Deep Litter

[tortoise]

I am in my first year of attempting deep litter. My first winter. I *only* have chopped rye straw to work with in winter. Or purchased pine shavings, but sounds like those don't work well. I can try to source a better variety of bedding materials this summer/fall.

My coop is cement floor, cement block walls on 2.5 sides. The other sides are open to the rest of the barn, with hanging snow fence to keep chickens in. The area was previously a pony stall. The barn has 2 doors open year-round for sheep to access pasture. Chicken area has windows and high ceiling.

The litter is mostly dry and a mix of light colored "dirt" and straw. I pitchfork up any heavy wet areas like around the waterer, spread it around and throw cracked corn on top for the chickens to scratch out and spread out.

DH is *sure* it will stink horribly at spring thaw. If he's not happy, he will nix my deep litter efforts.

 

[Beekissed]

I am in my first year of attempting deep litter. My first winter. I *only* have chopped rye straw to work with in winter. Or purchased pine shavings, but sounds like those don't work well. I can try to source a better variety of bedding materials this summer/fall.

My coop is cement floor, cement block walls on 2.5 sides. The other sides are open to the rest of the barn, with hanging snow fence to keep chickens in. The area was previously a pony stall. The barn has 2 doors open year-round for sheep to access pasture. Chicken area has windows and high ceiling.

The litter is mostly dry and a mix of light colored "dirt" and straw. I pitchfork up any heavy wet areas like around the waterer, spread it around and throw cracked corn on top for the chickens to scratch out and spread out.

DH is *sure* it will stink horribly at spring thaw. If he's not happy, he will nix my deep litter efforts.

You could try capping off the litter under the roosts to prevent any bad smells and don't encourage the chickens to stir it up...stirring up wet shavings or straw releases the ammonia smells. I tried all that way back when I first started this....stirring doesn't make it dryer, it just buries the dry pieces. They cannot absorb much moisture because they are wood or woody. If they do start to smell a little when it thaws, you can put some garden lime on it to control odor and moisture but the lime will also slow down your composting, so I'd not use it too much.

Then I'd start using everything you can get your hands on this spring...dried grass clippings spread out evenly on top of the mass under the roosts, weed trimmings from the garden, bark, lawn rakings, etc. Can you get leaves in the fall?

Anything to give you something to tone down all the wood shavings and straw and create more air pockets and different materials in the mass. It sounds like you have GREAT ventilation, so now you just need to manage your materials. You'll likely need to add moisture to any mass you create under the roosts...you can do that when you clean out waterers and such but you'll likely need more. If you don't see it composting downward, you'll likely need more water. Might even need to turn the mass once in a blue moon, but I wouldn't do it too often.

I'd just start now when adding dry material, only add it to the mass under the roosts. After each night's deposits, flip a thin layer of dry on top. Cap off the smells.

Another thing that controls smells enormously that I have not mentioned...also controls the flies. Fermented feed. Decreases the stink of poops and flies are no longer attracted to it...even my dogs won't eat the poop any longer.

I sure hope you can continue with the DL...it's a great, easy care way to create compost while keeping a healthier coop all at the same time.

 

[sumi]

Thank you for starting this thread @Beekissed! This is something that never interested me much, until I read what you said elsewhere about how much warmer the coop is inside, thanks to the composting litter giving off heat. This method, if anything, is about 1000x better for heating the coop in winter! I'm curious, have you measured the temperatures before you started doing this to compare?

 

[Beekissed]

I didn't even know people attempted DL without a dirt floor until I joined BYC, I just assumed the two went hand in hand. I'm using DL in the coop I have now, and like you Bee I pretty much just use what's available and make sure to switch it up from time to time if I find I've been using the same stuff for too long. But I've only had it going since the summer and everything froze in the winter, and I'd like to build a new coop in the spring, so all in all it might be awhile until I see the final effects of it all.

My issue this year was too much moisture and too much ventilation. I know, I know, you can never have too much ventilation (minus drafts), but at -40 my coop was just too cold. I want more focused ventilation in specific locations. I'd like to build a new coop in the spring and that design will incorporate deep litter: an easy way to remove litter when needed and adequate ventilation.

I've always wanted a Wood's style coop but what I have is a hoop coop, so I tried to style my ventilation as much as possible like the Wood's style....vents up above the roosts and a half open door in the front and also openings on either side of the door in the front. LOTS of ventilation in the front, but only the pop door and the roof vents in the roosting area unless I need to crack the back window to increase that siphoning action of the warm, moist air there.

It sort of creates a passive airflow in the winter months but a still point at the roosts...nice and toasty back there. Don't know all the details of the Wood's style venting and why they can have that huge open area in the front and still have warmth back in the roost area, but it works really well for some reason. It has something to do with the big vents up above the roosts and the way the cold, fresh air moves through that big open front and then up and out those vents in the back.

If I had a chance to build a wooden coop, I'd definitely incorporate that Wood's style of architecture.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

What would you suggest for a coop with a cement floor?

This coop is also a cement floor, in a tin shed out building. I use straw pretty much exclusively, with leaves out in the adjoining run. I tend to let the inside DL go as long as possible, or until it gets flooded (during the rare major rainstorm), or the ammonia just starts to build up. Right now it is needing cleaned out. I am smelling ammonia when I shut them up for the night.

 

[Beekissed]

That's not good. If you can smell ammonia from your height, imagine what they are breathing on the coop floor. Can you incorporate more ventilation in that building to move that stale air up and out of there?