Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pennyJo1960]

I had been keeping a close eye on her she is one we got from Gena and has always been Richards favorite realized she had stopped laying about 2 weeks ago because the br where so darn hard on her

 

[VintageDutchGirl]

Hi Washingtonians! I'm trying to figure out if I can do deep litter here on the rainy west side of Washington. My run is half covered, deep gravel flooring. Drainage is good, concerned about deep litter getting too wet, slimy, and stinky. And if I do decide to try DL, what kind of chicken proof barrier would prevent the gravel from mixing in with the DL but still allow for great drainage?

 

[Hinotori]

Deep litter only works well where it is kept dry.

I have a fully working deep litter in my large fowl coop. It's 8x15 and has a dirt floor.

In retrospect, I messed up when I started it. I should have put down a lot more shavings than I started with.

When I first started it, it was horrible after the first few months and I had to put stall dry down regularly and lots of new shavings. When it dried out that summer I meant to clean it all out and give up but life happened and I had left it. That was apparently what it needed in there.

Hasn't been wet or smelly since and it's been years. I shovel out some for the garden occasionally and toss a bag of shavings around a couple times a year. It's like soft dirt in there. Even under the roosts stays dry.

The 15x35 run isn't covered and I just put down a few bales of straw every couple months during the winter. The soil has built up in there over the years and doesn't flood anymore. It was a bad spot for a run.

My 10x20 silkie pens have been 3/4 covered. I put straw in there too, but it doesn't work like a deep litter at all.

The silkies sleep in 2x3 houses that I have to clean out every couple months. Deep litter doesn't work in small spaces.

 

[VintageDutchGirl]

So in your outdoor uncovered run that you put straw down in the winter, would you consider that deep litter?

 

[pennyJo1960]

@VintageDutchGirl glad to have you around now uncovered is impossible to do deep litter either bare ground or gravel is about the only way.. I have a 17 sq ft diameter coop in deep litter but @Hinotori is correct deep litter is not good in small spaces

 

[VintageDutchGirl]

@VintageDutchGirl glad to have you around now uncovered is impossible to do deep litter either bare ground or gravel is about the only way.. I have a 17 sq ft diameter coop in deep litter but @Hinotori is correct deep litter is not good in small spaces

Hi! My run is about 13x5 feet, would you consider that a small space? I'm wondering if I should cover the rest of the run so I can do deep litter. My coop is 4x8, located inside our backyard shed, and I'm not planning on doing deep litter in there.

 

[pennyJo1960]

It is in the coop you can unless you cover the run it will get wet

 

[Hinotori]

If rain can come in from the sides, it gets wet. It really needs to be in a building. The slight warmth it adds from the bottom is nice in winter too.

 

[Hinotori]

I know a lot of people use deep gravel in the runs.

I have to put 3 bales of straw down every two months at the most over winter. It breaks down pretty quick. I might do gravel, but when the last of the big girls is gone (or few enough lesf) I'm dismantling that pen. I have a half built house I'm doing for then.

 

[pennyJo1960]

took my new cockerel and two lavender cockerel to the auction this morning also
removing 9 br from the main coop I will take all the ameracauna to the main coop

the white cockerel I picked up is just too large he squishes my girls the EE are half his size