Why Do You Use Deep Bedding/Why Do You NOT Use Deep Bedding?

[3KillerBs]

Mixing shavings with straw makes warmer bedding and doesn't clutter easily.


I have a small chicken coop. It has a "deep" poop board with raised edges. One side can be folded down for cleaning. On the bottom I put cardboard and start with a layer of dry material bedding such as wood shavings. I add more shavings / grasses (summer) / leaves (autumn) / hay from cleaning the nest boxes / straw (cold winter) once a week. I clean the poop board approximately once a month by taking out the cardboard, sliding it out along the folded down bar. The bedding goes on the compost pile. The cardboard in the garbage bin.

The coop/small run combi has a dirt floor. The chickens rarely poop there. So this only needs smoothing and a little cleaning with a rake, once a month too. Only last week I put straw on top bc it was freezing a lot. And the chickens didn’t go anywhere with the cold and snow.

The chickens have acces to a larger run from sunrise through an automatic pop door. They poop only on the poop board, in the run an free ranging.

Would you mind posting photos? I'm having trouble visualizing what you're describing.

 

[Tashua]

I'm putting together an article on using Deep Bedding in a small coop and wanted to make sure I had as complete a list of pros and cons as possible.

I know why I DO use this method and I can think of some reasons others might not want to use it, but I'd like to hear the voices of community experience in order to create a useful article.

Deep Bedding being defined as: A dry, non-composting system where you keep adding bedding to the coop as it becomes soiled -- managing it by turning it as necessary (or getting the chickens to turn it for you) -- and clean it out only infrequently when the bedding has become both thoroughly soiled and piled up to the point of not being able to add more.

I use deep bedding method and LOVE it !! I started using after much research . I need the compost for the garden & had already had a compost spinner and decided I needed to expand upon that idea . Cleaning out the coop yearly or twice yearly makes for an easier job as I get older and Don’t /can’t be shoveling regularly and we built the coop raised to make it even easier to just put the wheel barrel under the scoop door and have at it !!

 

[AOrchard]

One con of deep bedding I ran into - my man door and the pop door were not designed for it and were too low to the ground. I had to saw off the bottom foot of the door and attach the bottom piece to the wall seperately, otherwise the bedding got in the way of me opening the door.

I also need to fix the pop door, which is right at floor level. Shavings are constantly falling out of it to the run and getting in the way of the pop door closing. I haven't fixed it yet because it's an insulated and finished coop, so making a new higher hole and patching up the old one is not trivial. Right now I just scrape the bedding away from the coop door every few days and try to keep the bulk of the bedding in the back by the roosts.

The other quirky problem, I had a hanging feeder in there, a few inches up. I like hanging it because they kick less shavings into it and it stays cleaner. However, I have both bantam and full size, and if some chicken decides to kick out all the bedding from under the feeder, the bantams can't reach the food well. It's dumb, so dumb. Ended up sticking the feeder near the door, so that whole area only has an inch of bedding. The rest of the coop area is deep.

I absolutely adore deep bedding, it's dry, no odor, low maintenance, just some quirks I had to work around to convert my existing coop into a deep bedding coop. If your doors go all the way to the floor it might take some adjusting.

 

[aart]

I also need to fix the pop door, which is right at floor level. Shavings are constantly falling out of it to the run and getting in the way of the pop door closing.

Putting a board across inside of coop can help with this, just use a couple screws so it's easy to remove if needed for cleaning.

However, I have both bantam and full size, and if some chicken decides to kick out all the bedding from under the feeder, the bantams can't reach the food well.

I use a couple of bricks around the feeder for my shorter birds.

 

[BDutch]

Would you mind posting photos? I'm having trouble visualizing what you're describing.

Here I opened the bar (2”) with hinge (rusty). That way I can easily pull out the lot.

In this photo the bar is raised and the poop board is now a container for the bedding.

 

[TooCheep]

At times I use deep litter and other times not. I really like deep litter, but it isn't always appropriate for my situation.

I have a chicken tractor. That means that the bottom/run is on grass and I move it regularly to fresh grass. The coop area has a 1" tray with wood shavings, so there is no way to use deep litter there.

But when it gets to winter, I have to park the tractor for several reasons:

• There is too much snow/mud to move the tractor regularly.
• The grass doesn't regrow to heal after being eaten/pooped on.
• I garden and want to compost my dead leaves and deep litter is a perfect system for the job.

So, I pick one spot where I'm willing to kill the grass and use deep litter in the winter only. The lower frame of the tractor is 8" tall and does a good job holding the litter. I end up scooping it out once in the middle of winter and refreshing it to produce a second batch of compost.

 

[K0k0shka]

It's always good to design your human and chicken doors high off the floor, with bedding in mind, no matter what type of bedding you end up using. It will likely accumulate either way, or be kicked around.

 

[BReeder!]

The bedding goes on the compost pile. The cardboard in the garbage bin.

Why not compost the cardboard too? If it's three typical brown corrugated stuff, it breaks down quickly. There is some glue in it, but nothing too concerning IMO.

 

[BReeder!]

I use deep bedding method and LOVE it !! I started using after much research . I need the compost for the garden & had already had a compost spinner and decided I needed to expand upon that idea . Cleaning out the coop yearly or twice yearly makes for an easier job as I get older and Don’t /can’t be shoveling regularly and we built the coop raised to make it even easier to just put the wheel barrel under the scoop door and have at it !!

Can DB be used as compost readilly? I assume it needs to go into a compost pile or bin to be broken down until it cools off to decrease the level of Nitrogen to prevent damage to plants.

Also, since it came up already, can DLM bedding go straight onto plants?

Anybody with experience, I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[K0k0shka]

Can DB be used as compost readilly? I assume it needs to go into a compost pile or bin to be broken down until it cools off to decrease the level of Nitrogen to prevent damage to plants.

Also, since it came up already, can DLM bedding go straight onto plants?

Anybody with experience, I appreciate your thoughts.

No, DB doesn't compost and can't be used as compost straight away. It needs to go somewhere else after being cleaned out, and given proper conditions and adequate time for composting. With mine, I bury it in my garden in the fall, and it composts there. I don't plant anything there for another 8-9 months, so it has plenty of time to break down.

As for DLM bedding, it really depends on how well it has composted, which depends on the conditions and how long it's been there. But even then, I wouldn't use it straight out of the coop, because it won't be uniformly composted. The layer at the bottom that has been there the longest will be further along. But the top layer will still have fresh poop on it. Even if it's stirred, and mixed more uniformly, it will still have fresher poop mixed in with it, from whatever was pooped recently, and won't be completely ready. For the sake of the plants, and my own health (from touching and tending to the soil/garden), I wouldn't put it straight in the garden during the growing season.