Results from First Year with Deep Litter Method

[TalkALittle]

Bee, you said you added material because "it was time". As best as you can, could you explain how you determine when is the right time? Is it texture, depth, moisture? I've viewed your video and it was very helpful to see the consistency of you litter. In what way had your litter changed from how it appeared in that video to make you say it needed more material?

This will be my first winter with DL. I'm very pleased with my rate of decomposition so far, but am wondering what winter will bring. Obviously, in New England, I don't have the grass clippings this time of year. I just added 1/2 a lawn and leaf bag of chopped straw and another 1/2 bag of dried leaves to my 8x12' covered and wrapped run. I have 3 more bags of leaves and another 1/2 bag of straw but don't have confidence that I'll know if/when to add it.

I'm also using a nipple waterer for winter so won't be emptying dirty water into the run like I did before. Do you recommend adding water through winter or do you let the litter run drier in the winter. I'm worried that any added water will just freeze. Right now it's warm below the litter. It was 28*F the other day but it was 40*F about 4-6 inches below the litter. The litter is 12" deep total so I'm sure it's warmer down deeper. Am I worrying for no reason? The ground doesn't freeze under my little compost pile out back. I can turn that pile in February and it is still thawed so I think the litter will be fine.

 

[Beekissed]

Since I stopped using pine shavings I've not had any freezing in my DL, even when it was subzero for many days in a row. When I was still using the shavings my DL would freeze in areas where the shavings were clumped.

I usually know to add more leaves when I see them getting thin around the edges of the coop and I'm starting to see soil peeking through here and there. That's where the chickens like to dig the most, so sometimes that's just where chickens have dug, but there's a certain depth of leaves I like to maintain, especially in the winter months to keep my bottom layers insulated and warm enough to continue composting. That's one indication I use for adding more leaves.

Another is a certain moisture level under the roosts, a darkening of the leaves there that seems to indicate too much moisture on the surface of the bedding. My most moist parts of the coop are under the roosts and around the edges of the coop on the long sides, so when those leaves start looking dark and compressed looking, I just add more depth and dry leaves there. I used to have to get down and feel of the bedding to determine this but now I tend to be able to eyeball it and see how it moves when I flip it~ if it's heavy or light~on the fork.

The middle of my coop tends to stay the most dry and the leaves there usually stay light and fluffy, but they start to crumble into smaller pieces, thus compacting down and are harder to move with my pitchfork due to the smaller particles. When all those pieces get so small I can't fork them easily onto the more moist places in the coop, I know it's time for new leaves.

When I empty my waterer, I empty it right there in the middle where it's the most dusty. It helps that area to compost more and it doesn't last at all, as the dust there soaks it up and wicks it right out of the leaf cover. I never worry about throwing water down in this coop, no matter how cold it is outside. The water is much needed in the middle and I can go up later and feel that spot and won't be able to feel wet at all. The dry leaves have been shifted over it by the chickens and the moisture is trapped into the soil and fine particles underneath the leaves.

I hope that helps. If I can I'll try to make another shorter vid about when to add and show what the leaves look like when it's time to do that, how they respond to the fork, etc.

 

[TalkALittle]

Thanks! Your litter description was extremely helpful. It's also reassuring to know that freezing probably won't be an issue.

 

[motherjen]

That was a great read! I really don't want to be a daily poop scooper! My hens are only 18 weeks, & not laying yet... While I hope to see eggs in the nesting box each day and night, I find piles of waste. Pine shavings make the scoop a cinch and the compost is 8 feet away. But some days are not designed for extra tasks. I am very interested in beginning the layers of deep litter! However, I can't wrap my head around the idea that the girls will be nesting in their poop piles. Maybe there's hope we can enter into the deep litter life?

 

[ChickenMammX4]

That was a great read! I really don't want to be a daily poop scooper!  My hens are only 18 weeks, & not laying yet...  While I hope to see eggs in the nesting box each day and night, I find piles of waste. Pine shavings make the scoop a cinch and the compost is 8 feet away. But some days are not designed for extra tasks. I am very interested in beginning the layers of deep litter! However, I can't wrap my head around the idea that the girls will be nesting in their poop piles. Maybe there's hope we can enter into the deep litter life? :/  

I'm not sure I understand your concern. By "nesting" do you mean laying eggs? The hens should be using nesting boxes for laying only, not sleeping/resting. They should be sleeping on a roost, higher and separate from the nesting boxes. We have a poop board filled with PDZ under the roost which catches the poo (it's cleaned daily, takes 5 minutes, tops!). The rest that drops to the floor disappears in the deep bedding (we use pine shavings in the coop). It gets cleaned out twice a year.

We do deep litter (grass clippings, straw, hay, levees & other landscape debris) in the run. It's deep (4" - 6") and the poo falls to the bare ground below and decomposes. Rarely is there any visible poo. That gets cleaned out once a year.

 

[TalkALittle]

That was a great read! I really don't want to be a daily poop scooper!  My hens are only 18 weeks, & not laying yet...  While I hope to see eggs in the nesting box each day and night, I find piles of waste. Pine shavings make the scoop a cinch and the compost is 8 feet away. But some days are not designed for extra tasks. I am very interested in beginning the layers of deep litter! However, I can't wrap my head around the idea that the girls will be nesting in their poop piles. Maybe there's hope we can enter into the deep litter life? :/  

This doesn't sound like a problem that would be solved with different litter management. It sounds like poor roost placeement has caused them to sleep in the best boxes. You will want to break them of this habit asap or you will end up with poopy and broken eggs when they begin laying.

How big is your coop and how many birds? Do you have a roost? How long and high is it? Can you block off the nest boxes at night? Or stuff something in them to prevent your birds from sleeping there?

 

[motherjen]

Thanks. I realized this was very off topic in your thread. I appreciate the advice! I am going to attempt to block off the nesting boxes (adjacent to the roost) by night. I got an egg today and it was nowhere near the boxes.
I like the idea that thousands of years ago, someone may have been in the same pickle. I am enjoying this learning curve.

 

[motherjen]

Thank you for your reply. I apologize for getting off topic. I will try blocking the nesting boxes tonight before they go in. Nesting boxes are adjacent to the roost. There is a tray underneath the roost with pine shavings. I found an egg in there this morning. (First one!) Maybe I'll nix the tray and just let it drop the 4'. I am enjoying this learning curve. Thanks again.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'd try also putting something different in the tray. Make it less inviting. If you want true deep litter then I would take the tray out so it can compost but you don't have to, you can just do deep bedding like the above poster. DL works better with a dirt floor anyway. I would try putting pine shavings or something else soft and inviting in the nest boxes and then a mix of sand and Sweet PDZ in the poop tray. That will help absorb the poop better anyways and you can scoop it daily or every other day but it will also make it clear to the chickens that this is a different area and is less inviting. Also you may need to show them where to lay. A rooster would do the same but if you don't have a rooster, which i don't, you will need to put fake eggs in. I bought some fake brown plastic eggs off Amazon but they also well wooden ones or you could even use golf balls. I had them in there for at least a week or you can do until everyone is laying. Although, once one knows where to lay then the rest usually follow. I do still occasionally get an egg or two in their run or in the main coop or a broken egg though but for the most part they all know where to lay now and go in the nest boxes. Some just don't like to or can't hold it lol but anyways, I would buy some fake eggs. They're not very expensive. One per nest box should be fine. They will figure it out. Also make sure you have enough nest boxes. 1 box for every 3-5 hens. And make sure the roosts are higher than the nest boxes. They like to roost in the highest place possible. Also they may just figure it out one day. Mine moved out at 7 weeks and all 8 used to all cram into one or two nest boxes and I never really concerned myself with it. They eventually got bigger and decided to roost. But at 18 weeks yours are a little old to still be sleeping in the boxes so something is maybe off :/ how hig are the roosts? It may be uncomfortable. A flat 2x4 works best i find.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you for your reply. I apologize for getting off topic. I will try blocking the nesting boxes tonight before they go in. Nesting boxes are adjacent to the roost. There is a tray underneath the roost with pine shavings. I found an egg in there this morning. (First one!) Maybe I'll nix the tray and just let it drop the 4'. I am enjoying this learning curve. Thanks again.

That would probably be your best bet....no poop tray and roosting that is much higher than your nesting boxes. Blocking nests becomes a pain, especially when they are all laying and you need to get out there early to let them into the boxes. Going out each night and evicting them from the nest boxes, placing them onto the roosts, will help retrain as well.

Using hay in your nest boxes also helps distinguish them from the rest of your bedding/litter....if the poop tray has shavings, the floor has shavings and the nests have shavings, what's to attract them specifically to the nests for laying? Hay is more like their natural nesting materials and they can arrange it into a bowl shape that they like....it gives them something to do while on the nests, they get to "make" their own nests and will return to that nest each time to lay. They will usually not sleep on the nest they make for laying unless they have decided to go broody, so this gives them the sense that sleeping takes place in one part of the coop while the nesting takes place in another. They can't really make a nest in shavings all that well, as the shavings just fall back into a level zone and don't hold the natural shape that a grass/hay nest begins to have.

It can make a big difference.