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

[Gigi_The_Chicken]

I use the deep litter method, and it’s SO easy! Every day I go to the coop to turn over the bedding, and every week I sprinkle a new layer of pine shavings over the top. It barely smells, and it saves so much money on bedding and so much time as opposed to replacing the bedding every week.

 

[Frau anita]

I am using washed construction sand on the look of te coop and pine chips in their roofing area and nesting boxes. My coop is small as I only have 3 pullets. I scoop every couple of days and use sweet PDZ to keep the flies down and replace chips about once a week. I also put mint or lavender in the roosting area. Can anyone tell me if I can use the sand with poop in it for my garden compost.

Frau Anita

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I don't think sand is the best for compost. If you'd like more compostable bedding, hemp or wood shavings would be the ones to choose

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't think sand is the best for compost. If you'd like more compostable bedding, hemp or wood shavings would be the ones to choose

Or straw.

Or leaf litter.

Or pine straw.

Or anything organic.

Sand is quartz (with various impurities). It doesn't compost AT ALL.

 

[preciouschick]

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

Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
*I use pine shavings. I also put shavings in their run when it rains too much. it helps keep their feet dry, and it breaks down nicely.
- How deep do you let it get?
*6-8 inches
-How often do you clean it out?
* I was cleaning the coop out completely at least once every 2 weeks but now I am putting in DE and turning the shavings over. I am just starting a deep litter method.
-
- What is your coop floor?
(Earth, wood, protected wood.)
*laminate with shavings
- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
* I have a poop board. it keeps the ground shavings clean. The girls like to dig spots to sit in on the floor.
- Does anyone use the deep litter method?
*Just started for the first time.
Tell us about your experience?
- What products, besides bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
I occasionally put DE in. Sometimes herbs. I also bought an odor control product. Dont know which one at the moment. Its a granular type.
I really have no stinky smell.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Deep litter over dirt floor, it gets about a foot deep

I use wood chips from tree trimmer, a bale of hay each year, leaves and food scraps. I water it in in the summer because I am in a dry climate and it will never compost otherwise, or take years.

About a year and a half or 2 years between shoveling it out to a pile in the fall to use in garden in spring. I have only shoveled it out once in four plus years, but I plan to this fall not that it needs it mostly because I want the compost next year.

 

[Angela Pea]

Bedding in the coop: What do you use?
fine chopped straw, sometimes aspen shavings

- How deep do you let it get?
8”

- How often do you clean it out?
Inside the coop: every other week
Outside in the run: A couple times a year I will rake it out.

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.)
Wood inside the coop, dirt outside In the run.

I toss the soiled bedding from the coop into the run. The girls keep it stirred up so it breaks down. The few times a year that I rake out the run, all the bedding (what’s left of it) goes into the compost pile.
Also, my chickens are free range. They wander all over the place during the day. They are only cooped at night or if the weather is bad, which isn’t often here in north Texas.

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more?
Yes. I use a plywood board under the roosts.

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ)
I will toss in lavender clippings or herb trimmings when I have them from the garden. Honestly, the coop and run don’t stink...they just smell like straw and dust.

 

[Toryhillc]

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

In the winter I put down 4-6 inches of pine shavings topped with straw. I put bales of straw all along the inside walls to help insulate the coop from cold and the chickens love to roost onit. I put straw in their run and they go outside any day its not 20 below or colder.I clean it thoroughly once a month in the winter,using the bales inside the pen. The smell isn't bad and the chickens seem to love digging in the straw. I put it a pile close to the chicken coop. On warmer winter days I let the hens free range and they spread it everywhere scratching at it.
By the end of winter I have used all the bales of straw and I move any of the pile to the gardens to help keep the weeds down.

 

[ChickChick2121]

- Bedding in the coop: What do you use? Wood Shavings from Dels/TSC.

- How deep do you let it get? Started with 2" up to 4", liking it deeper the better.

- How often do you clean it out? Once a month remove about 2 - 3 5gal buckets, using the loosen dirt to fill low spots & holes in my yard.

- What is your coop floor? (Earth, wood, protected wood.) Hard clay dirt. They're "tilling" it for me

- Do you use a poop board or something similar? If "yes", tell us more? Yes, it's under the roost they chose to sleep on, right above their "nest box". Clean it daily by scraping with a plastic putty knife, sprinkle some PDZ & DE. I do FF so their poo is firm & not smelly at all and not much of it daily, about a gallon in 3 - 4 days.

- Anyone use the deep litter method? Tell us about your experience? Yes, helps keep the dust down. Think I'm getting the concept down now. My girls (5) stay in their Run/Coop (8 x 12 x 7), the last 4 I had tore up my yard & destroyed my garden. Was shocked since the other I've had weren't so destructive.

- What products, beside bedding materials, do you use to keep smells/moisture under control? (For example lime, sweet PDZ) I sprinkle DE in the shavings whenever I add or change out. PDZ & DE in the poop board. No smells & if it does get wet, I add more shavings & rake it around with their help.

I have an open air Run/Coop due to our weather being quite mild. It does get hot & humid during the Summer so I wanted ventilation galore and due to the rains we get, it was a concern. Shower Curtains on EMT rods took care of the rain, when we do have strong winds I tie it down so far it's been a year in use and working out just fine for us.

What is FF? Fermented Feed?

 

[aart]

What is FF? Fermented Feed?

Yes.