What to do if I can't clean my coop for 3 months?

[Shezadandy]

That makes sense as to why the bedding isn't composting.

I know I need to add more bedding. I will get some this weekend.

Has anyone tried equine pellets for bedding? This seems much more cost effective than what I'm using now.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005

Yes, we use the bedding pellets and like them very much. BUT the key is the FLOOR OF THE COOP MUST BE DRY from wet weather. If the floor isn't dry from rain - the pellets will suck the moisture up in an instant and make a heavy wet mess because it's made to suck up liquids (horse pee). When used with a dry floor, it works really well because it dries out chicken poop and then you just give it a quick stir with shovel. Then it slowly breaks down into perfect dust bathing material.

If you don't have a floor, can you make a little floor frame to elevate the floor and put a sheet of plywood over the top? I personally love using rubber horse stall mats on top of the plywood floor because they protect the plywood, keeping it clean and dry. Either the heavy 3/4" ones that come in 4x6 or 4x8 sizes -- or there are 1/4" ones that are sold by the foot, 30" wide, sometimes 48" depending on your local store- and are very easy to work with.

 

[gtaus]

I don't recall adding moisture to the deep litter method in the articles posted or any other article I've read on this.

Deep litter needs a certain amount of moisture to optimize the composting action, same with your compost pile if it gets too dry (like I water my compost in summer). This is why deep litter is generally recommended for runs, while deep bedding (dry) is used in coops.

Exactly. There are people on YouTube that use deep litter in barns, and their litter is moisture rich much like a compost bin outside. The water is needed to create that active composting process which generates the heat. I don't want moisture inside my coop, so I went with the dry deep bedding.

After my chickens ate all the beautiful green grass in the chicken run down to the bare dirt, I converted my run into a chicken run composting system. All organic material - wood chips, grass clippings, weeds from the garden, leaves, etc... - gets thrown into the chicken run along with all my old dry coop bedding. Makes great compost for the garden.

I'm a little confused as to how your bedding remains dry? My chickens' poop makes the bedding very wet.

If the poop alone is making the coop bedding "very wet" then you probably need more bedding volume to compensate.

Agreed. Because my chickens live in their coop all winter, refusing to go outside in the snow covered run, I made my coop to have about 8 square feet per bird. At that ratio, any chicken poo dries out and works its way to the bottom in the bedding. In the winter, our chicken poo freezes hard as concrete, so I just throw on fresh bedding every few weeks to cover it up. The only area that has any build up of frozen poo is the area directly under the roost bar. The rest of the coop is basically poo free. I currently have about 6 inches of bedding in the coop with just over half the winter gone. So, everything is working out OK for me this winter.

Has anyone tried equine pellets for bedding? This seems much more cost effective than what I'm using now.

I have heard good things about using equine pellets for bedding as they are highly absorbent. But I don't have a TSC where I live and our local Fleet store does not carry the product (as far as I know).

If saving money is your goal, for the past 2 winters I used free wood chips I got at our local county landfill. The arborists dump their wood chips out there, paying a fee for disposal, but I can load up as much wood chips as I can haul for free. We pay no fee for removing the wood chips. Wood chips work great for chickens as bedding.

This winter, I have been using shredded paper I make at home. I bought a couple of used paper shredders from a church thrift store and have been shredding all my junk mail, newspapers, computer papers, light cardboard from food boxes (e.g. cereal box thickness) and even regular cardboard if I cut them into strips. All that has made great chicken coop bedding for free. Even better, it's just all that much less paper products I have to haul out to the recycle center.

Results using shredded paper for the chicken coop bedding have been great. I started a BYC thread on my use of paper shreds this winter at Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips? Lots of good responses from members on the subject. Might be worth a look if you are considering cost effective ways to get bedding. Hard to beat "FREE" bedding.

 

[McChooky]

I use dry leaves for my coop and covered run because the chickens love to dig and scratch around in them.The hardest part is gathering enough dry leaves to last a while. I gather leaves about every 2 weeks(twice a month) I always remove the soiled leaves before adding fresh dry leaves to my coop and covered run to make sure everything smells nice and clean all the time (4 x month minimum)Dry leaves are free, lighter and easy to remove or add too. I store clean Dry leaves in garbage cans or bags.The soiled leaves make a wonderful addition to my compost pile and raised beds!

 

[littledog]

If saving money is your goal, for the past 2 winters I used free wood chips I got at our local county landfill. The arborists dump their wood chips out there, paying a fee for disposal, but I can load up as much wood chips as I can haul for free. We pay no fee for removing the wood chips. Wood chips work great for chickens as bedding.

If you have a large driveway or front lawn that's easily accessible from the street, where a large pile of wood chips can be dumped without interfering with you getting cars in and out of your driveway, you should sign up at chipdrop.com.

It's an amazing service - local arborists would rather find a nearby homeowner who wants free chips, instead of driving to the landfill and paying a fee, and homeowners who want chips get them for free, as long as you have a convenient place for them to dump a large pile, and don't care about the timing.

I've been getting chips from them for the past 2 years, and it's awesome for my chickens and saves a lot of work. The shed your brother is building without a floor, as well as your outside run, could be filled up with a deep layer of chips. It definitely cuts down on the smell, the chickens enjoy scratching through them to find bugs, and the only cleaning necessary is under where they roost, and replacing bedding in the nest boxes. I scrape out and replace the chips in the nest boxes and under the roosts once per week, and in the run, I just pile on new chips as the old ones decompose, and dig out the underlayer in spring when I need more compost for my garden.

If you don't need such a huge pile of chips since your flock is small, you could share with your neighbors, the chips are just as great for mulching garden beds. I've had good luck just putting a "help yourself" sign on my wood chip pile when it gets too large.

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't recall adding moisture to the deep litter method in the articles posted or any other article I've read on this.

Deep litter needs a certain amount of moisture to optimize the composting action, same with your compost pile if it gets too dry (like I water my compost in summer). This is why deep litter is generally recommended for runs, while deep bedding (dry) is used in coops.

This is one of the reasons why Deep Litter is best done on dirt floors -- contact with the ground both provides the necessary composting microorganisms and some of the moisture (in dry weather I dump the waterers into the bedding when changing the water (NOTE: DO NOT attempt this in a situation where space is tight or ventilation is minimal).

Additionally, if you do true composting Deep Litter on a wood floor it will compost the wood of the floor and destroy it.

If saving money is your goal, for the past 2 winters I used free wood chips I got at our local county landfill. The arborists dump their wood chips out there, paying a fee for disposal, but I can load up as much wood chips as I can haul for free. We pay no fee for removing the wood chips. Wood chips work great for chickens as bedding.

We had tree work done and got all the chips from both our property and my SIL's property down the street (got a discount for arranging to do both jobs the same day and save the company travel time).

I use dry leaves for my coop and covered run because the chickens love to dig and scratch around in them.

Leaf litter raked up over time the way you describe has another advantage in that it is already seeded with the composting organisms.

Mine is mostly pine straw:

Check out this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...do-this-for-a-while-today-is-the-day.1511458/

 

[gtaus]

Dry leaves are free, lighter and easy to remove or add too. I store clean Dry leaves in garbage cans or bags.T

Yes, I always save some dry leaves for use in the winter. But I want to emphasize that the leaves must be dry when put into storage. If not, they will start to compost in the can or bag. I have used dry leaves in my coop and also in the springtime, when the days are warmer but snow is still on the ground, I will lay down a layer of leaves in the chicken run so the chickens will go outside and walk on the leaves. My chickens will not walk on snow.

If you have a large driveway or front lawn that's easily accessible from the street, where a large pile of wood chips can be dumped without interfering with you getting cars in and out of your driveway, you should sign up at chipdrop.com.

I signed up for chipdrop.com a few years ago, but nobody in my area was on the list. So about once or twice a year I hitch up my small trailer and go to the landfill and fill up a load. Chipdrop.com would be a great service if free and available for my area. Since I get my wood chips for free at the county landfill, I would not pay someone to dump their load on my property and pay them. But there are people who do pay for someone to drop a load of wood chips on their driveway because that works out better for them. For me, my trailer load is easier to move exactly where I want to drop my wood chips. A big truck full of wood chips on my driveway would actually be more work for me to clean up.

This is one of the reasons why Deep Litter is best done on dirt floors -- contact with the ground both provides the necessary composting microorganisms and some of the moisture (in dry weather I dump the waterers into the bedding when changing the water (NOTE: DO NOT attempt this in a situation where space is tight or ventilation is minimal).

One of the first YouTube videos I saw where a guy was using true Deep Litter method for his chickens was a guy who had the chickens housed in a barn, with a dirt floor, and he had maybe 18 inches of Deep Litter composting in there. He dug a few handfuls down into the litter and showed how well it was composting in place and giving off some heat.

Additionally, if you do true composting Deep Litter on a wood floor it will compost the wood of the floor and destroy it.

True. I built my coop with linoleum on the plywood floor and going up the sides of the walls 12 inches high. I could do the Deep Litter method in my coop, but I prefer to keep my coop as dry as possible, so I just use dry Deep Bedding. Still, the linoleum was cheap and should protect the plywood floor for many years.

Leaf litter raked up over time the way you describe has another advantage in that it is already seeded with the composting organisms.

Although I usually rake up and save some bags of leaves for use in the winter, most of my leaves get mowed up into my grass collection bins on the riding mower and the bins get dumped straight into the chicken run. The trick is to start mowing up the leaves before they get thick on the ground. My grass collection bins fill up really fast with the leaves, so I have many trips back and forth to the chicken run. I have 3 acres of wooded property, so in the fall I will be out on my lawn mower almost every day mowing up some leaves. If the leaves get wet, or snowed on, then they sit until spring cleanup. Last fall I was able to get all my leaves mowed up before the snow hit. So I will have an easy springtime cleanup this year.

Pound for pound, leaf litter is supposed to be better than manure as a fertilizer. The trees have roots going deep down into the ground pulling up all kinds of good minerals which get put into their leaves. All those leaves full of minerals compost down to refresh the soil above. Nature's conveyor belt to bring new life to top soil. All the leaves on my property get recycled into the chicken run composting system, along with wood chips, grass clipping, coop bedding, etc... and then into the garden when finished compost

Since I got my composting chickens, I have not had to buy any compost from the big box stores. I make my own chicken run compost which I believe is of better quality and much cleaner. Gone are my days of shifting bags of compost from the big box store to remove garbage such as plastics, metals, glass, and chunks of wood.

Anyway, if OP switches over to either Deep Litter or Deep Bedding, she could not only save lots of labor time in not having to clean out the coop all the time, but she could also be on her way to making some great compost for the garden if she wants. I always had a small garden, but since I got my chickens, I have more than doubled my gardening space. Making my own chicken run compost has saved me so much money that I no longer go broke buying compost from the store to grow "free" food at home.

 

[Jajika]

Here are the terms I try to use when talking about the Deep Litter System as compared to Deep Bedding. Although similar, they are not the same systems.

Deep Litter System = active composting in place of carbon and nitrogen sources inside the coop. It uses additional moisture to create the heat process for composting.

Dry Deep Bedding = Basically a deep litter system but without any moisture added to create an active composting in place. The bedding remains as dry as possible. The chicken poo will dry out and work its way down the bottom to the bedding, but very little to no composting actually takes place. No heat generated as no composting is taking place.

Although I think the deep litter would be great in the proper setup, I use almost the same type of system except that I keep everything dry. I have been told my system is a deep bedding setup because I keep everything dry in the coop and it does not compost in place. I clean out my coop twice a year, throwing the coop bedding out into the chicken run where it is exposed to rain and will start to compost once outside. I typically start with about 4 inches of dry wood chips (this year I am using shredded paper) and continue to add fresh layers of bedding on top of the old bedding as the winter progresses. By springtime, I will have about 12 inches deep of dry bedding in the coop. After the snow melts in the spring, I will empty out the coop bedding and start over until late fall, when I will clean the coop again.

Although I clean out my coop bedding every 6 months, I think I could go even longer. Winters in northern Minnesota are long and I cannot clean out the frozen poo until spring. But adding fresh layers of bedding keeps everything looking clean and I don't have any issues with bad smells all winter long.

I find that if I want any particular area to get a good turning over, I will throw scratch and other treats in that area and the chickens will scratch and peck the bedding to eat the food, doing the work of fluffing up the bedding instead of me.

Also, I built my coop to hold up to 12 inches of bedding/litter using linoleum going up the sides of the coop. The bottom of my pop door is 12 inches off the floor, so I have a little ramp inside the coop for the chickens to walk out the pop door. By springtime, the ramp is pretty much buried under all the bedding.

OP wants a break from cleaning the coop, then I think either system would be the best way to go. Works great for me.

This is excellent and very thorough advice. Thanks so much for adding this.

 

[McChooky]

Yes, I always save some dry leaves for use in the winter. But I want to emphasize that the leaves must be dry when put into storage. If not, they will start to compost in the can or bag. I have used dry leaves in my coop and also in the springtime, when the days are warmer but snow is still on the ground, I will lay down a layer of leaves in the chicken run so the chickens will go outside and walk on the leaves. My chickens will not walk on snow.



I signed up for chipdrop.com a few years ago, but nobody in my area was on the list. So about once or twice a year I hitch up my small trailer and go to the landfill and fill up a load. Chipdrop.com would be a great service if free and available for my area. Since I get my wood chips for free at the county landfill, I would not pay someone to dump their load on my property and pay them. But there are people who do pay for someone to drop a load of wood chips on their driveway because that works out better for them. For me, my trailer load is easier to move exactly where I want to drop my wood chips. A big truck full of wood chips on my driveway would actually be more work for me to clean up.



One of the first YouTube videos I saw where a guy was using true Deep Litter method for his chickens was a guy who had the chickens housed in a barn, with a dirt floor, and he had maybe 18 inches of Deep Litter composting in there. He dug a few handfuls down into the litter and showed how well it was composting in place and giving off some heat.



True. I built my coop with linoleum on the plywood floor and going up the sides of the walls 12 inches high. I could do the Deep Litter method in my coop, but I prefer to keep my coop as dry as possible, so I just use dry Deep Bedding. Still, the linoleum was cheap and should protect the plywood floor for many years.



Although I usually rake up and save some bags of leaves for use in the winter, most of my leaves get mowed up into my grass collection bins on the riding mower and the bins get dumped straight into the chicken run. The trick is to start mowing up the leaves before they get thick on the ground. My grass collection bins fill up really fast with the leaves, so I have many trips back and forth to the chicken run. I have 3 acres of wooded property, so in the fall I will be out on my lawn mower almost every day mowing up some leaves. If the leaves get wet, or snowed on, then they sit until spring cleanup. Last fall I was able to get all my leaves mowed up before the snow hit. So I will have an easy springtime cleanup this year.

Pound for pound, leaf litter is supposed to be better than manure as a fertilizer. The trees have roots going deep down into the ground pulling up all kinds of good minerals which get put into their leaves. All those leaves full of minerals compost down to refresh the soil above. Nature's conveyor belt to bring new life to top soil. All the leaves on my property get recycled into the chicken run composting system, along with wood chips, grass clipping, coop bedding, etc... and then into the garden when finished compost

Since I got my composting chickens, I have not had to buy any compost from the big box stores. I make my own chicken run compost which I believe is of better quality and much cleaner. Gone are my days of shifting bags of compost from the big box store to remove garbage such as plastics, metals, glass, and chunks of wood.

Anyway, if OP switches over to either Deep Litter or Deep Bedding, she could not only save lots of labor time in not having to clean out the coop all the time, but she could also be on her way to making some great compost for the garden if she wants. I always had a small garden, but since I got my chickens, I have more than doubled my gardening space. Making my own chicken run compost has saved me so much money that I no longer go broke buying compost from the store to grow "free" food at home.

I have enough soiled leaf compost from my coop and run to make all the compost I need in my garden and flower beds. Every year I add more beds and plant a bigger garden. Everything stays nice and dry at all times using leaves and they're soft to walk on. I wouldn't recommend leaves if you don't have a plentiful source of dry leaves. My coop sits along the edge of the woods with lots of trees.

 

[gtaus]

I live in the country, on 3 acres of wood property, so I have more than enough leaves every fall. For people who live in town, they have fall clean up days where people can put their bagged leaves outside for pickup. Just go around and pickup up those bags before the garbage truck makes its rounds. Might be an option if you don't have enough leaves on your property.

 

[McChooky]

I live in the country, on 3 acres of wood property, so I have more than enough leaves every fall. For people who live in town, they have fall clean up days where people can put their bagged leaves outside for pickup. Just go around and pickup up those bags before the garbage truck makes its rounds. Might be an option if you don't have enough leaves on your property.

Buying a bale of straw here is $10.00