Where did they come from???

[lazy gardener]

is your run covered ? it will go bad fast if not.. The only place to do deep litter is a covered coop

??? My run is only partially covered, perhaps less than 10%. The rest is bird netting/ welded fencing over it, and it has "never gone bad" either fast or slow. The secret to DL is to have it nice and deep, (minimum of 6") and use a wide variety of materials. The poop simply melts into the ground. No odor. We just had several days of driving rain, and there was standing water in the run during the worst of it. Yes, the litter got wet, but it's so loose and spongey that it quickly absorbed all of the moisture. I can't imagine how nasty that run would have been if it was the bare ground fecal impacted soil that is often the paradigm of "what a chicken run should be like". Deep litter actually needs some moisture in order to compost properly. Just like a compost pile. If it's too dry, it simply won't compost. Of course if it's constantly too wet, it can go anaerobic.

A compost tumbler can be useful if one keeps a "manicured" yard, and does not have a lot of compostables. I have one, but really found that it was a waste of money, and it does not function as "claimed."

 

[pennyJo1960]

no flies it is out from the house other side of the barn turn it all the time weekly is best
no flies now chickens will bring flies but there are fly bags the flies go in but cannot get out any hardware store have one in each coop

 

[staceyj]

Hate flies too.
This is pure magic.
But stinks to high HEAVEN.
Although you don't really have to use the powder that comes with it. A tablespoon of raw meat and water up to the full line works just as good.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

This rescuing chickens thing has put me into another zip code with new information....my brain hurts...lol Deep litter, composting, poop in general...learning about the chickens...worrying about the chickens...learning how to build stuff... I need a beer...

 

[pennyJo1960]

same as we have only ours are plastic bags they fly in but drown

 

[pennyJo1960]

it can all be rather daunting at times

 

[lazy gardener]

If done right, compost will never stink. I use deep litter in my winter housing and it never smells. Now all I need are pigs to finish it in the spring.

What he said. I'd love to have some pigs, but hubby and I have irreconcileable differences on such topics. I simply scoop DL out from under my perches. (clean out door strategically placed) Move the clean litter from front of coop to the back under the perches, dump a few more bags of leaves in the front of the coop, and we're ready to go for an other 2 - 4 months. Occasionally, kick more leaves over the litter under the perches.

If compost stinks, it's most likely b/c it needs more high carbon matter. However, I hate to use shavings and only do so when I've run out of leaves and grass clippings. Dry leaves are IMO the best litter one can use in a coop. They don't build ammonia the way shavings do.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

??? My run is only partially covered, perhaps less than 10%. The rest is bird netting/ welded fencing over it, and it has "never gone bad" either fast or slow. The secret to DL is to have it nice and deep, (minimum of 6") and use a wide variety of materials. The poop simply melts into the ground. No odor. We just had several days of driving rain, and there was standing water in the run during the worst of it. Yes, the litter got wet, but it's so loose and spongey that it quickly absorbed all of the moisture. I can't imagine how nasty that run would have been if it was the bare ground fecal impacted soil that is often the paradigm of "what a chicken run should be like". Deep litter actually needs some moisture in order to compost properly. Just like a compost pile. If it's too dry, it simply won't compost. Of course if it's constantly too wet, it can go anaerobic.

A compost tumbler can be useful if one keeps a "manicured" yard, and does not have a lot of compostables. I have one, but really found that it was a waste of money, and it does not function as "claimed."

6" deep? Won't that overflow outside the run?

 

[pennyJo1960]

nope a bit may

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Composting is something people do to reuse the chicken's poop. Chicken poop enriches the soil once it decomposes. If you have plants on the property or if you want to start a vegetable garden for fresh greens and other edibles for the family and the chickens too, composting will make things grow like crazy!

A tumbler is a barrel with holes for aeration, that turns like a cement mixer.

I, on the other hand, prefer to make humus...the stuff found on the forest and jungle floor. In nature leaves and branches fall, wildlife poop and insects, worms and microorganisms all come together to munch, digest and poop, which creates humus.

I have 4 pallets, lined with hardware cloth, that create a containment area for the chicken poop and pine shavings, leaves, paper knapkins, left over rice, potatoes, vegetable and fruit waste etc. You can toss most kitchen waste into the humus heap but meat, bone, dairy products, also no human, dog or cat waste should ever go in. After about 3 months you can use a shovel to scoop out the humus at the very bottom of the heap. As insects, microorganisms, and even the heat of the sun will decompose things. It will be dark an rich with good soil bacteria and other microorganisms necessary for feeding plant roots. It's a very interesting process.

Anyways that's what I do with the chicken pooty poo...