HELP! Fly Problem - Deep Litter Method

[The Yakima Kid]

The best substrate for deep litter I have found is coarse wood chip mulch or playground wood chips. Shavings are too find and wind up everywhere; bark gets and stays too wet.

You need at least 4" to start. And you need to rake it over and bury the plops every week or so. The idea is that it starts a slow composting process.

The reason that deep litter was replaced or reduced - if ever - in the fall was that it was after fly season. Over time it is colonized by fly parasites and microorganisms. As it began to slowly compost in place, it generated warmth for the chickens as well.

 

[blondiebee181]

Good bacteria will be killed by the DE. The bacteria is supposed to breakdown the organic material.

This is what DE is...
Non-food grade or Garden Grade DE is absolutely a carcinogen- it is speculated to cause lung cancer....so you shouldn't use it around animals.

Both food grade and non-food grade DE are made of silica, not silicone. Silica is what glass is made out of. Diatoms, the little aquatic creatures, make tiny little shells using silica that they live in. When the diatom dies, the silica shells remain intact and can be collected after they settle out of the water.

The sharp edges of the non-food grade DE can lodge in your lungs, like asbestos, and give you lung cancer. Food grade DE is shaped and treated differently, thus it poses only a very small threat if inhaled....I still use a mask with it because it is so dusty, but I know humans who even take Food Grade DE medicinally...using it is personal choice, but good DE is completely organic and even helped get rid of mites on my birds.

 

[kilby]

I got the logic from a deep litter article not to use DE and you are saying not to use DE. so where did i go wrong?
I say the good bacteria is what you do not want to kill, obviously, by using DE. Food grade is not going to kill good bacteria. Explain then?

 

[The Yakima Kid]

This is what DE is...
Non-food grade or Garden Grade DE is absolutely a carcinogen- it is speculated to cause lung cancer....so you shouldn't use it around animals.

Both food grade and non-food grade DE are made of silica, not silicone. Silica is what glass is made out of. Diatoms, the little aquatic creatures, make tiny little shells using silica that they live in. When the diatom dies, the silica shells remain intact and can be collected after they settle out of the water.

The sharp edges of the non-food grade DE can lodge in your lungs, like asbestos, and give you lung cancer. Food grade DE is shaped and treated differently, thus it poses only a very small threat if inhaled....I still use a mask with it because it is so dusty, but I know humans who even take Food Grade DE medicinally...using it is personal choice, but good DE is completely organic and even helped get rid of mites on my birds.

The sharp edges of food grade DE can also cause silicosis and other lung problems. Swimming pool DE is about the worst because it contains a very high proportion of crystalline silica as opposed to amorphous silica.

Meanwhile, I just use wood chips.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

aw, you're not a failure, and not alone! I just got 4 easter egger hens (one of which started, um, crowing...so 3 girls and a roo lol), and I put them in a 4x6 coop - which seems to need cleaning every other day, and attracts flies. ugh. I started cleaning it out every two to three days, but am at a loss as to what to do with all the hay and pine shavings, especially because they don't compost quickly (or maybe I'm doing that wrong too). I tried alot of bedding, and a little bedding, but it still gets too stinky & poo-ey. I bought a coop with a glass board botom over wood, and think maybe a screen bottom would have been a better idea, but I live in New England and I didn't want them to get cold in the winter.

I will say it again, and hope someone actually reads this for a change.

Do not use wood shavings or hay. Use coarse mulch wood chips.

Start with at least 4". Initially you will need to regularly rake the wood chips over the chicken manure and bury them. The wood chips will be colonized by assorted fly predators and over time coving the manure becomes unimportant. You may clear it either in spring or in fall. Or you may simply add another level.

It degrades down to compost over several years. I pull most, but not all out every spring. I have found that I can even skip adding new chips until fall as long as I leave an inch or two as it is already heavily colonized by fly predators. What I remove from the coop and run goes around our fruit trees, along with any renewal fresh mulch the area might require.

 

[blondiebee181]

I got the logic from a deep litter article not to use DE and you are saying not to use DE. so where did i go wrong?
I say the good bacteria is what you do not want to kill, obviously, by using DE. Food grade is not going to kill good bacteria. Explain then?

I don't know anything about it killing bacteria. I don't claim to....and I didn't say not to use it. It's fine if you do, fine if you don't, personal choice. I was merely trying to give an accurate account of what it actually is....and it has never given me problems personally....that's all.

 

[Kris64]

I haven't read all 7 pages of responses, so sorry if someone mentioned this, but have you tried adding hydrated lime to the litter?

 

[vehve]

I haven't read all 7 pages of responses, so sorry if someone mentioned this, but have you tried adding hydrated lime to the litter?

Not a good idea in a deep litter, you want it to be composting, the lime will not create a beneficial environment for the bacteria.

 

[Kris64]

Thanks! I hadn't thought about that and that lime would raise the pH and possibly block some of the nitrogen. What about adding some sand to absorb some moisture (for the original post's fly issue) and could work in a garden (save those that are already too sandy)?

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I got the logic from a deep litter article not to use DE and you are saying not to use DE. so where did i go wrong?
I say the good bacteria is what you do not want to kill, obviously, by using DE. Food grade is not going to kill good bacteria. Explain then?

Food grade and non-food grade will kill the little fly parasites that attack the fly eggs and prevent their hatching.

I use coarse wood chips.