The deep litter method worked great...

[The Chicken People]

My DH cleaned mine out yesterday!

Man I Love Him!

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
DE is good to have for all sorts of reasons. A huge bag will cost $10 and last a long long time. great to put in feed, on roosts and in litter and dust baths. helps control parasites and bugs wher as Baking soda is more for smell and stuff.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:
Just curious but...

How long had old litter been in the coop?
Size of coop?
How deep was the litter?

Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed. I hadnt changed it out since December.
I have individual 4ft x 4ft pens for pairs and 4ft x 8ft pens for trios.
The litter was about a foot deep.

And honestly, it wasnt so much

as it was just plain tiring to move all of that litter.

 

[gritsar]

Speaking of which, we need to do our coop soon. DH offered to do it for me this time. He usually operates the tractor - we fill the bucket on the tractor right in front of the coop door and he takes it off and dumps it - while I shovel, but this time he said he'll shovel it out too.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Just curious but...

How long had old litter been in the coop?
Size of coop?
How deep was the litter?

Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed. I hadnt changed it out since December.
I have individual 4ft x 4ft pens for pairs and 4ft x 8ft pens for trios.
The litter was about a foot deep.

And honestly, it wasnt so much

as it was just plain tiring to move all of that litter.

I appreciate that reply. I've been planning on using the DLM when I *finally* get a coop built. My understanding is/was, that by using the DLM, litter replacement can be delayed for as long as six months to a year. It sounds that your coops' litter was *plenty* deep enough and you mentioned that the litter wasn't really all that

. Do you use any type of dropping board system? I'm planning on a minimum of an 8'x12' coop with maybe two dozen birds (may build a 4'x8' brooder coop first, though) and hoping with a dropping board system that I can go at least six months (a year would be great!) between total litter cleanouts.

Just trying to figure things out in my little pea brain

,
Ed

 

[trilyn]

I've got a 10x10 and it only took me about 20 minutes to clean it out. I just used a rounded plastic shovel and my wheelbarrow and it went quick. I love the dlm method and I don't have a poop board yet, so I just scoop under the roosts every couple of weeks and then put some fresh shavings in there with de. Alright, so maybe not totally dlm, but since I only do a complete clean out 2x a year-call it what you want-it works for me!!

 

[Camelot Farms]

Ed... I dont use a dropping board only because my pens only have 2 or 3 birds each and they are all bantams so the droppings dont build up hardly at all

I think most other do use them though!

I need to take pics of the fabulous pens DH built me so I can show them off

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I have gone for months between deep cleanings. I just add some litter and DE occasionally. My roosts are over poop pits that I also rake out occasionally. The poop goes into my compost piles. There are pics in post #5.

 

[lorrir]

My coop is 10x10 and I used 5 bags/bales of pine shavings, about 6'' deep. Stirred in some DE. When things get stinky I just stir the whole coop around with a rake and no more stink. I put my litter down in October and I expect to clean it out after next week when the time changes. I'm going to spread the used shavings in my garden, add lots of lime and roto til it under.

I kept the dry food in the coop over the winter, raised it above the litter on cinderblocks. When I change out the litter I'll move the dry food out into the covered area of the pen.

Pine shavings have worked much better than hay or straw.

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks everybody for the feedback. I'm feeling better about things now. I'm not sure whether to incorporate a dropping pit (wire mesh to ground) or stick with the dropping boards I'd planned on. I'll probably stick with the dropping boards...I like the idea of sealing the coop up against the weather and predators though simply raking out from under the house definitely is appealing!

The trick definitely seems to be isolating the poop under the roost to a given area and keeping this concentrated amount from getting into the bio-mass of the house litter.

Thanks again for everybody's feedback...ya got the rusty gears in my head back moving!

Ed