How often do you add carbon to deep litter?

[K0k0shka]

leave short grass clippings out to dry

Why the extra work? I toss mine in straight out of the mower bag. The chickens love eating them! And whatever doesn’t get eaten, gets spread around by them and dries quickly in the summer heat.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Roughly quarterly - when an odor begins to be noticeable. I have a large flock, and a large run, but don't deep litter as deeply as many. My "run" is 35 x60??? That almost 20 cubic YARDS of leaf litter to just 3" deep - so I concentrate on the coops, which is where they concentrate their poops. My birds also free range most of the day - but still manage to keep turning the litter over without my assistance.

Each of my coops takes 7-8 heaping gorilla cart's full at least once a quarter. I throw more in the runs when the leaves and yard waste is available (I grow some very tall grasses, and harvest as hay or straw as well), it tends to get pounded to very tiny tiny unrecognizeable bits prtty fast, then turned into the soil)

 

[rosemarythyme]

Why the extra work? I toss mine in straight out of the mower bag. The chickens love eating them! And whatever doesn’t get eaten, gets spread around by them and dries quickly in the summer heat.

I've had a hen gorge on fresh clippings until she got impacted, so to discourage them from eating too much I let the clippings sit where they fall a day or two. They'll still eat some but not with enthusiasm.

As I don't use a mower bag it's no extra work, I have to rake them up regardless, whether on the day I mow or two days later.

 

[K0k0shka]

This is what it looks like right now - some wood chips, a lot of dry leaves, some hay I dumped from the nesting boxes to change with new. No soil that's visible, and it doesn't look poopy at all. Last time I added to it was about a month ago. I need to do one last round of raking around the yard. Whatever I collect, I'll dump in the chicken run and that will be it for a while (until it snows, probably, at which point I'll throw some leaves from my bagged stash on top of the snow for the chickens to walk on).

 

[3KillerBs]

This is what it looks like right now - some wood chips, a lot of dry leaves, some hay I dumped from the nesting boxes to change with new. No soil that's visible, and it doesn't look poopy at all. Last time I added to it was about a month ago. I need to do one last round of raking around the yard. Whatever I collect, I'll dump in the chicken run and that will be it for a while (until it snows, probably, at which point I'll throw some leaves from my bagged stash on top of the snow for the chickens to walk on).

View attachment 2922343

Perfect forest floor!

 

[K0k0shka]

Perfect forest floor!

In addition to all the other benefits, it also fits with my woodland run aesthetic

 

[K0k0shka]

Neuchickenstein is built on a slope

Is that your new coop's name? (I'm behind in following up on things, but I do remember you were building a new coop). Awesome name!! That's my favorite castle in the world

 

[3KillerBs]

Is that your new coop's name? (I'm behind in following up on things, but I do remember you were building a new coop). Awesome name!! That's my favorite castle in the world

DH asked to name the first rooster "Ludwig" because he would be the king of a very expensive castle.

A friend of mine, after hearing that, said that we should call the coop Neuchickenstein.

I liked it and it stuck.