Why use litter?

[chickens really]

You do not need it.....My Uncle raised Chickens all his life....He never uses bedding on the floor of his coop.....If you prefer to clean up the droppings daily? That is totally your Choice.....It is not WRONG......We all do things our own way......We are not right, because you do things differently.......


Enjoy the Birds.....


Cheers!

 

[azygous]

I'm not opposed to it, but I wanted to know the reason why it was used. There's plenty of "why" explanation for most things on here, like spacing, ventilation, etc. Just didn't find this when it came to litter. My birds have a ~750 sqft run so the coop is for sleeping and egg laying only- that's how they treat it.

It's so rare for people to question common wisdom and customs. I applaud you for doing it.

But I've experienced injuries in my flock due to having a hard poop board under the perch rather than soft bedding, even though my chickens only use the coop to sleep in and lay eggs.

One injury was to a heavy-bodied Brahma rooster. He sprained or broke his leg dismounting. He eventually died from the injuries. The other casualties were young EE pullets, four out of five had developed bumblefoot by the time they were four months old. It was due to dismounting onto a hard poop board under the perch. I lowered the perch and treated the bumblefoot and it's never recurred.

I therefore conclude bedding to cushion landings is desirable.

 

[Mahlzeit]

What do you use for flooring? Do you have bare plywood? I would imagine having the droppings on it over and over would rot it out quickly.

 

[Hokum Coco]

If I can scrape my coop floor to clean it, what reason would I have to use litter on the floor?

I have one tarp that I cover my pigeon loft floor with I have 2 addition tarps for a total of 3. I do not use litter in that loft mainly because litter migrates to the perimeter of the walls when the bird fly from perch to perch. Cleaning the pigeon loft is as easy as cleaning my nest boxes.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag.
Frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.

I have 65 trips around the sun it is the best method I have stumbled upon.

Make sure the twine is removed from the open end of the bag it can get tangled around your birds.



I am thinking after my current shavings are all gone I may try the tarp method in my chicken coop just to see how it works out.
The only thing that bothers me is they may find it slippery and be subject to injury.

The main reason everyone uses bedding or litter is because "EVERYONE ELSE DOES"

 

[FlyWheel]

Quote: Did you fill your poop board with anything?or was it just a board?

I made mine as a tray and it is filled with sweet PDZ (granulated) I just scoop out the poop once a day, it takes all of five minutes.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

What do you use for flooring? Do you have bare plywood? I would imagine having the droppings on it over and over would rot it out quickly. 

A piece of solid plastic that's 1 inch thick.

Thanks for the feed back everyone.
Here's the new coop build.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1142361/building-the-chicken-palace-this-weekend#post_17783792

 

[donrae]

for the size of your coop, and the height of the roosts, I think you can do just fine on bare floor.

Most of us use bedding to manage manure. Personally, I use it so I don't have to clean every day. Twice a year is more my style. But then, I have large, walk in coops/pens, not a small elevated style like this.

the only issue I could see is traction. chicken feet don't have pads to grab, and the claws might slide a bit on a smooth surface. I guess you could possibly be courting a dismount injury over time, if a bird landed wrong and slipped on the floor.

Otherwise, from a hygiene standpoint, looks like you're good far as I can see.