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

[PippinTheChicken]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
I use hemp bedding in the coop and run.
I'm currently using straw in the coop because I accidentally bought the wrong bedding (silly me!)

- How deep do you let it get?
I put it a gew inches deep to make it comfortable

- How often do you clean it out?
every few weeks to every month, I usually clean it out when I start to realise the smell or how much poop there is

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
it's a litter tray you can pull out. Then you put bedding over it

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

1. DE
2. Antibac poultry powder
3. Anti-mite spray

I don't use the deep litter method.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Here's my reasearch on hemp bedding. If anyone's interested.
Hemp Bedding- Why is it the best?

 

[3KillerBs]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?

Mix of materials, primarily wood shavings for the Little Monitor Coop, straw in the Brooder Coop and the Splits Temporary Accommodations.

- How deep do you let it get?

As deep as I can before it spills out the pop door and access door. ~8 inches.

- How often do you clean it out?

When it really needs it -- 6-12 weeks depending on conditions.

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

Wood in the Little Monitor Coop, dirt for the others.

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

No.

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

No, but I do use Deep Litter in the run and haven't had to clean it in over a year.

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

None. I sometimes sprinkle the floor with lime or ashes, but that's more about the PH of the eventual compost pile than about the chickens.

I wrote an article about my use of Deep Bedding: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[BigFuzzball]

I use wood shavings and Easibed chippings on the floor with lots of paper shredding sprinkled on.
The actual floor is a base of an oversized plastic pallet with a black corrugated uPVC house (under laminate etc) sheet from a building merchant - it's thus insulation and washable as well as sprayable with disinfectant and anti-mite spray !

Bedding in their laying nest & sleeping crates (the large blue ones supermarkets deliver groceries in - 2nd hand and so cheap off eBay) is a base liner then sawdust/chippings plus shredding.

Poops are scooped daily and bedding completely turned / fluffed back up so it's aired and to prevent musty damp.
Access door left open all day to air the whole place ......

All bedding changed & composted every 3-4wks depending on the weather and soiling etc.

 

[Tashua]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
HEMP
- How deep do you let it get?
Around 4-6 inches

- How often do you clean it out?
Twice a year , use deep litter , up to 8 “
- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Wood (painted with weather proof paint)
Wood with FRP over top
- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
No poop boards

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
Yep (see above) makes for awesome compost pile for the garden
- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
I use lime

 

[Sue Gremlin]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
Pine shavings in the winter only. None in the summer

- How deep do you let it get?
A few inches

- How often do you clean it out?
Every few days in the summer, about every other week in the winter

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

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
Yes. I have a sacrifical sheet of plywood under the roosts that I scrape off with a plastic putty knife when cleaning. There's a little hole I can grab with a finger to lift it out through the low and wide little door on the side of the coop. Works like a champ.

- Does anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
No.

- What products, besides bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
I just clean regularly. Never need deodorizers. If things get muddy, I'll add straw or shavings.

 

[DatCampG]

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 your thoughts on coop bedding, waste management, etc. Specifically:

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
- How deep do you let it get?
- How often do you clean it out?
- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
- Does anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience?
- What products, besides bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)

View attachment 2796075

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

I rake and scrape before early Spring, the first day of Summer, Fall before Halloween and then right before any colder weather or ice storm I know is coming.

 

[DatCampG]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
I use hemp bedding in the coop and run.
I'm currently using straw in the coop because I accidentally bought the wrong bedding (silly me!)

- How deep do you let it get?
I put it a gew inches deep to make it comfortable

- How often do you clean it out?
every few weeks to every month, I usually clean it out when I start to realise the smell or how much poop there is

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
it's a litter tray you can pull out. Then you put bedding over it

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

1. DE
2. Antibac poultry powder
3. Anti-mite spray

I don't use the deep litter method.

My barn is 20' × 20' was built in 1980 with Japan sheet metal, it is real thick and heavy. The covered run is 8'×20' and the extended outdoor run is 1000 square feet. The floor is earth. I clean out four or five times a year. I rake and scrape before early Spring, the first day of Summer, late Summer, Fall before Halloween and then right before any colder weather or ice storm I know is coming. I put two bales of hay in the barn and run, that usually lasts for sixty days before the old is raked out and fresh hay put in. The only area in the coop that always gets the dirtiest is under the roosting areas. It gets raked frequently. It is easy to clean out with a rake, shovel and wheel barrel. Then I dump the waste into my mulch pile hole. Hard work but good exercise!

 

[Show Sebright]

There are many layers to my coop floor. It starts with a dry layer of permethrin. Then a layer diatomaceous earth. They we place the cut out mat (we use laminate flooring for bathrooms that is really cheap at Home Depot) on top. Next spray permethrin again. Thin layer of bedding and keep adding every few days. I clean out the bedding every week in my small coops but in my big girls I do a full bedding clean out once a month. I use large wood chips form farm and pet. I use the lids form my birds washing containers as poop trays. I clean that off every 2 days.

 

[Silexian]

I use ground corn cob bedding. It is absorbent and doesn’t form a interlocking mat. Like shavings or straw can. Making clean out much easier. I have wood floors in my coops. I clean my coops about once a month. I give them all a good thorough scrub down every spring and fall. My chickens spend most of there day outside. So most of the manure is right under their roost. So I do not use poop boards. I have other livestock besides chickens. So all the manure gets piled together. Along with garden and yard waste. Plus chips from trimming the orchard. Which all gets used to amend soil, after it has composted down. I do till in some fresher chicken manure when I plant corn. Since it requires a lot of nitrogen.