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

[HiEverybirdy]

This is a cool thread. @3KillerBs - you will have a solid article with all this feedback!

The lower maintenance of deep bedding would be awesome, but "what I'm trying at present" (as my beekeeping mentor likes to say) is scooping coops every morning with a trowel and dustpan. It's not nearly as labor intensive as it sounds...

My core reason is parasites. We suspect the 50 wild turkeys who overwinter on our fields left the lasting legacy of northern fowl mites and roundworms.

It'd be a massive amount of work to properly dispose of all the bedding every time the mites churned out another hatch. Instead, I treated the wood floor of our coops with poultry dust and laid down textured but easy-to-clean plastic mats from the flooring section of a big box store.

Deep bedding would be a softer landing for our big Brahmas and Langshans, but instead, we have low roosts and added a ladder, which they fortunately love walking up and down.

Other pros...

• We generate a 5-gallon bucket/week of "brown gold" to stir into our compost bins.
• No smell, except after the rooster farts. Our Brahma rooster farts like a human.
• Quick, even if it's daily. It takes 2 minutes to scoop up after 11 chickens in 2 coops.
• Easy to detect poop problems right away (though poop boards can accomplish about the same thing).

I'm only a year in with chickens and expect my approach to evolve, but so far, the daily scoop has been a great way to learn about chickens and stay on top of health issues.

 

[WA_RN]

How are you liking the Industrial hemp? I plan on using and have bought 3 bales. I'm getting my chicks very soon so I haven't got a chance to use it yet. Everyone that has used it raves about it.

My husband and I love it. We used it in their brooder and now the coop. No chicken poop smell, it stays dry, and we spend less time cleaning. Our run is sand.

 

[The Coop-D-etat]

My husband and I love it. We used it in their brooder and now the coop. No chicken poop smell, it stays dry, and we spend less time cleaning. Our run is sand.

How is the sand in the run working out for you? I have grass right now in the run but I know that won't last long so I've been debating on what to use for the run when it eventually becomes all dirt. I was thinking wood mulch or sand. What kind of sand do you use? Some say it's to dusty but I don't see why that would be a problem if it's outside. Do you get snow? Is it easy to "push/shovel" the snow off sand?

 

[WA_RN]

How is the sand in the run working out for you? I have grass right now in the run but I know that won't last long so I've been debating on what to use for the run when it eventually becomes all dirt. I was thinking wood mulch or sand. What kind of sand do you use? Some say it's to dusty but I don't see why that would be a problem if it's outside. Do you get snow? Is it easy to "push/shovel" the snow off sand?

We put washed construction sand in our run. It has a roof but rain and snow can still get in from the sides if there is wind and the edges can get pretty wet and stinky. Since we are in the Pacific Northwest we get a lot of rain. We rake out the poop weekly with a sand flea rake and then sprinkle down PDZ if the edges are really wet and smelly.

 

[Hidrainja4]

I have had chickens since I was 8 and I have always used the deep bedding method. Personally I feel like it’s more sanitary, because once the older bedding gets wet and compacted down, you can put the clean stuff on top and not have to worry about cleaning it out so often. I see that a lot of people deep clean their coops a few times a year, but I highly don’t recommend that. Poultry (or birds in general) can vary various diseases which can harm your flock, so I personally clean my coop once a month in the summer. In the winter I strive to do it every other month (some months need it more than others) My coop is fairly average size and houses 18 chickens residing inside currently, so I feel like a deep cleaning every month satisfies their needs and keeps their cute lil fluffy butts clean I get my shavings from a local small business, and I LOVE THEM. They are supper low dust, and almost kinda damp when u get them, and it keeps them from flying into food and water. The one thing I would like to know from all of you is, what kind of waterer do y’all use in the winter. In the summer I use a big 3 gallon waterer, and it keeps my girls for a few days. I have tried heated pet bowls and anything else I could get my hands on but nothing has worked. I’m currently using two (1 gallon I think) normal sized waterers and filling them EVERYDAY. (Such a hassle) let me know

I have electricity in two coops have electric water bowls in there. One coop with an old chicken in by herself I exchange her water three times a day. In this February cold spell it is frozen solid, three times a day.

 

[icy_flames]

For me definitely the no smell. I use pine shavings, sand, I threw a bunch of leaf piles in there from my yard last fall. All this on dirt floor. I'm on month 4 and looking to do a complete spring cleanout in the next few weeks. Just waiting for the snow storms to stop.

I do have one question though: does anyone else get a lot of dust with this process? Whenever my hens scratch in the run big dust clouds poof right up. That would probably be my ONLY con. I'm going to try looking into switching to hemp shavings if I can find it cheap enough.

 

[Mountainranchgirl]

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 have been using the deep bedding method and it is a time saver for me and the coop is clean and fresh for my chickens plus the extra bedding helps them to stay warm in the winter.

 

[DSill]

I use litter in my 6x8 coop for 6 hens. I have a raised roost area above which also has litter (upstairs bedroom). I clean that daily and add a bit more straw litter on top so it piles up. They don’t poop on the floor litter much at all and spend most of the day outside in their large run, so I just add a little litter every couple of days to give them something new to scratch around in. It stays about 5-6 inches deep. I replace everything once a year. Cleaning daily means it never smells and is healthy.

 

[preciouschick]

I dont know what you would call my method. I do have a raised coop. The flooring is laminate. I use pine shavings. There is a poop board under one side of the roosts where most bed down for the night. I clean the board off every 3 days and clean any large piles off the shavings. Then turn the shaving to mix in any small poops left. I add more shavings as needed. Its probably 6 inches deep or so. It stays really dry. I also scoop out any really wet areas. I put a 6" h x 9" wide x 12"long border in a "U" shape in front of their coop entrance to keep the shavings inside. They have no problem hopping over it and going outside. This works for me and them. Since its snowy and wet out, I have been putting shavings in both runs to keep it dry. I also no longer keep food and water inside. They dont use it, and now its dryer.

 

[nanajan09]

it sounds like you have an extremely busy life at home. It's all fun though most of the time. I don't have any young ones or family around close by. I enjoyed reading your post.