, although I suppose you could hose thru it every day) is to let stuff go thru. You use no bedding at all with a mesh floor.

The whole point of "the" (there is no such thing as just "the") deep litter method is to use lots of bedding.

Either don't use bedding and try bare mesh -- although I would not do it myself, certainly not in anything but an always-hot climate and probably not even then -- OR use bedding and a solid floor. They are sort of opposite approaches though

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Rosalinda-84]

Living in Southern California, I want to use the method that uses the least amount of water. My husband had chickens growing up in Los Angeles and he had wire mesh in his family chicken coop, but that was a long time ago. We could add linoleum, then do the DLM. Some of the post mention 6 inches of pine shavings, how do the chickens walk through this?

 

[Judy]

They don't walk through it, they walk on top of it. They also scratch it into lots of hills and valleys.

 

[Dogfish]

I used linoleum and the DLM in my coop. The chickens compact the shavings a bit , and they'll dig through it as well. They will not have any issues walking in there after an hour or so. Linoleum makes coop cleaning a breeze.

 

[Rosalinda-84]

Patandchickens says "nothing goes thru 1/4" wire mesh" and Dogfish says "they will compact the shavings", so do I still need the linoleum? Was making it a slide out floor worth it?

 

[Judy]

Linoleum is simply something that is easy to clean. People use painted plywood and all sorts of other things. The original deep litter method, as I understand it, was on a dirt floor; eventually the poop dries and becomes part of the soil.

I don't understand why you used mesh or why you made a slide out floor. If the poop was supposed to go through the mesh, why slide it out?

You don't "need" linoleum or plywood or anything else. There are many ways of keeping chickens. Just depends what your plan is, which is not clear to me.

 

[Dogfish]

Quote:
There will be poop. Lots of it. I add fresh shavings every few weeks and clean everything out at 3 months. 10 minute job getting the old stuff out and the new stuff in. Some folks clean EVERY day. I work, have two active boys, and lots of projects and hobbies. The KISS principle saves lots of time. There is no bad smell from the DLM. I doubted it, and was proved wrong when I tried it.

It is great to plan your coop with a minimum of maintenance in mind.

 

[Dooney]

What about putting sand on top of the hardware cloth and then add shavings or something