What are you putting on your coop floor this winter???

[superchemicalgirl]

How cold does it get there? It's been high 20s to low 30s at night here now and everyone races out of the coop in the morning and scratches around in the frost. No one seems to mind.

The TSC stall mats are HEAVY. Don't let their looks deceive you. To get one of them out of the truck and into the coop (and I think they're 4x6) it took me and my boyfriend, a couple of stops, lots of heavy breathing and swearing. I do not EVER plan on taking that sucker out of the coop unless it is so filthy it has to be condemned.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
In my opinion and experience, it's not the traditional Deep Litter Method unless it's in contact with the dirt in order for the proper micro organisms to set up housekeeping in the litter. (See my BYC page for pics) My DLM is in contact with a sub-ground level dirt floor and it has never had the ammonia smell like I've smelt at others coops with concrete or wooden floors. Just a thick layer of adsorbent is just that, little or no composting takes place. I designed and built my Coop in B.C. (before computers) and used book references primarily from Rodale Press which described tried and true methods still in use by traditional farms. I do not use straw, I use lawnmower clippings, pine cones, needles, leaves, and any other organic material I can rake up around the place. I only need to clean out the compost once a year in the spring when I want the compost for the garden. If I didn't clean it out for the compost, it would continue to shrink down bit by bit and would be years before it had to be cleaned out.

 

[bburn]

Quote:
In my opinion and experience, it's not the traditional Deep Litter Method unless it's in contact with the dirt in order for the proper micro organisms to set up housekeeping in the litter. (See my BYC page for pics) My DLM is in contact with a sub-ground level dirt floor and it has never had the ammonia smell like I've smelt at others coops with concrete or wooden floors. Just a thick layer of adsorbent is just that, little or no composting takes place. I designed and built my Coop in B.C. (before computers) and used book references primarily from Rodale Press which described tried and true methods still in use by traditional farms. I do not use straw, I use lawnmower clippings, pine cones, needles, leaves, and any other organic material I can rake up around the place. I only need to clean out the compost once a year in the spring when I want the compost for the garden. If I didn't clean it out for the compost, it would continue to shrink down bit by bit and would be years before it had to be cleaned out.

I am liking the idea of the DLM.....have the dirt floor already! Do you try to get the poopy litter out at all? Right now I go in and at least rake every couple of weeks. The thought that it would turn into compost I really like.

 

[chickfamilyonsleepyhollow]

thanks for all the posts

we're gonna skip straw and continue using pine shavings and increase the depth to 6-8 inches ... still debating on using a heat source of some sort when temps get down to zero or below

 

[patandchickens]

Rubber stall mats don't provide any much meaningful insulation, about comparable to an equal thickness of OSB or plywood. Just putting in deeper bedding (shavings or whatever) is much cheaper and more effective if you want a warmer floor... and the birds can 'snuggle into' the deeper bedding if they feel they want to, on the coldest days. A foot or two is not excessive. Just watch out for any rodent nests you may need to roust out (which really is true of a thinner layer of bedding too)

Composting deep litter is nice when you're in a situation where it can work, but it is not workable in ALL situations. IMO a person should go into it with an open experimental frame of mind, try different management approaches, and see what works for you. And ignore people who claim that "the" deep litter method either a) must or b) cannot possibly work for you

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[sheila3935]

This will be my first winter with chickens but i use pine shavings on top of the dirt floor. Everything I have read say that the dirt will stay warm longer and help the pine shavings compost so that the coop stays warmer. I know mine doesnt smell. I rake the poo under each morning under the roost and once in awhile add more shavings when it doesnt look so fulffy. I have about 8 inches in there right now.

 

[MakNugget]

This will be my first winter (PNW) and I'm using DLM (modified - raised coop) and they love it. I have over 10" of bedding and they turn it regularly. There is a LOT of droppings, but the great thing about it is that the droppings dry quickly and there is no bad smell. The key I've found is to make sure it's bone dry, don't overdo the DE, and to leave it alone.

The birds have been on DLM since a week old and I'm glad I did. I may do a partial bedding change before winter just because I started mid cycle of my plan of changing bedding twice a year.

 

[Beekissed]

I am liking the idea of the DLM.....have the dirt floor already! Do you try to get the poopy litter out at all? Right now I go in and at least rake every couple of weeks. The thought that it would turn into compost I really like.

No...that's the beauty of it! It just absorbs and integrates into the wood shavings if they are turned and fluffed...which can be done with chicken power. I have a wood floor and mine composts down just fine without dirt exposure. Those microbes can exist and work on this material no matter what the underlying surface may be.

At the end of winter my litter resembles a teddy bear brown, fine textured crumble or fluff with the occasional "undigested" feces that have been deposited recently. It has no smell except an earthy one and you can toss it into the air and the wind will blow it...that's how fine it is.​

 

[BarredBuff]

Straw!!! Found last year they do good with it. I also put plastic on the duck house window, if that counts as preparation.

 

[gingerpeach22]

Mine is an insulated house, including floor & ceiling. The floor is vinyl. I'm using pine shavings and no poop boards beneath the roost boards. The temp in the coop has been between 35 and 50 degrees; the humidity ranges from around 65% to 70%. For a few weeks when I sit on the floor, the shavings are cool/cold but they also feel damp to me. It is very hard to tell if they are damp (12 birds in 7' x 9' coop). Today, I replaced with new shavings.
I'd be interested to see if you think your shavings get damp. The pop door is open for a few hours a day since it's in the plus twenties, but the coop stays warmer during that time. There are vents up high on two opposite walls, blocked except for three inches at the top of both.