What is the deep bedding method

[Gigachad poultry]

Hello everyone, I recently say a video about a lady who has a pretty big coop and she apparently only cleans her coop a few times a year !?! She says she uses the "deep bedding method" and I'm curious as to how and if that method actually does works? I'm planning on possibly building a barn with a coop attached so that I can divide my main flock. However I do have a problem with wood mites. I did buy predatory mites that only eat other types of mites, so they are human and poultry safe! Would the wood mites be a problem for this method? Any help is very much appreciated!

 

[Gigachad poultry]

This is the video if anyone is wondering

 

[aart]

@3KillerBs

 

[Gigachad poultry]

@3KillerBs

What?

 

[aart]

What?

I tagged @3KillerBs to post their info about deep bedding,
but I'll go ahead and post a link to the article they wrote about it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I tagged @3KillerBs to post their info about deep bedding,
but I'll go ahead and post a link to the article they wrote about it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Thank you so much!

 

[TooCheep]

The article linked above does a very good job describing the deep litter (bedding) system.

I'll just say that it works very well for me. I only clean out my coop twice/year. I use dead leaves that I collect in the fall as my primary litter material. There are other materials that can work well, but the leaves are free and effective. The chickens poop and mix it up as they scratch around.

The high carbon material (dead leaves) neutralize the odor from the high nitrogen (chicken poo) components. Since there is little/no water involved, you don't get full composting, but you do get an excellent smaller-particle mix that you can use in your garden and breaks down very nicely there to help your plants grow well.

I've been using this setup for 5-6 years now.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

This is a good post on the difference between DLM and Deep Bedding systems! It seems like the woman in the video is using DLM rather than Deep Bedding...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/26181478/

 

[aart]

The article linked above does a very good job describing the deep litter (bedding) system.

They are different.

 

[3KillerBs]

In the time since I wrote the article I've built a much larger coop set up for the Deep Litter method (actively composting over a dirt floor and soon to be cleaned out after almost two years), but I'm still using Deep Bedding successfully in my brooder -- raising 3-4 batches of chicks between changes. I like this because I brood outdoors and it gives them a good, thick layer of insulation.

To answer the question about mites ....

I can't.

I have no experience with mites whatsoever. But I can link a helpful article:

Mites, Lice and Fleas, Dealing with External Parasites​