My 35 hens are on deep litter in dirt floor coop (former cow shelter) 12'x20' with an attached 8'x20' fully screened run, opening onto pasture surrounded by electric poultry netting. I use dry grass cuttings for nesting material and just toss it onto the coop floor when dirtied.
Waterer is half a 50 gallon lidded food grade drum set partway into the ground inside the coop, gravity fed through a float valve from rainwater barrel and backup hose. Hens reach through 2" diam. holes drilled in the sides above water level, below the lid. I keep a couple of algae-eating aquarium fish in it. They do a good job and save me a lot of work. During the hottest time of the year I bail the tank weekly; otherwise it stays clean. If doing again I would elevate the entire tank and ask the girls to climb to a platform to drink from it. They could not scratch dust and litter into it, and I could drain it by gravity instead of bailing.
Conversion to deep litter system inside the coop changed everything for the better. No poop piling up, no smell, no flies, almost no work, and fine compost material produced. Now I just pile wood shavings from a local cabinetry shop (no pressure treated wood allowed) and the girls constantly turn it over. Sprinkle DE at feeders, waterer, and in nest boxes weekly. From time to time when my compost pile needs a boost or garden or fruit trees need mulch, I pull out a couple of wheelbarrows of old litter from the lower regions. 4 or 5 times a year I throw about 3 cubic yards of fluffy new litter below the favorite roosts and let the girls spread it out.
Hens roost on large diameter bamboo poles screwed to the wall at various heights and locations. When roosts get dirty I replace them with new ones cut from a bamboo grove in the yard, and burn the old roosting poles. (I use an old wooden ladder suspended horizontally for chicks, and gradually raise the height. This gets cleaned and repainted for each new group.) Horizontal surfaces get too dirty too fast so I have tried to eliminate them where possible. I use a metal scraper to clean what I can't burn, always wearing a dust mask and gloves.
Recently I added deep litter in the dirt run as well, and eliminated flies in that area. First I raked the dirt floor deeply and gave the girls a couple of days to clean out existing fly larvae in the ground. Then added wheelbarrows full of fresh cut grass (essentially green hay) and banana leaves, garden materials with all the attached roots to about 6" depth. Each week I am adding whatever fresh green material is available. Chickens LOVE it! I am now thinking of the run as a place where chickens accelerate compost production while browsing and hunting through the green material. I created this run a year ago as a place to raise chicks safe from hawks, but it is used by all the adults when there are no chicks in residence. I can see an added benefit to having warm cushy compost for the little ones when they first come outside in January (here in south Florida).
Do you need a mask for scraping the perches? I don't wear one as it doesn't seem too dusty, I need one for the shavings though! Goodness me it can get on your chest
