throwing litter in run..Bad Idea?? advice needed

[Ema]

I did it to myself, a few days ago I told someone here that I didn't have to worry about moisture in my in barn coop cause I had great ventilation. Today I went into the coop and it just stunk. I couldn't figure it out until I took a better look around. My husband was home this weekend and without my knowing he secured plastic over the vents above the coop, Now this is way too high up for me to remove very easily, I know he had good intentions seeing it snowed here the other day maybe he thought the chickens were going to get cold or something. The moisture accumulated and the litter seems damp now. not good at all!!!!

My hubby left the ATV and trailer on the back 40 before leaving to go out of town for work, kind of hard to get to it with a 2 yr old stuck to my hip. and I usually place the litter in the back of the trailer and haul it away to the compost pile located about 2.5 acres away from the coop. My question is...for a quick clean up can I just throw the litter in the run and leave it there for a few days?? the litter is shavings mixed with straw. My hubby will be home Friday night and then he can get up on the barn rafters and remove that plastic for me. I just need to know if the litter in the run will cause issues???

 

[Judy]

Sounds like what I would do in your situation.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
I still haven't gotten to it yet wanted to make sure it wouldn't pose an issue first. So with that I think I will head out there and get it done.

thank you for your rely

 

[mandelyn]

I did that as a method, tossing it into the run. The chickens would proceed to scatter it. Once it got deep looking, I'd shovel it out and move it to compost. The bonus was when it rained, the shavings sucked up the water and it dried out faster than just dirt would. Guess it depends on size though, my old building was only 5x7 and only had 6 Bantams.

 

[Ema]

I got 21 chickens and the run is 16 x 20 maybe a bit larger. I got occupied with my 2yr old who tried catching a chipmunk and I had to come back in the house cause he wouldn't leave it alone and I was afraid he would get bitten (yep I got a chipmunk in my barn I can't get rid of) :-( however first thing tomorrow morning before he wakes I will be shoveling everything out into the run. Its supposed to rain a bit tomorrow and this might be a good thing anyhow cause they ate all the grass and I got nothing but dirt left. If it rains I will have some muddy chickens LOL...but with the straw/shavings on top that might just diminish some of that we will see what happens, In any event DH will be home Friday night so Saturday morning before he goes hunting he can help me move it all to the compost pile

 

[LynneP]

Our run is roofed, so I toss the bedding there, I don;t use the deep litter method, though and my shavings are treated with food-grade DE. In spring I clean down, putt it in a dump pit to compost, and start over.