Wire Mesh Bottom & Deep Liter?

[BantamBritt]

Hey Everyone,

My chicken coop is very small since I only have 5 chickens. (soon to be 6!! Giving away my big Delaware Rooster & getting a Sebright Pair!!!)

Since it is small, I am able to get away with having a wire mesh bottom so the poo goes thru the floor to a tray that I can easily empty.

Usually, I make sure the wire is covered with a bit of straw. I want to add more and apply the deep litter method, but will this work?

I mean, since the bottom is wire, the dry small stuff would still go thru, so I assume once the poo is dry, it will fall through. However, I was reading the Deep Litter Thread, and there was alot of talk of the litter composting. I assume the bottom straw would still compost, and that the dry poo would still pass through, but I'm no expert.

I figured I should post a new thread instead of asking a question on a very long, older thread.

Ideas/ Suggestions about this??

Thanks,
Brittany

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

If you put litter on the wire, nothing will fall through, and it won't stay damp enough to compost in the coop.

 

[BantamBritt]

Oh, I thought the point was to keep it dry?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Compost, whether it's chicken litter or in a compost bin, needs some moisture to work. The bacteria that break down the ingredients and turn them into compost need some moisture. Bone dry, composting doesn't happen.

Compost or litter that is too wet is stinky. That is often because there is too much of the green/wet/high nitrogen components in it. In a coop, that's the poop, in a compost bin it's the green foliage or food waste. To take care of that problem, you add more of the brown/dry/high carbon ingredients. In a coop, that's the litter, in a compost bin it's often things like dry leaves. Wet litter with a lot of poop on the top also has more escaping ammonia. Adding more litter keeps that from happening.

If you just don't want a stinky coop, it doesn't matter if it's drier. Drier litter is great, as long as it isn't dusty. It just won't compost in the coop. You can just scoop it out when it's too full and put it in a compost pile or bin.

What size is your coop?

 

[patandchickens]

since the bottom is wire, the dry small stuff would still go thru, so I assume once the poo is dry, it will fall through.

Uh, no, it won't. Not much of it anyhow. Really really.

EITHER use a bare wire mesh floor (and some poo will still have to be scraped/brushed/hosed through it), OR, much better in most situations IMHO, use a solid floor with shavings or straw or whatever.

ALso, please be aware that composting-style deep litter does not work well in a "very small" coop. It ends up too humid and too ammonia-y for the available air volume, and won't compost much anyhow. There are certainly other things you can do involving deepness of litter, but I would not suggest trying the composting version in your situation.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[BantamBritt]

Hey everyone,
Ok, I will just keep doing what I'm doing then..... alot of the poo does go through and it's really easy to clean. I just feel bad that they only have wire and a bit of straw to sit on.

I am moving next month though, and there is a shed in the back yard that I can convert into a coop!

right now, I'm using a large wooden dog house that I renovated into a chicken coop. It's very nice.... oh, and I added a door of course.