How to know if your deep litter method is working...

[miss_thenorth]

I read a great idea as far as cleaning out a coop, especially when using the deep litter system.

The author said they couldn't believe it when they were at a nursery and saw bagged chicken manure (I'm sure it was processed somehow. ) for gardeners to use.

"People pay for this stuff?!?!?"

So when it came time to clean out their coop after winter, they ran an ad in the local "free ads".

"Free Chicken Manure for your garden. You come get it such and such weekend."

They said by the end of the weekend the coop was clean, and they never had to touch a shovel.

I think that's an idea I'm going to try!

That's great--but I'm keeping it for myself!

 

[freemotion]

People ask me for manure and except for a few 5-gallon pails to a good friend, I always say no! I must spread 100 wheelbarrows-full each year and I never have enough!!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Same here--I'll part with a bit for family,, (well horse poo they can have) but chicken and rabbit poo? IT's gonna cost ya!

 

[TanksHill]

My large chicken coop is nearest to my orchard. I kind of have a two step method. When I shovel the coop I pile it outside, Re do coop. Then next time I clean out the coop I use the stuff outside under my trees first. Then I start all over.

I guess I do it this way because the pine shavings seem to take forever to break down.

 

[amarook]

Oh I hear ya! I have plans for mine too.

But that would be a good way of dealing with it for someone who was maybe older and couldn't really handle the shoveling anymore and still wanted to keep chickens...
Or someone who doesn't care to use it for anything.

 

[Beekissed]

I was using the DLM this winter but it got way too soggy under the roosts no matter how much I fluffed and encouraged scratching....my free rangers had little interest in the food I threw in to entice them to turn the bedding. I was using hay and this might have been a factor, as my coop is a little too large and the floor boards have too large of gaps to use wood chips~would have to buy those!

So....long about Christmas I got tired of having dirty eggs from wet bedding and scraped it all out. I had thought to try DLM with hay or straw to keep the drafts from coming through the wide gaps in my floor boards of this ancient coop!

Now, I rake out all roost droppings every day or every other day and have had a much cleaner, dryer coop. Maybe because I have 30 chickens, maybe because they have too much to do outside and don't stay in the coop long enough to turn bedding, maybe because of the hay...I don't know, but the DLM didn't work for me.

 

[freemotion]

It is the type of ad I would respond to!!! I never have enough poo here! (the come get it yourself ad)

Bee, can you do a combo of deep litter to keep out drafts and just cleaning under the roosts? Even with DLM, I do sometimes take a load out of pure poo under the roosts. Mine head into the goat's stalls first thing in the winter and scratch all day in there! And lay eggs!

 

[Beekissed]

Well, the whole draft thingy is taken care of...sort of! The poo got ground into and filled the cracks and dried off solid. No more cracks! I wanted to try the DLM so that I could have all that great composted poo at the end of the season, but I think I'll just rake it out now. My eggs are soooooo very clean now and everything smells better!

Free rangers get so spoiled when it comes to scratching up bedding.....that's poor man's pickins' to them! I tried all sorts of treats but they are never hungry enough to dive for them! Spoiled, big, piggy fat girls!

 

[keljonma]

kel, do you do a lime wash or whatever that is on the inside? I remember reading about that. I have never done it though.

No - just vinegar and hot water.

 

[ticks]

The DLM did not work for me, it smelled awful the hens didn't lay for some reason and it started to rot the coop's floor!