Sand Bedding Question

What is DLM, DE, and PDZ? I'm really new. Am in planning stages of coop. I know I want linoleum floors and small area of wire. I was just told heavier birds shouldn't be on wire, why?

DLM = Deep Litter Method
DE = Diatomaceous Earth/food grade 5%
PDZ = Sweet PDZ; used for horse stalls absorbs ammonia odor

Are you doing off the ground or on the ground? Linoleum is easy clean. I use as a brooder, an enclosed 4 x 8 work table! One we used paneling which I painted with several coats of paint. The other is plywood, again several coats of paint. Found the panel floor cleans easy with Lysol Spray (every day) & DE sprinkled after. The plywood is "easier" clean with PDZ & DE. We used to keep chickens in cages, now I prefer keeping them on a flat surface.

Heavier birds as well as 'larger' meat rabbits, wire tends to "hurt" their feet. When I did meat rabbits, used 1 x 2 welded wire and there is a right side up/wrong side down. I've seen coops made with hardware cloth for the bottom, every run your hands over it? I always taught my kids, "It's good enough for animals, if it's good enough for you".

Then I had Hubby make me a Mobile Run for when chicks got older. They then graduated to being loose & would return the their brooder at night. Recently had Hubby build the above Run/Coop (dog house) which they return to now.







 
Newbe5 - We get heavy rains, the now Run/Coop shower curtains are plastic. I used clear for the front & front half of the side, the back & back half of the sides I use white. The "rods" are EMT conduit hung with "plumbers tape". Love it. Recent problem we had was the PVC roofing caved in due to some heavy rains we had, so we're removing & install metal roofing.







 
I guess I just didn't realize chicken poop would be so WET. I'm not liking the sand at all. It's really disappointing, because I was so excited to have a coop that didn't stink :(

I guess I can use the Shop Vac to suck it out...
 
So, we got our little coop built and I laid linoleum in it and up the sides to hold the bedding. Got my washed river sand, got it in, mixed in a little Sweet PDZ, all fine. Put the chicks in last night and this morning it appears that they have churned much of their poo into the sand, as in made it into fine particles. Looks like they had a little runny stool, probably stressed from being moved and whatnot. My question: is this going to be a continuing thing, or will I be able to scoop the majority of the poo out once everyone's solid again? I chose sand because everyone seemed to rave about how easy it was to keep clean. If it's going to get poo churned into powder in it as a matter of course, I might as well use shavings or corn cob bedding and remove it all regularly.

Do you have poop boards under their roost? Do they sleep on the roost? If yes, put your PDZ on the poop boards and it will do a good job of drying up their poo, and catch the majority of it. I also use the shavings inside the coop.
 
Do you have poop boards under their roost? Do they sleep on the roost? If yes, put your PDZ on the poop boards and it will do a good job of drying up their poo, and catch the majority of it. I also use the shavings inside the coop.

No and no. It's kind of too narrow of a coop to put in a poop board. I'm just going to use shavings or corn cob bedding.
 
D.gif
 
Last edited:
I guess I just didn't realize chicken poop would be so WET. I'm not liking the sand at all. It's really disappointing, because I was so excited to have a coop that didn't stink :(

I guess I can use the Shop Vac to suck it out...
Mix the shavings in with the PDZ and opt for the DLM method. I've found that the DLM method stops the coop from smelling but rather gives it a kind of compost type smell, adding the PDZ may help to make it smell nicer. You could mix in a bit of the sand in the shavings and put the rest out in the run
 
Last edited:
We are just starting to build coop. It's being built like a storage shed, and will have linoleum floors, brother wants to put it on before putting up the walls. We are going to have the PVC pipe water and feeders. Water will be in plastic drum on roof, we'll add apple cider vinegar to the water to keep it clean. When done it will be 8x12 with 8 ft in front and 7 ft in back. Brother is 6'4", lol. He didn't want to stoop too much when it will be his turn to take care of birds. We are rotating weekly for bird chores.
We have 20 7 to 8 WK old chicks, 3 chicks that are 4 weeks, 2 ducks and 2 turkeys that are 2 wks old. The ducks love being with the chickens but hate the turkeys.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom