Deep litter method

[annabobbob717]

I used this method, it worked but I noticed a strong ammonia smell after a few months and had to clean it!

 

[Beekissed]

Will you try it again? Could be you didn't have enough or the right kind of ventilation in the coop.

 

[annabobbob717]

I built a larger roost house that spring and it worked better because of the ventilation

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Those sources are? And it sounds like you are encouraging more of a deep bedding than a deep litter method. A deep bedding method is dependent upon absorbency and piling mass amounts of wood shavings to mask the odor and moisture of the poop...and having to clean that out a couple of times a year before your head hits the ceiling of the coop.

No, it does decompose, but it does it rather slowly. The moisture level in the litter pack is such that it is friable and it flows between my fingers, but not so dry that it becomes dusty in there. A couple inches of pine shavings or a foot of straw will decompose into the litter pack in about 8 weeks, but it's not finished compost and if the moisture levels become too high it will blow off ammonia.

 

[cowchipss]

Agree,
Just keep adding natural things to the litter and you and the chickens will be much happier. Let nature do all the work.
Blessings all....
Marie

Thanks for all the great posts on this thread! I'm building up a deep litter in my new hoop coop that started with several large bags of Aspen shavings and I keep adding leaves from my yard to. I've read that it's recommended to start with ~6" and go from there. I'm more building up to that over the course of this past month but..... I'm learning and just adding and adjusting things like water and feed height as I go.

I am adding leaves from an Oak tree and a Mango tree. Since I started with the wood chips, the majority of the bedding is wood chips. Can I just keep adding leaves from here? It looks like it. :}

I was away for a week on vacation and did some raking and added leaves to their coop/run this afternoon. I love hearing their soft concentrated burrrr burr burrrs as they work through the new leaves.

 

[cowchipss]

I've been using DL for 1 1/2 yrs now, and I truly love how easy it is. I know mine isn't perfect, it tends to be more on the dry side, but there is never any smell.

This morning I added some loads of leaves/pine straw to my 3 pens. I love the way the leaves/pine straw makes the coops smell.

I put 2 loads of leaves and 1 load of pine straw in the Creme Legbar baby coop.



I added 3-4 loads of leaves/pine straw in the egg layer coop and the Blue Orp coop. I usually just leave them in piles and let the larger chickens scratch & spread it all out. They love looking for little critters that get brought in with the leaves.



I'll add some more over the weekend and off/on through out the fall. When my large oak leaves fall, I will bag them up for winter use. I'll also start putting some in the runs to help with the wet weather this winter.

I agree the pine needles (right?) look pretty and probably much more dry than hay! Also abundant in some areas and free!

 

[humbyrds777]

When you mix the bedding, do you mix it from top to bottom (thoroughly), or just the top inch or two?

 

[Beekissed]

When you mix the bedding, do you mix it from top to bottom (thoroughly), or just the top inch or two?

If you have a pitchfork or mulch fork, it makes it easy. You can just flip the top of the bedding under, right where it's at, like flipping a pancake. It's nice if you can leave the bottom layers undisturbed, especially under the roosts. If you have different particle sizes in the DL there are air pockets inside to help with composting, so no need to aerate it often. The chickens are often doing that for you anyway to a certain degree.

 

[paintedChix]

Yes, they will be in here most of the time. An outdoor run for them is a project for the next month or so but this is their place for now. 8}

Now I have to come up with something that can give me an extra three inches or so of height to contain the bedding. Any ideas?

Sounds/looks like you don't have a lot of chickens, so may not have a "store" of chicken feed bags. If yours are the plastic type, "woven" ones - save them up. You can remove the ends (paper or plastic edging/plastic or fiber string), and stitch them together and utilize like a tarp along the bottom of the hoop coop. Or you can open them out, fold them in 1/2 length wise (longer and narrower). It does work with the paper ones for a while, too, then you can add them later to a burn pile (we have regular bonfires - or used to - and plan on doing some more again this winter. Bday parties or just to hang out w/ friends and enjoy some camaraderie) or to your regular compost heap (the inner layer should have some clear plastic or a waxy coating on one side of the paper layers that I'd remove for the compost heap).

We currently have quite a number of chickens and ponies, so have LOTS of bags. Unfortunately, I haven't used the bags yet as I describe - so no pics. Have to do that project soon, too. I have used them for other projects (lining the bottoms of raised garden beds to separate the "new" bed from the old soil until the bags disintegrate, covers over equipment like a tarp, covers over the chicken pens when I had babies out in dog Xpens, turned white side out - attached to pallets - makes it look like a white wall and stops rain from getting into our sheds). You can actually make it look pretty decent instead of "trashy". They also make GREAT reusable bags if you are into using your own bags (takes a bit of sewing).

To attach to your coop, we have the ubiquitous (my big word today!! - always loved that one) haystring (from the horses/ponies - I make a lot of usable equipment by braiding that string). I use a tapestry/rug needle (keep several in the barn/shed, 1 in the house and 1 in my truck) and the holes already in the bags to string them together and attach them to the coop. Or you could punch holes and use zip ties.

 

[paintedChix]

I had the chance yesterday to sit and get started on the project I mentioned above - w/ great timing. There was a stiff breeze yesterday as the sun went down and it dipped into freezing by this AM. so the bags I attached to the coop are better protection for the chix. I will do more today/tomorrow. Here is a series of pics -

The feed bag bottom w/ paper edging (I threw the paper edging into the coop for DLM when I removed it). And the bag when I had the paper edging removed.

​

The bag has been turned inside out (white insides on both the outside of the coop and the inside of the coop - think it loos better for solid white and no print to inside too. Not all feedbags are this white (it's Strategy for horses - made by Purina). I've got it attached to one of the horizontal bars on the cattle panel of the back of my hoop coop. Shows the rug needle & hay string. I started on the right side of the coop - where my lite is hanging - so that the chicks would have the reflection. I haven't made the heating pad "den" that Blooie recommends yet - will try that out too, tho not right now. These bags had fiber string stitching and I could have re-used that to attach the bags to the coop, but didn't think it would last as long as the "plastic" hay string (which I have LOTS of).

​

This pic shows how it looks as the sun goes down. It's not finished. I have the open, even edges of the top of the bag to the right (where I started) and am overlapping the even edges over the tops of the bottom, uneven edges (due to the fold in the bags when they are made & stitched shut). The bottom edges, right now, aren't stitched down. But I do have a brick over the bottom edges at about the middle of the coop. May be enough for this coop this winter - may not. When I do the next row of bags above this one, will layer them like shingles so that rain is shed off. Don't think I will need to tape down the edges of the bags where they overlap - we'll see. The lite makes the blue print on the bag show up pretty clearly here - doesn't show during the day...The bucket in front of the coop wall is my "seat" - it's a heavy duty bucket that holds "Soda Lime pellets" - used during surgery at our vet clinic. Right now I bring home every empty bucket - have seats set up in different areas now in my pony feed sheds that allow me to sit down when I need to. Will be cleaning them out well and using them for nesting boxes, too - after I verify that the product in them isn't caustic (shouldn't be - used to soak up the humidity on the oxygen machines when hooked to a dog/cat's masks when under anesthesia during surgery).

​