Mid winter coop HELP!

[Erin80]

I have been doing the deep litter method in my coop this winter. This is our first winter keeping chickens. We have 6 hens right now. The wood chips just keep getting higher and higher to the point that if I add anymore, I won't be able to open the door. Also, the chickens tend to kick a ton of wood chips under their roosts - and the pile under there is frozen.....so I can rake the rest of the coop, but I can't rake under the roosts because it's just a giant frozen pile of wood chips. It's only February - we have at least 2 more months before it's mild enough to just clear the whole coop out and put down fresh wood chips.
Am I doing this wrong?? Should I be removing a few wheelbarrow loads each time I add new so that the coop isn't this full of wood chips? How often do you add fresh wood chips? I'm feeling stressed out because I feel like their coop is dirty

 

[cavemanrich]

Seems like you are overloading the coop with the wood chips volume. To have the whole process work, it does not need to be 2 feet deep.
Instead of just adding, try turning the litter with a pitchfork or shovel. The DLM is only odor free under IDEAL conditions. Not all are able to achieve this. A slight odor should be tolerated if you are a realist and keep chickens. I have friends that have dairy cattle barns. They do not consider the smell in the barn as unpleasant. I do not consider the smell in my coop as unpleasant. (not very unpleasant)
Sometimes the feed you give your chickens may affect the odor of those gumdrops. Extra high protein levels tend to produce such.
WISHING YOU BEST......

 

[jthornton]

Adding your location in your profile and a photo of the inside of your coup will help to get better answers.

JT

 

[blackdog043]

Are you using wood chips or shavings? Deep litter is not just wood chips. It is a combination of wood chips, grass clippings, yard waste, leaves, some straw... not a lot of any one thing. Why are the chips under the roost frozen? Is it all built up poop, that is not being mixed into the wood chips, can you take a shovel and scoop it out? With deep litter, the poop should be getting mixed in all the time. Can you post a pic of the inside?