DLM question- Open coop design

[AllenK RGV]

I have had my dirt floor coop up an running for about 1 year now. When it gets smelly(usually after it rains) I top dress it with more clean/dry hay. When it is dry it never smells. The coop seems to be eating the hay faster now though than it ever has. Is that a sign of a healthy ecosystem?

The coop floor area is 8x12' when it was set up last spring it ate 1 square bale in the first year. Now it seems to be on track for 1 bale every 2 months. It could be that we have actually had some winter rain and the floor got wet as last year was all about the drought. Does anyone have a similar experience? This coop only houses around 12 or so silkies so doesn't have a huge chicken load in it as they only overnight there.

 

[aart]

Only ingredient is hay?
How deep is it?
If you dig down to the bottom what do you see and smell?

 

[Miraleef]

I'd be a little concerned about mold. You should dig it out down to dirt--maybe every couple of months, and put in fresh hay or straw. We buy bales (in plastic) of pine shavings for our coop floor (which is wood). It smells great, keeps things clean, and is so easy to pick out the droppings. I strip the floor about once every two weeks completely, and put down all fresh, but spot clean between. We have dirt in one small area and I hate it. When I was using straw, it inevitably got packed into damp earth and got nasty.

 

[CindyinSD]

Hay is practically compost-in-a-bale. Maybe it took a while to get going or to get deep enough to heat up. Do your chickens scratch and peck at it like they’re eating something you can’t see? If the hay is getting pricey give them a bale or two of pine shavings. Then you can give them some straw, dead leaves, pine “straw,” whatever dried plant materials you can get hold of. It’s good to mix it up. You do need to make sure the hay isn’t getting moldy, though. When you tend to them, give the bedding a toss with a fork (I keep a smallish one in the coop for this). If the dust from it irritates your eyes and throat/lungs, you might need to clear it out (wear a mask). You don’t want them breathing moldy hay.

I was giving mine some of the hay my cows trod down and spoiled this past “spring.” I figured it would help bed their run, but they stopped eating their food almost completely and spent all their time on their hay pile. I had to move them, though, because it kept raining until they got flooded out of their yard and the whole place smelled like a bog most of the summer. Now that you’ve reminded me I’m gonna pile some in the garden cart and haul it up to their winter spot (greenhouse) and see what they do with it. The chicken yard is all better, btw. I have them in the greenhouse to kill off the weeds & grass.

 

[Howard E]

My Woods house is also 8' x 12', also dirt floor and I use old grass hay for litter. With 23 birds in there.....takes about 1 bale every 2 months. I used to do all in, all out. These days I will fork out the heavy night time piles and move them to the adjacent compost bin.

If you think of the composting process, it requires 3 things.....a source of carbon (hay), nitrogen (bird poop) and water. When weather is bone dry, no water, so no composting is taking place. When the weather is wet, you now have all three and slow cold composting of your litter will perk up. Unless and until the pile gets really deep (1' plus), you won't see much heat, if any. With shallow "deep" litter, it's more of a cold rot process than hot composting.

So as to your question, what you are seeing is about the same as me.

 

[aart]

My Woods house is also 8' x 12', also dirt floor and I use old grass hay for litter. With 23 birds in there.....takes about 1 bale every 2 months. I used to do all in, all out. These days I will fork out the heavy night time piles and move them to the adjacent compost bin.

Do you 'harvest' the compost at regular intervals?

If you think of the composting process, it requires 3 things.....a source of carbon (hay), nitrogen (bird poop) and water.

It also needs oxygen, or you may end up with a nasty anaerobic mess.

 

[Howard E]

With the first flock that eventually dwindled to 7 birds (died of natural causes.....not predators), only twice per year. With 23.......that has been bumped to about 3 times per year......but again.....with forking out the heavy stuff under the roost every 2 or 3 weeks.

If you leave the grass in there to rot......and once it starts breaking down.....meaning hay strands start falling apart and getting shorter.....mixing is easier. With "fresh" old hay, droppings don't mix as easy.....they just sit on top.....to be walked on and smeared around. House will stay "cleaner" and fresher if you can leave some of the old, mix it with the new and if you can find anything short.....like leaves, pine needles, wood chips.....bark mulch, etc.....to mix in......it will stay cleaner and fresher.

And the deeper it gets, the cleaner it will stay.

One real downside to deep litter on dirt is the moisture that is inherently present becomes a factor this time of year. When temps drop to 0F, moisture means chance of frostbite. The well ventilated Woods house is the best defense for that.

Another is deep litter holds potential to harbor rodents. In my case, I've occasionally found mice living down there.

 

[CindyinSD]

Another is deep litter holds potential to harbor rodents. In my case, I've occasionally found mice living down there.

My Buckeye girls are delighted when they find a mouse. They’ve even taught some of the other chickens to hunt! In fact, when the weather is warm enough they haunt all the areas around the house where the mice and chipmunks take refuge. Very little delights me more than to see one of them food-running with a limp mouse swinging from her beak by the tail.

Mice and chipmunks have become quite the problem around our area in the last ten years or so. The chippies like nothing better than to climb up under the hood of a vehicle and chew up every wire they can find. Hundreds and sometimes thousands in repair bills. I’m making plans for more and bigger Buckeyes.

 

[Miraleef]

My Buckeye girls are delighted when they find a mouse. They’ve even taught some of the other chickens to hunt! In fact, when the weather is warm enough they haunt all the areas around the house where the mice and chipmunks take refuge. Very little delights me more than to see one of them food-running with a limp mouse swinging from her beak by the tail.

Mice and chipmunks have become quite the problem around our area in the last ten years or so. The chippies like nothing better than to climb up under the hood of a vehicle and chew up every wire they can find. Hundreds and sometimes thousands in repair bills. I’m making plans for more and bigger Buckeyes.

Is the picture you use for your profile pic a Buckeye? It looks like my Brahma hen!

 

[CindyinSD]

Is the picture you use for your profile pic a Buckeye? It looks like my Brahma hen!

No, Buckeyes are pretty plain-looking, but really nice girls. Red with rose combs, light brown eggs. The one in my pic is a Columbian Wyandotte. They’re sweet, too, but they’re not into mice.