When to clean deep litter out?

[ascott11]

I was just curious when you all clean out your deep litter to get the coop ready for summer months. In the summer, I don’t do deep litter and use a droppings board and scrape it down every day to keep the temps as cool as I can. I’ve had the deep litter going since November and I’m not sure when to clean it out since this is my first time using this method. I live in northwest Virginia and our nightly temps still drop to the twenties. I was thinking of cleaning it mid/late March? I’m just not sure!

 

[icy_flames]

My timeline is the same. Bedding in the coop + run is from November. It's holding up pretty well. I am planning to do a clean out first day of spring, March 20th, if it stops snowing. I'm in CO

 

[3KillerBs]

I included a discussion of why I clean out the Deep Bedding in the coop when I do in my article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

I don't currently have Deep Litter in the run because the current setup is temporary while we got our house put onto our land and built a new coop, but I used to clean the Deep Litter out when:

• I had an odor that couldn't be eliminated with another few inches of bedding,
• The litter was so deep that it spilled out through the wire,
• I wanted compost for the garden.

 

[Sally PB]

We have the coop near the house in the winter, and then move it down to the garden in the summer. So I'll be taking out half to most of the bedding then and leaving it in the run for the chickens to scratch about. It'll go on the garden in the fall.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I clean out the coop as soon as I can wear a tshirt outside. Normally this is around the time I start planting seeds indoor. It will be in the 40°Fs these next couple weeks and that is tshirt weather.

 

[aart]

I was just curious when you all clean out your deep litter to get the coop ready for summer months.

I don't do deep litter(composting) but semi deep bedding(dry) in the coop.
And use poop boards, cleaned daily, all year around.


What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture
-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 7 years.

 

[Hermits Garden]

I clean out the coop as soon as I can wear a tshirt outside. Normally this is around the time I start planting seeds indoor. It will be in the 40°Fs these next couple weeks and that is tshirt weather.

40's is t-shirt weather? You're tougher than I am. I might go from the tee & flannel to the tee if I'm working hard, but dang!

 

[K0k0shka]

I have deep bedding in the coop (dry, non-composting), not deep litter (moist, composting). I clean it out twice a year. In the fall, before first frost, and in the spring, after the last freeze. Just so I'm not hacking away at frozen poop.

 

[CluckerFamily]

40's is t-shirt weather? You're tougher than I am. I might go from the tee & flannel to the tee if I'm working hard, but dang!

40’s is a heat wave compared to the -30°F

 

[perkolator]

I have been doing deep bedding in mine - completed coop Fall '19 and haven't cleaned it out yet, only added more material. Not all my chickens sleep inside the actual coop, but instead out in the run where there's woodchip mulch -- is also in good condition and no smells or over abundance of poop. My nest boxes however, I clean those out maybe every 3-4 months