How much deep litter should I plan for?

[WAchick]

I am building my coop, and am probably going to use the deep litter method.

I am wondering how deep should I plan for for the deep litter? I want to make sure my nest boxes are high enough.

Thanks.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

12 inches to 18 inches is considered minimum depths for a deep litte system for poultry.

I have heard of some deep litter systems going as deep as a meter over a dirt floor. And for large livestock it could be as deep as 2 meters.

 

[lokua]

The deeper the shavings the longer you will be able to go between clean outs. I have a smallraised coop (24 square feet) and I have 4 full sized and 2 bantams in it. I started with about 4-6 inches of pine and have built it up to about 8 inches over the past 6 months and there's no odor at all. Realize though no decomposition happens with my system, everything is bone dry and the shavings look the same as when I put them in. For a larger scale self composting system on dirt you would probably want more like the previous poster said.

 

[WAchick]

Thanks. My coop is only 3 feet tall, so I can I'll try to make it as deep as I could.