Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

I think you can only legitimately do the deep layer method with a dirt floor. (do you have dirt on a wood floor?) Part of the process is having bugs and microbes in the soil to help break down the poops and bedding. If the dirt is inside, I doubt it'll be wet. Little dampness like near water dish would only help the dirt critters IMHO.... I also think that you'd want the soil semi loose to allow the bedding to interact with the ground. But I've been wrong before so if anyone else has more info please pitch in.

I would love to get my hands on a few Jacobs sheep! Love the 4 horned rams!

 

[ladyrsanti]

Hm. I'm not sure that's entirely true because, for instance, you can compost in a container like a compost tumbler. BUT, the first year it will take FOREVER to break down. It won't be until the second year that it will have all the necessary microbes to compost efficiently. That's only if you don't clean out all of the compost in the container too, leaving some to build off of the following year. I think the same would be true for culturing in a deep litter bedding. My coop is only 8 months old right now and the oldest of the litter is the same age. It's probably not doing as much as it could, being that it's relatively new but if I turn it over, it is breaking down pretty well and it's on concrete. Concrete holds and transfers a lot of moisture (not to mention my coop leaks terribly). Plus, the floor started with a layer of manure and hay that we scraped away... most of but not all. The previous owners' sheep used that corner of the lean-to for shelter. So I may have started with a lot more microbes than I will with a new coop. In theory anyway, it should work on other surfaces. That's my one concern with the wood and vinyl though. I don't recall anyone yet saying they're using the DLM with it successfully. And I am dead set on using DL. What's most tempting with the dirt floor is it's cheap.

I'm thinking about it, waffling over everything, no stone left unturned.

 

[SillyChicken]

I would be concerned with wood or vinyl for 2 reasons... first, wood will rot over time, the same things breaking down the bedding/pooh will break down the wood over time (may take years, but..) vinyl could hold too much moisture and could create mold issues. ... I don't know though. Cement is more porous than vinyl and if old and used for other live stock probably did get "charged" over time.

I suppose if you went pretty deep it could work.

 

[1muttsfan]

I do deep litter in a raised coop, vinyl-covered wood floor. The trick to moisture control is the amount of bedding you have - add more if it is too moist, less if too dry. In addition you can have moisture issues if you have a lot of birds for the amount of floor space you have. Cleaning out under the roosts once a week pretty much solves that. And you do need to turn the bedding every week or two, I use a garden fork to turn it.

 

[ladyrsanti]

I do deep litter in a raised coop, vinyl-covered wood floor. The trick to moisture control is the amount of bedding you have - add more if it is too moist, less if too dry. In addition you can have moisture issues if you have a lot of birds for the amount of floor space you have. Cleaning out under the roosts once a week pretty much solves that. And you do need to turn the bedding every week or two, I use a garden fork to turn it.

How old is the coop and do you have tile vinyl or the sheet vinyl? How's it holding up? And would you do anything different? Sorry to grill you

but I'm unashamedly learning from everyone's mistakes and wish-I-would-haves.

 

[MIchickens]

With what you all are discussing. A few ideas came to mind. what about sealing a wood floor with the coating people use to seal cement walls in their basements or coating the floor with the paint on truck bedliner coating? Just a thought.

 

[RIRJen]

ok....maybe I'm not reading right....I use pine shavings in the floor of my coops. Are you all saying that you just put a deep (and how deep is deep) layer of bedding (what kind of bedding?) and just turn it? Other then spot cleaning the yucky parts that is? I've thought about adding sand to my coop bedding but wasn't sure that would help. Ideas? Fill me in here heehee

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

I guess that would work... but is it going to be safe for the chickens to eat? They peck at everything...

 

[ladyrsanti]

ok....maybe I'm not reading right....I use pine shavings in the floor of my coops. Are you all saying that you just put a deep (and how deep is deep) layer of bedding (what kind of bedding?) and just turn it? Other then spot cleaning the yucky parts that is? I've thought about adding sand to my coop bedding but wasn't sure that would help. Ideas? Fill me in here heehee

I use pine shavings, those big bales (the ones from the feed mills, not the little ones from TSC or Meijer) and add the whole thing. I think I started with three bales in my (approx.) 9 x 12 coop. That made it roughly 6" deep at the start. I add a bale every so often when it starts to get thin (every month to two months or so depending. It seems I need less here in the colder months). The shavings break up, get compacted and start to decompose eventually. I didn't used to have a poop board so yes, I would go through under the roosts with a cat scoop and fish out the poo. But now that I have a board, I just scrape it and don't worry too much about what they drop during the day. The whole thing gets turned over now and again. My chickens turn over the edges frequently on their own but not in the middle so I have to do that with a hoe or rake. Because my coop leaks, I hit those moist areas a lot but that's it. Very little maintenance really. I think I have about 10-12" overall at the moment.

I should add though, that I'm one of those people who labors under the delusion (if not laziness) that it's healthier to be dirty.

 

[1muttsfan]

Sheet vinyl, I had concerns about tiles allowing moisture to leak through the cracks, and holding up under shovel and chicken-scratching action. My big coop is 4 years old, the small one 2.

You need a deep enough layer so that the underneath floor never (or at least rarely) shows, I try to keep about 10" or more down in the winter. I would probably need less if I had poop boards. Proper ventilation is really important to ensure that moisture does not build up in the coop.

Here is a link to the Deep Litter thread -

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/70/deep-litter-method