Help! Springtime Stink in the Run

[aart]

Here's another update for anyone who might care.

Here's how things look in the run:
The birds continue to LOVE the side with the litter and just pass through the side with the sand to get to the side with the litter.
The side with the litter continues to smell nice. The litter is staying dry since it is raised off the ground up on pallets.
The additional boards I put around the base of the coop are not high enough to keep the birds from flinging the litter out through the welded wire fencing. I will have to add more or just give up trying to keep it neat looking around the outside of the run. Right now I rake it up daily and put it back in the run. Yes, it is an exercise in futility but I am compelled to do it.
The sand side is staying surprisingly dry. I honestly expected with all the snow melt that I would have standing water in the run. As it turns out, the run is dryer and more solid than the entire rest of my yard. It still stinks, but the sand was good for something at least.

Since the sand side seems to drain pretty well, I've decided that I will try the deep litter in the run without raising the elevation of the run. March and April are the wettest months, and while we still have plenty of spring rain ahead, I think the run drains well enough that I won't have the problem of excess water that I was worried about. If it turns out that I'm wrong, I can always clear all the litter out and raise the run later.

So, with that being the plan, I ordered up some wood chips. I had to pay for them as I couldn't find anyone looking to unload them for free. Not too bad though, only $50 for a truckload. They got delivered today and I must say, there is nothing like the smell of fresh wood chips, especially after a long winter. I hope to put them in the run tomorrow. I'll be putting in 6-8" of the chips to start and then I'll spread the existing litter (shavings, straw, hay, leaves) over the top of that. I don't want to go thicker until I can put another row of boards around the bottom to keep them from flinging it all out.

I'll update again at the end of April.

I'd try to mix them together......a mix of sizes, shapes, materials will make for better decomposition.
I think Bee mentions that in her video, and it just makes plain sense.... like a lot of things Bee says.
Might also want to start with less depth, easier to add more than have to move a too deep, non functioning mass.

Just read story yesterday about someone with 8" of wood chip mulch that was packed down and anaerobic underneath.

 

[RonP]

I don't want to go thicker until I can put another row of boards around the bottom to keep them from flinging it all out.

I'll update again at the end of April.

Instead of boards, I used 1/2 hardware cloth to keep the deep litter in the coop.

I just took a 2" high roll and "wrapped the bottom 2 feet of the run.

Keeps racoon hands out and deep litter in.

 

[RonP]

Just read story yesterday about someone with 8" of wood chip mulch that was packed down and anaerobic underneath.

Could you share this?

My current litter mass exceeds 20".

I have not "disturbed" it in over 6 years. I have only added more to it as it degrades, and is filtered out of the run by the birds.

My birds love digging their craters, but I have never seen anything but rich compost pits, much less an anaerobic situation.

My thoughts are someone also added excessive amounts of nitrogen rich materials in their litter, and insufficient amounts of carbon rich (wood chips).

 

[aart]

Quote: I miss quoted the depth, they didn't give it or much other info, but here's the thread.

 

[TalkALittle]

I'd try to mix them together......a mix of sizes, shapes, materials will make for better decomposition.
I think Bee mentions that in her video, and it just makes plain sense.... like a lot of things Bee says.
Might also want to start with less depth, easier to add more than have to move a too deep, non functioning mass. 

Just read story yesterday about someone with 8" of wood chip mulch that was packed down and anaerobic underneath.

I figured the birds would do a good job of mixing it up but an extra stirring wouldn't hurt.

I too read that thread. For a second or two I worried a bit but figured that I already had a strong stink so things can't get worse.

 

[TalkALittle]

My current litter mass exceeds 20".

If I made it that deep I'd be hitting my head on the run roof!

 

[RonP]

If I made it that deep I'd be hitting my head on the run roof!

The idea is to have more than enough carbon mass to offset the nitrogen rich manure.

Cold composting.

My personal goal is to create massive amounts of compost, not just have an odor, fly, and mud free run...

 

[TalkALittle]

Well, it's been more than a month since my last update and I'm happy to report that things are going great with the deep litter.

Changes/updates since my last posting:

I've removed the pallets from the run and my litter is directly on the ground now. (I actually did this a while ago.) If you read back in the thread you'll know I placed down pallets because the ground was so wet and I was convinced I needed to let it drain/dry a bit before I put the litter directly on the ground. I was afraid of having sopping wet litter. In retrospect, the litter could have handled the moisture level and would probably have dried out well given how much the girls turn it with their scratching.

I've done away with the sand area. I had been maintaining the run as half litter (on pallets) and half the original sand surface, in part to see exactly how long the ground was going to stay wet, and as a little experiment to see which side the hens preferred. Deep litter won that contest so when I removed the pallets I figured it wasn't worth trying to keep it half and half.

I have not removed a single poop from my run in all this time yet I have no stink and no flies--AT ALL. And with no need to scoop the run, my chicken-tending routine has been cut in half. That means more time to spend watching them rather than cleaning up after them.

When I give them fresh water I just dump the old stuff in the run. Imagine that! Forget all my earlier worry about wetness in the run, the litter handles it beautifully. Wherever I dump the water is usually the first place the girls go scratch at. It has been nice dry weather (no humidity yet) and things were a bit dusty, so I took my watering can in there the other day and wet it down a bit. The girls stirred it all up for me. It was still fluffy but it cut down on some of the dust.

A couple of weeks ago I dumped about 4 5-gallon buckets of compost from the pile out in the woods into the run. I had left the original sand in the run and added the litter on top so I figured that adding some compost to the litter would give it the jumpstart that it wasn't going to get from the sand below.

I've got bugs! Don't worry, it's good news. I relocated the water in the run and when I moved the blocks that it sits on, there were some creepy crawlers underneath. That's something I didn't use to see when the run was just sand. As usual, the girls were right there sticking their beaks in my business and jumped in and gobbled them right up.

I dumped my first load of grass clippings in the run the other day. The girls loved it. They are all mixed in now and once they start to break down should help some with the dryness of the litter.

One important thing to note that I've not mentioned prior is that I believe my hens had coccidiosis. Right about the time of the big snow melt and as I was battling the wetness, I noticed some frothy, squirty poops on the poop board. I purchased both Valbazen and Corrid on the advice to treat for both cocci and worms. Well, I never got around to worming the girls, but I did give them the Corrid in their water. After only two days I saw no more wet poops. I finished the course of Corrid and I've not seen a watery poop since. I am willing to bet the outbreak was the result of being housed on the feces laden wet sand. It will be interesting to see if I have any issues with cocci in the future.

Well, that's pretty much it. Unless something unforeseen happens I'm thinking that things will go on like this well into the fall. When I start prepping the run for winter I'll give another update. My plan is to keep periodically updating until this time next year. I'm so interested to see how the deep litter will compare to the sand through the winter and if it will withstand the wetness that next spring will inevitably bring. Hopefully my story will be useful others trying to decide which type of material to use in their run or dealing with wetness and odor.

 

[aart]

Great post and update....Thanks and congrats!

 

[yellowchicks]

Glad that DLM worked out for you. Thanks for the update and sharing the lessons learned with everyone.