Does Deep litter make ANY sense on a wood floor?

[gabby3535]

I have, I guess, a 'modified' deep litter situation in my coop.............and my coop 'does' have a wooden floor.
I have inches and inches of 'dust free' pine shavings on the floor of the coop...........all sprinkled with food grade DE.
Not much poo winds up there though, because I have a large droppings board (covered with inches of shavings and DE,
which I clean DAILY with a kitty litter scoop/sifter) under the roosting boards...........and the girls are out in the run or
free-ranging most of the day, and do most of their pooping outside.
What little poo 'does' wind up on the coop floor just dries out (thank you DE!); then once a week or so I just mix it up and 'turn' it
with a pitch fork. I can honestly say, I have absolutely NO ODOR, or moisture build-up in my coop.........not now, nor all summer long.
I can't even estimate 'when' I might need to clean out all the litter on the floor, and start over with fresh!
It's been there for about a year now, and all I do is add some new every once in a while..........

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
I wish mine was too dry, It sometimes gets dry, but after a couple days like we had last week, enough moisture is brought in that the too dry problem goes away. Maybe you need some more chickens to dampen your dry conditions.

 

[gabby3535]

Have you tried the 'dust free' pine shavings?
I can buy 'regular' pine shavings or 'dust free' at my local Agway..........
it is more expensive, but soooooooooo worth it, in my opinion!
Also, how about if you scattered some hay over your shavings, to keep the
dust down? Or, perhaps get the more 'coarse' shavings next time, vs the 'fine'?
Don't know why you're having such a dust issue............I have not found that
to be a problem here. Is it a matter of the 'dust free' pine shavings? I don't
really know.

 

[ozark hen]

Mine has wood floors, use to be linoleum but that gave way with every shovel full during clean up time. I keep mine very deep. No problems.

 

[SunnyDawn]

I use the deep litter method also over wood floors (coop is raised up off the ground) and it works well for me. Almost no smell and when I do clean it out the stuff goes into the compost heap for garden dressing.
As for the dust... Chickens themselves are horribly dusty creatures, even when they don't dust! Trust me, I raised my last brood in the living room because the dogs and DH took over the garage and it was a HUGE mistake! The babies created so much dust from their dander (used no litter, just changed the newspaper twice a day) that I still haven't reached every nook and cranny that they "powdered" up! Once outside in a coop and run they add outside dust to their feathers and dust is just part of the natural order with chickens. If they are free ranging during the day that will give the dust time to settle down, opening the doors every day (especially if it's windy out) will just stir it up more. If the dust bothers you maybe you could wear a dust mask, from the hardware store?

 

[tdgill]

Quote:
yep yep sounds like me and as Beekissed points out, I need to let the poo be my guide.
Now, what shall I do to fix it? Should I shovel it out into the muddy run? or mist it down? I dont think i have many options really. other than more chickens. ha. or starting over.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I wouldn't put shavings into a muddy run, it will worsen the problem in the long run.

I don't suppose you have a sheltered area you could store excess shavings (removed from coop) til they are more-needed? If you do, that would probably be the ideal situation, pare things down to just a few inches of bedding and don't add more till it *needs* it.

If not, you got any plants might appreciate a shavings mulch for the winter?

You could *try* misting the shavings, very very carefully, but it is a fine balance between too dry and too damp, you know? One thing you could try is mix a few shovelsful (not a lot, really just a coupla shovels) of good garden soil (not nasty clay) or VERY finished compost into the litter, to hold moisture a bit better and to also give you some decomposer microbes. It's not introducing any more germs etc than your chickens are already encountering in their run, for those who are about to hit reply and say 'oooh, parasites and pathogens can be carried in soil!'

Might be worth a try, I suppose, in combination with getting back to a minimal level of bedding.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[tdgill]

thank you ALL for your advice on my deep litter dilema. very educational as always. I think i have something to work with....