My chicks are poop machines!

[Wolfwoman]

Unless you have meaties, I don't EVEN want to hear it!

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
Deep Litter method does NOT equal smell. I've been using that method for 40+ years on dirt floored coops and never had a smell or fly problem. And I sure don't use that method so that I have to run around with a scoop in my hand all the time. I never scoop and I don't have to mix the litter because the chickens do that for me when I throw a handful of BOSS in the coop. Once a year cleaning takes about 20 minutes to rake out the old straw onto a tarp, drag the tarp to the compost and dump it in. Put in a new bale of straw, remove the strings, the chickens even spread it out for me.

 

[theFox]

Quote:
Deep Litter method does NOT equal smell. I've been using that method for 40+ years on dirt floored coops and never had a smell or fly problem. And I sure don't use that method so that I have to run around with a scoop in my hand all the time. I never scoop and I don't have to mix the litter because the chickens do that for me when I throw a handful of BOSS in the coop. Once a year cleaning takes about 20 minutes to rake out the old straw onto a tarp, drag the tarp to the compost and dump it in. Put in a new bale of straw, remove the strings, the chickens even spread it out for me.

Bingo tammyd57, the deep litter system controls both the smell and flies. My girls get inside scratch in the evening and that keeps the coop litter well turned, they also get some distributed around their run and that makes them mix their outside poop into the ground. I've got some new comers in litter turning school at the moment and they are coming along just as fine as can be.

 

[Wolfwoman]

I STILL SAY unless you have MEATIES, you ain't got smell!!

 

[crossedwires]

the deep litter method normaly comes in for stick lol but to be fair this partly because its never explained in rational terms properly, there is also alot of utter rubish spoken about it. so incse its of any interest to anyone i will try and debunk a few myths and explain a little of hoe its meant to work and how to do it, now i only have 30+ years experiance with chickens and i know several on here that use have 40+ years so please feel free to correct anything you feel is wrong.
before i get to how to do it i will explain what it is............
the Deep litter method is a fancy term for controled composting. yes thats right its just a name for composting in a controlled manor, wich straight away dispells one myth.... if you compost anything correctly you do not get a unpleasent smell, stand by any avid gardners compost heap that been properly built and the most you get is a wiff of a fresh earthy type smell. but the key word is done CORRECTLY, alot of people just dont do it right, but before we get into that staraight away i should point out there is more than one method and composting is part science part art, the science bit i can tell you the art bit you get from experiance and pratice.
in any properly functioning compost system you get a fair bit of heat developed mainly towards the centre of the pile, theese temps can actualy be amazinly high and infact with cow nonsense heaps its fairly common to get the odd one start to burn even in the middle of winter!! ever driven past one on a cold day and seen it steam??. DO NOT panic the deep litter method for chickens dosnt and cant burn, the cow ones do due to the particular nature of cow pats and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen material they contain, the ratio for chickens is totaly diff, but it does get warm actualy it should get very warm in the middleish bits. now why is he banging on about compost heaps getting hot???? well it dispells another myth... deep litter method harbours and spreads desease!!! ERMMM this is actualy a complete nonsense and couldnt be further from the truth. infact the deep litter method tends to lower desease risk, yes i realy said that. the reasons are mainly two fold, the first is the obvious one of a little contact with a few desease organisms builds resistance the second is down to the heat! properly done the composting deep litter generates enough heat to kill even the eggs and spores of thing like intestinal worms and parasites, so in effect they are self steraliseing.
fly's!! erm again when i get to the point and explain the principles behind using the method you will see why fly's wont be a problem if you follow a few simple steps.

right down to the nitty gritty

several (infact many) ways and materials to do it and each is a little different but not by much, to make life simple i will detail the wood shaving/sawdust method not because its any better than any other but because its easy to explain the principle and i personaly think its the one most likely to be used by the most people reading this that want to try.

first step shavings or sawdust??? this is the part most deep bed piles fail!! the guranteed to work way is woodshaving on the floor first at the start of a pile, the reason being is air, when you first start the pile you want oxygen around because chicken poo is very very high in nitrogen and readilly breaks down in non airobic conditions this will cause smells and amonia. so especialy at the start you want a little air in there so nitrosomas and nitrobacter bacteria can thrive, theese will with a whole legion of other decomposers break down the nitrogen rich material and release a colourless odorless gas (NITROGEN!)
shavings have a downfull tho, if you just used coarse shavings you dont get complete breakdown and decomposistion, this is because composting has to be a balance between carbon (woodshavings) and nitrogen (chicken S##T) so in this beginers guide to deep litter the first step is a 3-4 inch layer of shavings , the next noobie question is always what type of shavings.....

it dosnt matter except to say two small noobie rules make it preferably a softwood and make sure its from non treated timber. the reason softwood is prefered is smply because it breaks down easier than hardwood therefore you can use a lower ratio of nitrogen (dont go bothering yourself about the ratios leave that to the art bit) this leads to another myth ..... dont use treated shavings because the dust harms the birds! this is possiably partly true but probaly wouldnt do alot of harm to your birds, the correct reason for not using treated timber is simple and pure logic. timber is treated with chemicals to try and stop it from breaking down and rotting by killing the decomposters (molds, bacteria, fungi etc) we are trying to break it down (compost it) so its madness to use something thats been made to stop what we are trying to do!!!

this first layer apart from being scrated by the chooks dosnt realy get distured afterwhile and once its provided a oxygen rich enviroment its done its bit. next add a layer of approx 2-3 inches sawdust, sawdust absorbs better than shaving and privides a good barrier that prevents FLY's from laying in a material suitable for there eggs! hence no fly's . fly's are the other reason its best not to just use shavings as there are too many gaps for the little buggers to lay eggs in.

the next bit is easy

DO NOTHING!!!

yes it might have a slight wiff for the first week or so while it settles, thats fine and part the process,

there is no need to add anything untill you see little poo piles (trust me most the time the chooks cover it by scratching it up) then just add a fine sprinkling of saw dust on the top.
dont try and achieve a pure white nice shineing layer of sawdust all the time. if you do it wont work as you will have too high a ratio of carbon to nitrogen

.. tommorow i will post a pic of what a 2 year deep litter pile looks like , you maywell be surprised

it will also show you what you are trying to aim for

how often do you totaly clean the pile out...................

that depends on what you want the valuable composted litter for

most people say a year and thats fine, most of our coops are large (20' x 20') so we dont generaly need to clean out for anything upto 3-4 years! except when i need the money! yes i forgot to mention properly composted deep litter is worth a fortune, we sell bags of ours (the large garden compost size bags) to the royal horticultral society for use on there show gardens for around £15 a bag!! and its highly prized.

the art part of deep litter is not fussing with it too much and knowing when to add a little more sawdust, you quickly pick it up tho. at no point should it apear "wet, soggy" nor should there be any smell after the first couple of weeks except a pleasent clean earthy type smell. if you smell amonia at any point finely rake the surface and add more sawdust, once the bottom layer (shavings) have compacted (probaly couple of months) try not to disturb that too much, but it dosnt matter too much if the chickens mess with it getting at the worms.

as i said i will try and post a few pics tommorow.

there are many ways to do deep litter and most the old boys/girls on here probaly do it slightly diff and most will use straw or hay etc. all this is fine i also use straw, hay and even shreaded paper at times, but the ratios are a little diff and for the beginer its best to start with shavings/sawdust untill you master the art.

anyway hope this helps some noobies and isnt seen as a preach

 

[Tigerjane]

Thank you for explaining! I think the idea of using the poo for compost is great, and if my living situation were different I would do it that way. However, I'm in a very suburban, residential area, with one side of my house/backyard on a main-ish street, closely surrounded by houses, and so this hobby of mine has to be completely unobtrusive. That means no one should have any idea I have chickens unless they see into my yard. Any smell or increase of bugs isn't good, and it also has to look nice to keep my husband on board with having these in our backyard oasis

If we had the land to keep the chickens further away from the house and our neighbors, I would give the deep litter method a try - it sounds like a lot less work, but it's not suitable for my situation right now.

 

[crossedwires]

Quote:
at this point a hard nosed purerist old timer like me

should say poppycock and drivel!!!! give it a try. BUT BUT BUT i fully understand your particular situation and would have to agree that for many reasons the deep litter method is not always the best way, all situations are a compromise and when you have neighbours and partners to consider as well you have to adapt, its a shame you cant use it as i am sure you would be a convert but like i say if i was in your shoes i would probaly do what you do!

the main thing is you keep chickens!!!!

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

Quote:
Deep Litter method does NOT equal smell. I've been using that method for 40+ years on dirt floored coops and never had a smell or fly problem. And I sure don't use that method so that I have to run around with a scoop in my hand all the time. I never scoop and I don't have to mix the litter because the chickens do that for me when I throw a handful of BOSS in the coop. Once a year cleaning takes about 20 minutes to rake out the old straw onto a tarp, drag the tarp to the compost and dump it in. Put in a new bale of straw, remove the strings, the chickens even spread it out for me.

Do you use just straw or shavings and straw? No odor is appealing to me...although I find there is only odor when the bedding gets wet. Using straw would sure help to use up the huge bale of straw I have taking up all the storage space in our feed cupboard!

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

Quote:
We went dual purpose because of my meatie poop phobia

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

Quote:
at this point a hard nosed purerist old timer like me

should say poppycock and drivel!!!! give it a try. BUT BUT BUT i fully understand your particular situation and would have to agree that for many reasons the deep litter method is not always the best way, all situations are a compromise and when you have neighbours and partners to consider as well you have to adapt, its a shame you cant use it as i am sure you would be a convert but like i say if i was in your shoes i would probaly do what you do!

the main thing is you keep chickens!!!!

Tigerjane...I am in a similar situation. We have an acre but I am trying to keep it super clean and bug/rodent free because we can keep a roo if neighbours are okay with it and I really want to keep my lovely Australorp roo. I have been using the deep litter method and, as long as the bedding stays dry, it is very low odor and looks clean. We use a rubbermaide container lid under the water to catch drips, slops and leaks which really helps. I do recommend the deep litter. Sounds gross when you hear of a year of poop but the poop really does dry up to next to nothing. I am curious about using straw though. Have to buy such a big bale for the nesting boxes and it would be good to use it up. For those who do use it does it compost as well as the shavings?