Sand or Deep Litter for Large Barn-style Coop with 70+ Chickens

[GiantChickensRock]

I live in Wisconsin and have a large 24' x 12' barn style coop with 12' x 15' run attached. Currently I have sand (over dirt) in the coop but the poop cleanup with 70+ chickens is just overwhelming. I'm wondering if deep litter method in the coop might work better, but I'm hesitant to try it until I hear from others with this many chickens. It would add roughly $300/year to the cost of keeping chickens, due to the price of pine shavings and straw. My roost bars and nest boxes are all free-standing so that I can move things around whenever I want, or pull them all out for annual cleaning. I tried some 'poop slides' under the roost bars to sort of funnel it all toward the front, but my idiot chickens occasionally fall off the roosts (or get pushed off) and they'd get stuck between the slides and the roost bars...it didn't work out. Currently it's taking four hours every Saturday to do all the cleaning. Looking for ideas!

 

[BantyChooks]

I did some variant on deep litter with 60-80 chickens across a few different coops, and a 25 x 25ish run. My main coop was 12' x 12', so significantly smaller than yours, but still larger than many others may have (a guess.)

I had a very similar climate to yours as well, and the biggest thing I can think of is that trying to get a composting deep litter in winter in the north turned out to be terrible and did not work as even the stoutest compost piles freeze in winter for me. It became solid and poop built up on top. So I did a deep bedding and kept it DRY, as much as I could which did entail spot cleaning near the waterer now and then. However, with appropriate stocking density, it stayed dry enough despite the poop, and it was the best bedding solution out of the several I tried. My mix was based on pine shavings, and in autumn, I added many bags of leaves, sticks, and a little bit of straw.

Sand was a nightmare. Never again. Hard to clean with so many chickens. Pine shavings alone was alright but not great. Mixed deep bedding was low maintenance and low smell too. It does tend to cap more under roosts with lots of chickens (biggest difference I noticed compared to a small flock) so if once every other week you come in with a shovel and pick off the poop caps & wettest spots it might make your life easier later on.

Overall I would recommend especially for your run. I put about 6" to a foot of leaf litter and some pine shavings (not a lot, they get wet) and sticks, branches in my run too. The more the better really.

 

[Ted Brown]

Your ratio of coop (288 sq ft) to run (180 sq ft) runs counter to the 4 sq ft to 10 sq ft ratios typically stated on BYC. While your coop space might manage 70 chickens your run should have 700 sq ft by that measure. I have read that large spaces can accommodate greater density but have no experience.

Work load is a direct function of the number of birds ones chooses to keep. I have 40, I spend more time than when I had 25.

I think your run is covered from your picture above. I have a covered 14' x 25' run, the only pine shavings that go in are some castoffs from the coop. The base is coarse mulch plus 6 years of leaves & needles gathered each fall. ZERO MAINTENANCE / NO SMELL. Maximum population at 30, now at 27.

 

[GiantChickensRock]

Your ratio of coop (288 sq ft) to run (180 sq ft) runs counter to the 4 sq ft to 10 sq ft ratios typically stated on BYC. While your coop space might manage 70 chickens your run should have 700 sq ft by that measure. I have read that large spaces can accommodate greater density but have no experience.

Work load is a direct function of the number of birds ones chooses to keep. I have 40, I spend more time than when I had 25.

I think your run is covered from your picture above. I have a covered 14' x 25' run, the only pine shavings that go in are some castoffs from the coop. The base is coarse mulch plus 6 years of leaves & needles gathered each fall. ZERO MAINTENANCE / NO SMELL. Maximum population at 30, now at 27.

Sorry Ted, I forgot to mention that these are all free-range chickens, even in the winter they go out and wander our three and a half acres which are mostly clover field (we also keep bees) with a band of cedars (their favorite hangout spot) and we are adding more trees and bushes this spring since they seem to prefer that over the open fields. We're basically designing a "chicken park" for them to hang out in. One thing we're short on is shaded areas for them to shelter from the heat in the summer, so we'll be adding a honey locust near the barn to provide shade to that, and a mulberry tree for fruit and shade, plus we're moving a bunch of our raspberry canes from our fenced yard out to where they can get to them.

In the winter we set up pallet structures covered by tarps so they can get out of the coop/run - I currently have four roosters and they each need their space to get away from the others.

 

[Ted Brown]

Does make a difference.

 

[Percheron chick]

Leaves are free and make good litter. I picked up 80 bags in 2 mornings to bed my coops and runs for the winter.
If you live close to town with subdivisions, they are a gold mine on trash day. If you are close enough offer to be a drop off spot Sunday afternoon a few days in the fall. If you have a neighbor group like Next Door, you should get all all the leaves you need no problem.

 

[GiantChickensRock]

Leaves are free and make good litter. I picked up 80 bags in 2 mornings to bed my coops and runs for the winter.
If you live close to town with subdivisions, they are a gold mine on trash day. If you are close enough offer to be a drop off spot Sunday afternoon a few days in the fall. If you have a neighbor group like Next Door, you should get all all the leaves you need no problem.

Great idea, thank you! We only have pines and cedars, so no piles of leaves here on our property, and we are rural - no subdivision - but my mom has oaks in her yard and has brought me a bag or two of leaves from time to time, the chickens love kicking them around (once they got past the fright over the SOUND that dead leaves make - that was new to them).

 

[Percheron chick]

Great idea, thank you! We only have pines and cedars, so no piles of leaves here on our property, and we are rural - no subdivision - but my mom has oaks in her yard and has brought me a bag or two of leaves from time to time, the chickens love kicking them around (once they got past the fright over the SOUND that dead leaves make - that was new to them).

Put the pine needles out in the run.

 

[LeeS773]

Has anyone ever used shredded cardboard boxes as litter? I would shred big enough that they couldn't easily eat it.

 

[Percheron chick]

I 've used it as horse bedding. Really liked it. Low/no dust and it lasted a good long while. Breaks down quickly in the compost pile.