Small Coop Dirt Floor Deep Litter

[Urbanchicster]

Hello hello!

After countless hours of research and reading forums, I decided to turn to y'all for your opinions and hopefully examples.

I've read time and time again that the Deep Litter Method (DLM) works best on a dirt floor, but it seems more popular to do the DLM on a raised floor.

I've seen examples of DLM on a dirt floor for chicken coops containing a large number a chickens, but not one example for a small flock!

I've also read a lot of recommendations for this, but those recommendations are from people who are not currently practicing dirt floor / deep litter / small flock method.

Has anyone had success with a deep litter method on a dirt floor in a coop for a very small flock? (I have 4 chickens in an urban area).

If I were to go this route this the coop, it was be built in such a way to have very good drainage and be protected from predators. My initial brainstorming envisions something like this: raise ground up about 4" to make an island for the coop. Lay down hardware cloth. Use 2 layer of cinder blocks on 3 sides, one layer in the front (door). Fill the inside with gravel and then bricks or pavers up to about 6", the other 6" up to the first cinder block will be the "reserve" deep litter to get the next batch rolling. A removable board will be place on the door side to meet the height of the 2nd cinder block. Wood coop built on top. The coop will be attached to a very predator proof run so that I can leave the door open on weekends I'm gone. I live in Richmond, Virginia if y'all want to factor in climate. The summers are long, hot, and humid. The winters are mild, little snow, but also humid. (Having lived in Northern Missouri, I find southern humid winters much more unbearable than northern dry winters. Even though its not nearly as cold, the humid air penetrates through your clothing no matter how much layers you wear.)

I've read threads of this forum for raised vs dirt floor, and yet no thread has answered my question specifically for a small urban flock.

Here are my concerns:
(1) Is a 4 chicken flock too small to successfully do deep litter inside of the coop?
(2) Will the chickens even be inside the coop enough to successfully do deep litter when they have access to the run?
(3) Even with all the proposed drainage, will there still be issues during super intense rain events such as a hurricane?


To summarize:
WHO HAS A VERY SMALL FLOCK ON A DIRT FLOOR INSIDE THEIR COOP WITH DEEP LITTER??

I really hope that there are other people out there who have done this (bonus points if in an urban area!). With all my research on deep litter, it seems like my plan could work and make all my compost dreams come true, but my hubby-to-be keeps give me the no-go on this design and is arguing for the raised floor approach.


Thank you for your time and energy!!

 

[Urbanchicster]

No responses yet! Wowzers!

With all the die-hard deep litter advocates, I could have sworn people would be jumping at the bit to show off their tiny urban composting coops!

The coop is being built this month, so if I can't find other small-coop-deep-litter-dirt-floors out there, then it might just have to be a raised coop.

 

[JaceAgain]

I am planning on copying my aunt who has like, 38 chickens. She has her large coop on the ground, on dirt, and uses shell-sand as the floor base. Its less dusty and she just rakes it every couple of weeks. They did the DLM with a floor/ vinyl and shavings for 18 months and hated it, it was expensive and hard to clean. Now they just power wash the inside every summer and the water drains through the sand and soaks into the dirt, win win.

 

[JaceAgain]

That said, I live 4 hours south of you

(1) Is a 4 chicken flock too small to successfully do deep litter inside of the coop? -shouldn't be. would just take longer.
(2) Will the chickens even be inside the coop enough to successfully do deep litter when they have access to the run? - Yes, most go in every night at least.
(3) Even with all the proposed drainage, will there still be issues during super intense rain events such as a hurricane? -no idea, sorry.

Wood shavings take a long time to break down, so for composting for me I'm going to try a poop tray with sweet PDZ I think. I have 6 chickens, so I think it'll be ok.

 

[TwistedFeathers]

I have a flock of 7, a small coop, maybe 4x5 foot in size, and i use deep litter on a dirt floor. I dug the floor out a bit more to lower it below the door by a few inches. I started out with a thick layer of hay, and after a 3 moths it has settled a bit more, autumn is here in new zealand, so i am now topping it up with leaves. The chooks do a good job. They are just young pullets at the mo, and one rooster, and at first didn't get the idea. I leave small piles of wheat in spots on the litter, they scoff the wheat, and now they scratch around happily looking for bits they missed. Every few days i put down another couple of piles, but they scratch around in between as well. So far it works well. They love the dlm on wet icky days, i always find them snuggled up together in the litter

I have found no problems with my set up. Even with them having 24 hour access to a run, and free ranging round the backyard when i am home, they still find time to have a good scratch in the litter.

 

[Loghousemom]

I have a large coop, but did deep litter with a dirt floor and a small flock the first year I kept chickens. My building is large though, so it might not be helpful for you. It worked well for me. I still have the dirt floor but a larger flock and I still like the deep litter. I would like to find a way to clean mine out easier. Since the coop is so large, it is a lot of work to clean the whole thing out in the spring. I am also using a building that was already on the property.

I live way up north near Canada, and have many ideas of ways to improve my own system for winters, but overall I like that I can add extra straw in the winter times to keep them warmer.

I think if you choose to use it, you will like it.