wire floor with deep litter?

[hfchristy]

We're getting ready to build the ducks a house, and we were thinking about doing deep litter, and also considering a wire floor under the litter for drainage/ventilation purposes. Is there a reason this isn't normally done? Is the extra moisture needed to help the litter decompose?
I've read critics of deep litter say that the ammonia build-up can be hazardous to ducks, so I was thinking the wire might be good for that, and that it wouldn't rot like wood would.

Anyone have any experience here?

 

[Amiga]

I agree that ammonia is a concern. Here is how I handle it.

I start with a few inches of sawdust, and add a generous sprinkling of dry peat moss that I stir into the shavings. Peat moss lowers the pH, which raises the acidity. Ammonia tends to form more in a high pH environment.

I also keep water away from the shavings. That helps quite a bit.

I spot clean (pick up big poops for the garden) and turn the shavings daily.

I do the sniff test daily. If anything has gone wrong, I remove some or all shavings.

I think the wire bottom may really help out.

 

[sherrybintally]

For the true deep litter method, you wouldn't use a wire bottom. I sprinkle any poo spots with some powdered stuff called Sweet PDZ that you can buy for horse staffs and add more bedding on top. I use pine shavings in the house where I shut them up at night...no water at night. I use straw (not pine straw) in their pen. I change out the nest boxes regularly though. The house and the pen gets cleaned out 3-4 times a year. That's the beauty of the deep pile method, plus it better for composting.

 

[hfchristy]

I know it's not standard, but would the wire floor interfere with the composting?
Wire's a lot lighter than plywood, and we're anticipating moving the house seasonally, so trying to cut the weight anywhere we can.

 

[Amiga]

What I do is a variation of deep litter, in that I keep the bedding too dry to do much composting. Deep litter, the way many do it, keeps moisture in the bedding and there is biological activity that releases heat and breaks down the materials into compost. But since I have been concerned about ammonia and mold, I keep the bedding dry, which prevents much biological activity.

That is just fine with me. The bedding eventually gets placed on the compost pile where it gets moistened and then kickstarts the biological activity.

So the way I do it, a wire floor would work fine, actually helping keep the bedding dry underneath (unless there were a source of moisture from down there).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here is a link to some info on using deep litter. https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclie...pw.r_qf.&fp=f3748917355b8dbb&biw=1422&bih=717

 

[heatherscreations1969]

wouldn't it fall through the wire mesh?