should we dampen the deep litter in the cooop??

[Grandmas Coop]

We have quite a bit of pine shavings down and were wondering if any of you have dampened it down and added a little more dirt to it so it will compost better?????

 

[Folly's place]

No. It will be fine. Mary

 

[Grandmas Coop]

Thanks you & Blessings

 

[Wol1]

They will get it quite damp themselves very quickly.

Have you read about deep litter method? Just keep fluffing and adding fresh litter on top. You don't want it to get too damp as that would be unhealthy. I use straw. Cheaper here than pine shavings. Seems to decompose faster, too. (I used pine shavings for the first two months with our first batch of chickens last year... I just found some of it still undecomposed when I turned the compost pile again last week.

 

[Wol1]

Ooops. You are using the deep litter method. Sorry. They will soon get it very wet with their droppings. Especially once they are bigger.

 

[lgrems]

Nice coop!

I have read that some people use the deep litter method and toss lime into the mix. I am not sure if the chickens need to be out of the coop at time lime is tossed in. I heard it is good for the smell but can also burn chicks toes.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

churned everything over & under, smoothed it out, sprinkled lightly to get the dust down, and put fresh chips on top. misted all the edges with D.E. I don't want to use straw, it molds quickly. I have read Chickens can get respiratory issues.

 

[Wol1]

I'm glad that worked out.

Want to share with other readers that I have used straw for over a year with no mold (cleaned it out every six months plus touch ups under H2O and roost), but that's Ohio, so it could be different climates.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

Well the deep litter method has been working just fine. It has been 7 months, it was getting a little smelly in the coop so I thought I would clean it out before winter rain sets in . I took 4 wheel barrels of poo / wood shavings out, raked and broke up any dirt clods, let that air out over night. The hens got in there and scratched the tar out of everything lololo. So today I took what wood ash I had from our wood stove and some Diatomaceous-earth, after re-raking I sprinkled the dirt with this and then put a nice layer of shavings. Boy do the hens like new shavings. This is an older photo I have painted the inside white .

 

[Grandmas Coop]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/building-our-new-coop-deep-mulch.861352/page-6

We did end up going with a sand floor. It has worked out GREAT!!!