Deep litter method

[ScottandSam]

umm link worked for me
"When creating a bird habitat, think of where the wild fowl live....in the forest. Recreate that floor and you'll start to see and smell a huge difference in where your chickens live and they will be healthier and more content. Leaves, twigs, bark, small amounts of straw or hay~small, mind you, pine needles and cones, wood chips, etc. As deep as you can build it. No more mud, no more bad smells or flies. The litter pack acts like a big sponge, wicking moisture down, leaving the top springy and dryer. It keeps the soil under the run from becoming too compacted, thus allowing the rains to take the excess nitrogen of the manure down to the worms that will ascend under the litter for that nutrition. Try to avoid too much of any one material unless it would be leaves...that's mostly what you will find decaying on the forest floor. A lot of people want to use wood shavings but they are expensive and all one particle size, not letting air into the pile. Wood chips would be a better option than shavings, if you can get them as they have varying particle size and contain leaf matter.

You create food, activity and healthier footing for your chickens in one, cheap, easy to maintain move. You can then throw lawn clippings, garden refuse, kitchen scraps, weeds, etc. into that litter pack and what the chickens don't eat they will bury and the worms will consume it. They will be living on a living compost pile instead of a slick, muddy, poopy moonscape filled with little pools of putrid water.

And you can do the same thing in your coop:

"

Thanks ..

Why do I get this when I hit that link? I tried clearing all cookies re logging in and still link didn't work.

Im so tired of that screen. I see it dozens of times every night.
Thanks again
Scott

 

[Molpet]

Thanks ..

Why do I get this when I hit that link? I tried clearing all cookies re logging in and still link didn't work.
View attachment 1132559
Im so tired of that screen. I see it dozens of times every night.
Thanks again
Scott

try a different browser.. I use chrome ..on window 10

 

[ScottandSam]

Thanks for posting that here. It makes it a little more clear. I have tons of hay, I guess with the little not used in the coop, I will just let them pick apart the balls where the sit. I'll try chrome
Thanks
Scott

 

[aart]

Thanks ..

Why do I get this when I hit that link? I tried clearing all cookies re logging in and still link didn't work.
View attachment 1132559
Im so tired of that screen. I see it dozens of times every night.
Thanks again
Scott

Post that screen shot in a new thread(titled 'the sky is falling error') here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/site-problems-issues-guides.16183/
Add your system details;device, OS, browser, etc

 

[Carol Rose]

Thanks Sandy for the reply, I just use an orange and peppermint oil spray instead of the bleach.

Foghorn,
With the deep litter method you start out with just a couple of inches and add to the mix when you need fresh bedding. I normally end up with 8-10+ inches of almost composted bedding by season’s end (which I then add to my compost bins of yard and garden green stuff, to breakdown over the winter). I also toss DE into the shaving mix as i've seen the girls dust bathing in the dry mixture various times during the year. They have dry soil and sandy soil pits in thier run but they will still dust bathe in the dry shaving mixture in the coop???

The new shaving in the bag are really compressed so initially one bag ought to get you started and just have a bag around to add to the mix as your season goes along. Some folks change out their shaving more often, it seems for me that the once a year schedule is working. It is important also that you either mix in the poop and shaving with a rake or use a mix method and rake occasionally and use scratch on the floor to get the hens to do the work. I hang my feeder from the rafters and I also have an auto-watering system out in the run. I have an 8x10 coop with 15 ladies in it currently.

Norm in N. CA

What is DE?

 

[Carol Rose]

What is DE?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What is DE?

diatomaceous earth

 

[Molpet]

Dichotomous earth http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html

 

[sweetater22]

I have been feeding fermented feed about one year, and have started DL method in August of this year both are working great for me. Owe all my success to reading Beekissed post and trying to do as the post tells me. The statement made by Beekissed to copy the forest floor explained a lot to me. THANKS BEEKISSED

 

[kstough]

I want to build a chicken coop specifically made for deep littering but cannot find plans! Help! I have 13 chickens