Deep litter method in shed coop/poop boards?

[emyancey]

Hi,

My first ever chicks arrive in a couple of weeks. I have 12 babies coming. I (my dad really) am building a 10'x14' shed and it will have a storage area and the rest will be henhouse, so the henhouse portion will be approximately 80- 90 square feet (haven't decided what is a good amount of space for the storage/workspace portion), but want to account for chicken math. They will have an attached run. I live in Northern New York. I want to do the deep litter method with hemp bedding in the henhouse. Is that something that is possible with a large, walk-in henhouse? I see people do deep litter with other styles of coops. Also, if I am going to do deep litter method, should I have poop boards or no? I am undecided. I know the deep litter needs the droppings to do its thing, but also thought it would be better to have poop boards so that they have coop space that isn't entirely covered in droppings to give them more space to bop about and do their thing, so I can hang water and feed underneath, ect. Thank you for any suggestions and advice!

 

[DobieLover]

deep litter method

Northern New York

Deep litter method in a shed in NY is going to be difficult to accomplish because of the cold weather.

poop boards

THIS is the way to go IMO. This is what I do in Southern NY and it is just so easy.

deep litter needs the droppings

It also needs warmth and moisture. Due to the freezing temps in NY, you don't really want added moisture in the coop because of frostbite.

I use pine shavings and/or hemp bedding on the coop floor and granular zeolite or DE on the boards and scoop the boards every morning with a metal cat litter scoop. The full poop buckets get dumped into a compost pile.

The coop is cleaned out once a year and layered with the poop pile into a second pile to 'cook' for another year before going into my gardens.

You can maximize space by using the roost/poop board arrangement below.
I have my nest boxes bumped out into my storage space over a built-in brooder but you could hang them under a poop board just as easily. For the number of birds you want, you could just install 3 nests and that would be enough.

 

[aart]

or DE on the boards

Really @DobieLover ???

 

[DobieLover]

Really @DobieLover ???

You missed the BOLD granular comment...
It's no more dusty than Sweet PDZ.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The deep litter method is where you turn your coop or run into a compost pile. The microbes that eat the materials need enough moisture to live and reproduce. If you get too much moisture it can go anaerobic and become a stinky slimy mess. Too dry and the organisms can't reproduce or do their thing. If the poop or bedding are frozen the organisms cannot break it down. The poop will not be stinky or slick but it won't go anywhere.

I do not use the deep litter method. I keep my 8' x 12' coop so dry the organisms cannot live, let alone multiple. About once every three or four years in the fall after the garden has gone to bed I dump the bedding in the garden. I actually have a winter garden so I dump that stuff in a different garden section. By the time warm weather planting time comes around it has broken down enough that it is not a problem. I'd expect that to work in the frozen north but I have not actually done it where the ground stays frozen for a few months every winter.

I use droppings boards to limit the amount of poop that goes in there. Depending on the time of the year I might go one week or six weeks between scraping my droppings board and tossing that in the compost pile. How often depends on poop load (7 chickens versus 50) and how dry the weather is. If the poop on the droppings board starts to stink I waited too long. If the poop on those boards or in your coop gets too thick it can hold moisture and stink. Removing most of the poop from my coop with those droppings boards is what enables me to go so long between deep cleaning the coop.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

In Wisconsin i do deep litter all year and clean out two times a year.
I dont have a walk in coop but it works well here.
Then i use the bedding for compost

 

[emyancey]

Deep litter method in a shed in NY is going to be difficult to accomplish because of the cold weather.

THIS is the way to go IMO. This is what I do in Southern NY and it is just so easy.

It also needs warmth and moisture. Due to the freezing temps in NY, you don't really want added moisture in the coop because of frostbite.

I use pine shavings and/or hemp bedding on the coop floor and granular zeolite or DE on the boards and scoop the boards every morning with a metal cat litter scoop. The full poop buckets get dumped into a compost pile.

The coop is cleaned out once a year and layered with the poop pile into a second pile to 'cook' for another year before going into my gardens.

You can maximize space by using the roost/poop board arrangement below.
I have my nest boxes bumped out into my storage space over a built-in brooder but you could hang them under a poop board just as easily. For the number of birds you want, you could just install 3 nests and that would be enough.
View attachment 3788384

I read your coop article and admired it! I live almost to Canada so things are definitely cold and they freeze for sure. If you're only cleaning out the coop once a year, you just let them scratch it about and leave it? Isn't that similar to deep litter, or since most of their waste is landing on the poop boards, it doesn't accumulate enough to function that way? I am leaning toward your set up for sure. I am just curious having never done this before

 

[emyancey]

In Wisconsin i do deep litter all year and clean out two times a year.
I dont have a walk in coop but it works well here.
Then i use the bedding for compost

So we definitely have similar weather! Thank you!

 

[emyancey]

The deep litter method is where you turn your coop or run into a compost pile. The microbes that eat the materials need enough moisture to live and reproduce. If you get too much moisture it can go anaerobic and become a stinky slimy mess. Too dry and the organisms can't reproduce or do their thing. If the poop or bedding are frozen the organisms cannot break it down. The poop will not be stinky or slick but it won't go anywhere.

I do not use the deep litter method. I keep my 8' x 12' coop so dry the organisms cannot live, let alone multiple. About once every three or four years in the fall after the garden has gone to bed I dump the bedding in the garden. I actually have a winter garden so I dump that stuff in a different garden section. By the time warm weather planting time comes around it has broken down enough that it is not a problem. I'd expect that to work in the frozen north but I have not actually done it where the ground stays frozen for a few months every winter.

I use droppings boards to limit the amount of poop that goes in there. Depending on the time of the year I might go one week or six weeks between scraping my droppings board and tossing that in the compost pile. How often depends on poop load (7 chickens versus 50) and how dry the weather is. If the poop on the droppings board starts to stink I waited too long. If the poop on those boards or in your coop gets too thick it can hold moisture and stink. Removing most of the poop from my coop with those droppings boards is what enables me to go so long between deep cleaning the coop.

How often are you cleaning out your coop bedding/floor then? What do you use as bedding?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Once every three to four years. Not because it is messy but I want that stuff on the garden. I do use the stuff from the compost pile more often, usually two or three times a year when I plant stuff. I store completed compost in feed bags in the dry.

I use pine wood shavings from Tractor Supply. I put it two to three inches thick and top it off as needed. It does not break down (rot) in the coop but their scratching will turn it to powder so I have to occasionally top it off. They scratch around my feeder looking for spilled feed so they can pile it up on the far walls. I occasionally level it back out.