Topic of the Week - Coop Bedding and Waste Management; Deep Litter Method etc.

[Eggsakly]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
Pine or white shavings

- How deep do you let it get?
At the moment it's about 8 or 9 inches. I have to take some out every few weeks and make room.

- How often do you clean it out?
I attend to the coop and shavings at least once a week, and I tweak it whenever things are less than I like.

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Wood covered with vinyl flooring

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
No

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
I think I'm doing some form of deep litter method, but I'm such a novice at chickens I cannot be sure I'm getting it right. Basically I stopped cleaning out all the coop shavings and began laying fresh shavings on top of old shavings in the fall last year. Living in Alaska, I adore the idea of the deep litter method. This is my first winter to have chickens in a coop. I previously only had a house chicken. My coop is contained within another building which affords a lot of protection from the elements, but it still gets very, very cold in there, so when it is very cold, like this morning at -15F, I also give them a secure heat lamp that keeps their water from freezing. The chickens turn the litter regularly - they are quite the diggers - and I add generously to the top in a big way once a week, and I tweak it whenever things are less than I like. I go by my nose, and if I get the slightest whiff of ammonia, I add some fresh shavings. If the shavings are getting too high, before I add fresh shavings I remove some dirty shavings first and level out the shavings that remain before adding the new stuff. So far this winter I have removed shavings 3 times. For a cold climate, DLM is awesome; I can feel the warmth from the coop bed and it sure is a wonder when temps are -25F.

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
Nothing. I just clean the coop, but the pine shavings do help.

 

[22pond]

I have a sheet metal pull out tray under the roost. I have it lined with plastic. I pull out the tray from the outside of the coop, roll up the plastic and dump it in the compost. I then replace the plastic with a clean one. This is so easy and I can get this done in just few minutes.

 

[Sandy80]

This is my first winter keeping chickens. So far so good!

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
Clean straw in the inside coop floor and a mix of the straw and fine pine shavings (the fine shavings a lot of people use for nesting boxes)

- How deep do you let it get?
~ 5” - 7”

- How often do you clean it out?
In winter I’ve been averaging 1x/ month (removal of all straw/poo and sweep out); in spring/ summer months weekly

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Wood covered over with layer of vinyl flooring.

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
Nothing now….let the poo fall where it falls overnight while the girls roost. When my girls first took up residence in the coop this summer I had a set up with trays under the roosting bar but found that it was more trouble than worth to clean up the trays.

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
Yes, started deep litter method this winter (is my 1st winter keeping chickens). I’ve had surprising good luck with it. I turn the straw (under the roost bars ) over every morning - the poo falls o to the bottom of the pile.

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
1) coop compost powder (sprinkle it on the top layer straw every week before the straw is turned over) and 2) generous layer of Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled on the coop and nesting box floor (hay goes on top) when I clean out the coop (before the new straw is put inside.

 

[shotgunranch]

One thing any chicken keeper will tell you is that chickens can get messy and keeping the coop clean(ish) and not too smelly can be a challenge, especially over winter, when many of our birds prefer to spend their time indoors. This week I'd like to hear you all's thoughts on coop bedding, waste management etc. Specifically:

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
We use paper from the shredder. Between what the kids bring home from school and the paper we shred at work, we usually only buy wood chips when we're brooding chicks and poults.
- How deep do you let it get?
A few inches
- How often do you clean it out?
We aim for every week during the winter, but life and weather often get in the way
- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Wood that used to be covered with vinyl
- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
No
- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
No
- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
None



For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

 

[AllynTal]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?

All-purpose sand and Sweet PDZ

- How deep do you let it get?

As deep as I can get it. I try to maintain about four inches as that makes it easier to clean. I clean it with what is basically a giant kitty-litter scoop, so about four inches is good.

- How often do you clean it out?

I scoop the poop every three or four days. It takes about 10 minutes to scoop the sand clean like cleaning a giant kitty-litter box. Every three or four months, I add a couple of bags of sand and add a bag of PDZ.

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)

Sheet vinyl flooring over a wood subfloor.

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?

No. The poop falls on the sand and gets dessicated so it's easier to scoop.

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?

No. If done improperly, it makes for too much moisture in the coop which creates respiratory problems and is a frostbite hazard in winter.

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)

Sweet PDZ -- not necessarily to control smells and moisture, but because it dessicates the poop which makes the sand easier to clean. Because the poop is dessicated, the smells aren't present and there is no moisture problem.

 

[warriorjcm]

Because we have some pretty extreme weather, I built my chickens a bed next to their nesting boxes, that they huddle together in at night. I just use straw for their bed and boxes, and have an earth floor. I just use a dog rake to scoop the poop off the floor each morning and I scoop any poop out of their bed. Ive been composting all their poop, dirty bedding, and excees feed they leave on the floor. Im using a water compost method to speed it up and so far I have about 60 gallons of beautiful fertilizer!

 

[mustangrooster]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?

I have a big chicken coop and run along with a smaller roosting 'box' in the corner of the coop (The roosting Box is a bird aviary that i cut doors into, put planks in and a truck load of sticks along with a tarp for the roof, lucky i could fit it though the chicken coop door!) so i cant cover everything to protect against bad weather. I used to use Hay but the rain would kill it, i find if even a slight bit of water is spilled on hay bedding it starts going 'off' and with all the poop it gets really smelly etc, especially if you have ducks and chickens and turkeys! So Hay was off the list ..however i do use Hay for the nesting Boxes but thats another story.


I've tried a few things for floor bedding. But now i stick with sand/Gravel/dirt/Grass clippings in the coop. Basically the more natural stuff because I've had bad run- ins with the less natural products.

The roosting 'box' and the run dont have any bedding.

- How deep do you let it get?

Honestly, as deep i can get it.

- How often do you clean it out?

A good rake out every week along with replacements of bedding each week does the trick.

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)

Earth, what else?

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?

Yes i use a poop board in the roosting spot, its called the floor because apparently the chickens dont know how to use a poop board!

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?

Pass, never even looked into it.

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)

Nothing

The clean out every week does the trick, unless i dont have time to do it every week.

 

[FluffyButt789]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
Sand and DE on the bottom. Pine shavings on top of that.

- How deep do you let it get?
I switched over from hay to shavings in the fall. It's about 1 inch by their food, gradually increasing to 6 inches under their perches.

- How often do you clean it out?
I won't be cleaning until spring. So that's 6 months in between cleanings.

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Protected wood.

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
No, they poop onto the shavings below.

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
AMAZING. Much better than hay. With hay, I had to clean weekly and it smelled dreadful. Now, I will only need to clean twice a year and there is no smell at all!

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
I haven't needed anything extra.

*I highly suggest everyone using hay or straw to switch to sand or shavings! It's life-saving!*

 

[DianaMallory]

I was using pine shavings but now that I have increased the size of my flock and added a 2nd coop I use straw a good 6 inches deep. Found out the hard way that deep litter method doesn't work without poo boards! I had to clean my coop out in the middle of winter and add poo boards.. Now I have clean eggs the coop doesn't smell and it is dry in there. Poo boards are a must!

 

[hpyhnds71]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
*Pine shavings
- How deep do you let it get?
*12+ inches
- How often do you clean it out?
*3x a year
- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
*Concrete
- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
*No
- Anyone use the deep litter method?
Tell us about your experience?
*Yes. I love it. So easy, clean out the coop a few times a year. Add shavings occasionally and turn the bedding once or twice a week. And of course the girls help turn it all the time. Only ever have any noticeable smell when we've had multiple days of rain.
- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
*Dried herbs. Used DE in the beginning for smell, but makes the bedding unusable for composte, so I just use the herbs and turning.