Who DOESN'T use the deep litter method?

[tdgill]

Since I like to spend so much time fartin about with the chickens, I was thinking about doing a more regular coop cleanout - rather than deep litter. Right now its the dust in the air that is bugging me. I can air out the coop easy enough but just wondering...

 

[CMV]

I don't use deep litter method. I hate it. I think it's unsanitary and a breeding ground for bugs. I know a lot of people swear by it, but I just don't approve of it. My coop is very small and the extra bedding would take up too much space. I also don't care for the smell and the dust. Yuck. For me it's not that hard to clean the coop every 1-3 weeks and it gives me an excuse to keep a close eye on my girls.

 

[Imp]

I don't use the deep litter method either. I put down a thick (4") layer of shredded newspaper. I strip the coop and clean about 3-4 times a year. I do the area around the roosts maybe about 8 times a year. The only time I have any odor is during the wet season.

Imp

 

[twister]

I agree with CMV. I am a complete 'neat freak' and the deep litter method to me, just sounds a bit "too much' for me to take. I clean coop out 2X a week w. fresh clean shavings...my coop is small, so it is affordable to do that. I also clean the yard of poop droppings from the free ranging my chickies have the privilage to do. I only have 7 chickens, so it is not too much to do.

 

[mdbokc]

Size is important...a walk-in coop needs several compressed bales of shavings whereas the raised coops use a fraction of that. A deep litter approach is more feasible in the large coops. I am seven months into this batch of shavings on the floor...no dust and no smell. But most of the pooping takes place on the poop boards which are cleaned off each day. So there is actually not a lot of 'foreign debris' on the floor shavings.

 

[vstoltzfus]

I don't. I put a wire floor in my coop, which allows the poop to fall under the henhouse. Under the roosts the poop tends to build up, so I put boards under them and clean them off once in a while. Works great for me.

 

[AHappychick]

i dont use the deep litter method. Rather I use some pellets and shavings that I remove whenever I start to smell amonia. Every few months sometimes more often depending on size. All onf my coops have either wood floors or are ontop of cement (breeding pens in my garage) and I put about 1-2 inches or so of the pellet/shavings mix. enough that seems comfortable to them. I sprinkle DE in it as well.

 

[LynneP]

I don't use deep litter- there is no need. The birds sleep on a platform, and the droppings get scraped in the morning. I keep about half a foot of shavings on the floor and spot-clean that too. Under the bedding there are old horse planks over concrete. There is a rat-proof drain in the concrete. I have only a small flock, the walls are insulated and ventilation is excellent. There is a tiny amount of heat generated by the birds in winter and by a heated dog bowl on a raised patio block that stores heat. A layer light comes on from 5 am -8 am in the dark months. I use food-grade DE and Stable Boy powder sparingly in the bedding. Dry, very little odor- it works!

 

[tdgill]

yeah, i have to manage the poop better. I was not counting on the dust and as long as there was no odor I figured I was doing it right. I added dropping board and a pit but was using the coop as a place to HANG OUT for separate flocks not free ranging at the time. duh. Thats what got me. I HATE to start over (again again) just yet. But I might. Its really non offensive stuff to me. Just gets a little too dusty. I will wait and see how things go, I'm sure they will want the coop to hang out in this winter. Now if I had a covered run with a good windbreak...

 

[mdbokc]

One other thing is that here, there are coarse pine shavings and smaller pine shavings. The larger have no dust and takes a long time for any to develop as one walks over the shavings each day. The finer shavings are more prone to creating some dust. So maybe see if you are getting the coarsest shavings available...might help.