Deep Litter Method, Please Explain?

[webbysmeme]

Can somebody explain how the deep litter method works? Do you just keep adding litter? How do you get all the poop out? If you don't remove the poop, how is the smell and flies handled?
Thank you in advance for your help. I want to try this method but am concerned about smell and pest.
Kim

 

[snow5164]

Go to the search magnifying glass at the top and search it... there are about a million posts on it that should help you !

Good luck

 

[flyin-lowe]

A very brief summary of how I do mine. I start each spring with a thin layer of pine chips from feed store, a few inches deep. Every couple of weeks I thin throw in a layer of grass clippings, or straw, or leaves, etc. I try to switch it up each time. I just add a couple inches. The chickens love digging through the new stuff an in doing say they stir things up good. The bottom layer will start to break down and I continue this all summer long. I try to use straw as a last resort as it seems to break down slowest, by the end of the season it is usually 10-12 inches deep. Come fall I shovel everything out and spread it over my garden to sit for the winter and I start the same routine over again. Then come spring I again shovel it out and spread it onto my garden again and till it all in a month or so before I plant. I was surprised when I first started this as after day one or two it smelled a little but after that just and earth smell similar to mulch or compost. The good part is Im going on three years and only have to completely clean the coop out twice a year and the soil in my garden has never been better. Read on here or search youtube you will find lots of info. I know everyone has their own preferences but I couldn't imagine shoveling out my coop every week or digging manure out of sand every few days.

 

[PirateGirl]

Here is an article on the deep litter method. What I like about this article is that at the very bottom it has links to other discussions on this method so you will be able to read about other people's successes and failures and tips and techniques.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...st-way-to-deal-with-chicken-litter-dlm.47740/

 

[rosemarythyme]

Everyone does it a little different. For me, drainage is a big concern since we get a lot of rain and the run isn't covered, so the base of my litter are chunky wood chips, chipped from branches in our yard and left to age 6 months+. What I add after that depends on the season: fall and winter, dried leaves (we rake them up and store them in the greenhouse, I try to collect enough to last through spring). Spring, some dried leaves and grass clippings, cut short and left to dry. Summer is mostly grass clippings. I add some garden trimmings and weed clumps too when they're available. A little bit of store-bought pine shavings get mixed in too, only because I use that in my nest box and I clean those out when I clean the coop (and I use the same chunky wood chips in the coop, so coop litter gets cleaned out into the run and becomes part of the run litter).

The run gets cleaned out when the litter has broken down enough that it's not draining well any longer. That happens maybe once a year, and I only clear out the stuff that's pretty well broken down, and that becomes compost for the garden beds. Then I add more wood chips and the process goes on.

You don't have to remove poop, though I do use a pooper scooper and pick up big obvious ones daily (which go into compost... everything chicken is compost!) just so I don't step on them.

As far as flies and smell, if you do this correctly, there should be no noticeable smell from the run. Flies will always get attracted to fresh poop though, but I put up fly traps so the fly problem has been minimal... I probably get more flies around my house than the coop!

 

[flyin-lowe]

I also should have indicated that I only do this in my coop. My run breaks down so much that I have never had to. When I first started it was grass and after a month or so it was down to mud. I then put straw, leaves, or what ever in so they are not in the mud. Once it breaks down close to being muddy again I add some more. After three years I have never had to shovel it out, it just keeps breaking down. My coop is on the top of a hill so drainage is not an issue for me.

 

[aart]

Here is an article on the deep litter method. What I like about this article is that at the very bottom it has links to other discussions on this method so you will be able to read about other people's successes and failures and tips and techniques.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...st-way-to-deal-with-chicken-litter-dlm.47740/

That article is about deep bedding.....not sure if all the links at the bottom are worth reading.

Try these:
Here's a great description of contents and how to manage organic 'bedding' in a run or coop...and there's a great video of what it looks like.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992

TalkALittle's post on DB vs DL: http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1075545/can-i-do-deep-litter-method-with-this-coop#post_16440037