I should put soil from the garden in too. May have to start this when the ground is softer. Since I have a cement floor, how deep should I make the bedding?
Would you be starting this now in the winter...or waiting until spring when it's warmer?
I I were starting it now brand new (in the winter when it's so cold) I'd probably try to make it about 4-6" deep so you get some insulation from the cold cement. Then I wouldn't add any more for quite awhile. From there you can give it a rake to stir things up under the roosts and mix the droppings in every once in awhile ( I like to give it a little rake in the morning or whenever I have a minute...doesn't take long.) OR...put the birds to work by throwing some food (sprouts, grains, etc.) down on the bedding and they'll scratch for it and get everything stirred up.
If I were starting when it's warmer out, I'd just start with a relatively thin layer - maybe a couple inches - then add to it every week or so until it builds up pretty deep.
For my situation, adding in some dirt really helped get things going. And since I added that in the summer, they got some worms and bugs in there and the local soils and bacteria to get things off to a nice start. They really loved scratching through that!
Before I put the dirt it, I had been using the DE until I realized what the purpose and benefits of the deep litter was. I ended up taking out a lot of what was there because of that. It was just a lot of dusty stuff. It had been drilled into my head that it had to be dry....to the dust point.... but then, after a little research, realized that wasn't going to bring the benefits I was looking for. I re-started it near the end of the summer with the dirt, etc. It is even good for it to have a little humidity (horrors!!!
) as it's needed for the composting.
Even with the humidity, I haven't had any frozen combs/wattles, etc. No bad smells... one of my friends who is a clean freak and someone that really doesn't like animals came to my house in the hot part of summer and wanted to see the chickens. She went into the hen house and immediately said, "It doesn't stink in here!" Now that's saying something coming from her!!! I also began fermenting most of their feed which I'm told makes a diff in smells but that was way after my friend visited!
For less expensive wood shavings you might try local woodworking shops, lumber mills, etc. JUST BE SURE IT'S NOT TREATED LUMBER SHAVINGS. Sometimes you can get a pickup load full of shavings really cheap rather than purchasing the small bags. I have some friends that have HUGE barn structures who get their shavings by the pickup load rather than bags. If you have a large coop/barn area, etc. it's probably worth asking around!
