New to chickens, looking for your input on deep litter.

[kelliott]

Perhaps I should have labeled this thread "Marital Advice" as I am completely novice to chickens, but I have been reading as much as I can and have become interested about the benefits of deep litter.

As a slight background My wife & I live in SW iowa. Me, a small town boy my whole life and my wife, who left the country to live in the big city with me (ok, so 7500 people isnt huge, but its bigger than the country)

Anyway, We are in the process of purchasing a nice acarage northwest of town, and are looking forward to raising chickens both for eggs and meat.

My wife has raised chickens from the age of 5, showed them at the fairs, and was very successful, however, she raised chickens the same way that her father and grandfather did.

I have brought up the issue of deep litter, but she is concerned that it will just be a mess and be horrible on her allergies.

Any input would be apprecieted.

 

[donrae]

Well, on the maritial advice front..........if she wants to keep them a specific way and is willing to do the work and incur the expense, leave her alone and let her do it.

Personally, I'm lazy. No way I'm cleaning out chicken coops weekly. Too many other things to do and too many good books to read. So, I but 2 large bales of shavings and open them in the coop. The birds act like it's Christmas, scratching through the new bales. I feel bad for them, they don't know there aren't any bugs in there! Anyway, whenever it starts to get an ammonia smell or just unpleasant in any way, down go more shavings. I last took my coop down to the bare floor in Aug 11 and am only considering it now cause the layers of shavings are making me have to duck or I hit my head on the rafters!

 

[bobbi-j]

I would say that the one doing the majority of the coop cleaning should be the one deciding the method of using bedding (litter).

 

[kelliott]

Thanks much, kinda what I figured. When we had the restaurant, Im the one who got to clean the fryers and the ice cream machine, so Im thinking I will be volunteered. Any advice about alergies?

 

[bobbi-j]

Thanks much, kinda what I figured. When we had the restaurant, Im the one who got to clean the fryers and the ice cream machine, so Im thinking I will be volunteered. Any advice about alergies?

Dust mask?

 

[galefrances]

I'm fairly new to chickens and read quite a bit on the deep litter method. I have a linoleum floor in my 8x10 coop. I have 12 chickens. I dust the floor with DE, then put a layer of pine shavings. Every couple days, I turn the litter with a rake. Whenever I see a poop or feathers laying on top, I remove that, but I don't go crazy over it. When it looks nasty, or it starts to smell, I dust with DE and put a layer of pine shavings over it. Question: Am I doing this correctly, because lately I've noticed an odor? I do have a poop board under the roosts with PDZ. Everyday I scoop out the poop with a kittly little scoop. Once that's removed it smells a whole bunch better. Any suggestions? Do I need more ventilation? I have two windows across from each other (east and west) and screened vents near the peaks (north and south).