[Beekissed]

Anyone using a cultivated deep litter in their coop and runs?  I've been using it for some years now but have finally found a combination of materials and a method I really like and it's like a dream to have a coop with no smells, no cleaning out, no flies and that provides the birds with something to do...as well as provide compost for my garden.

I use mostly leaves in the winter months but will occasionally mix in large pine shavings to bulk it up if necessary.  This winter I've done all leaves, though some small amounts of hay and straw have found their way into the mix.  All spring and summer I deposit garden, flower and herb trimmings in the coop as well.  Small twigs, hair and fur, feathers, pine needles and even bones find their way into the coop to mix into the litter. 

Good, adjustable ventilation is key and can help keep the chickens warm and dry when it's snowy and damp outside.  Another key component is variable particle size and type, such as mixing slow composting materials in with things that break down more quickly and also larger particles that provide air space between finer materials.  Large flake shavings, leaves, twigs, pine needles, straw, hay, pine cones, bark, etc. seems to be a great combination, but more leaves than the other materials in the mix, as they break down beautifully.   

 I just keep the litter lightly flipped under the roosts every other day and then let the chickens do the rest of the rearranging.  Lately I've been dumping our scraps in the coop and letting them incorporate what they don't eat right into the litter. 

Here's pics of the litter as it changes throughout the seasons and as new materials are added...a lot more are added in the winter months than in the summer...summer usually gets mostly green materials, whereas winter mostly leaves and woodier things that absorb well. 















Added benefit of this method of coop maintenance is the healthy, thriving microbial life that can be established and can prevent other, more harmful bacteria and molds taking hold in the coop and run environment.  It gives the chickens a more natural habitat in which to live and can help the flock owner work smarter, not harder.  So, so much easier to just add to and maintain, rather than shoveling or raking out all the time and trying to deal with bad smells and flies all summer long. 

[LotuSeed]

So after a season or two, do you move the coop and plant in the composted space? Or do you remove the compost floor and relocate it to another area of your garden? Seems like once it breaks down it would make a nice soil amendment!🐓

[Beekissed]

I just leave it there and let it keep going and going.  Every now and again I'll rake the litter back and scoop some of the loamy, black soil underneath for side dressing or for planting seedlings.

 It has value where it is, as it attracts worms and bugs that the chickens like to eat in the winter months when they can't get out and forage for them as well.  It also leaches down to my peach trees below the coop...they produced for the first time ever the last few seasons, since locating the coop above them on the slope.  They are about 18 yrs old but had never produced more than a few knotty fruits that the squirrels ate before they ripened, but a year after doing deep litter in that coop they had their first real crop that was so heavy we were propping branches up...still had one branch break under the weight, though.

Many people are now doing deep litter in this manner in their runs and no longer have those hard packed moonscapes that turn slimy and stinky in the summer months.  Now they are reporting runs that absorb moisture, have no smells or flies and that provide their hens cleaner, healthier footing in rainy seasons.   

[Sassy]

This looks like a good idea and way of managing things. A word of warning to anyone who thinks to add grass cuttings - DON'T! They break down very quickly and are likely to be eaten by chooks causing ,possibly, massive stomach/digestive problems which could lead to death.

[Beekissed]

Yes, those can be a real problem to confined stock as they will gobble any fresh greenery you deposit there and not in the lengths they normally would, so they can get crop impaction.  Thank you for mentioning that!     I tend to forget about those who keep chickens confined as my flock free ranges in all seasons and get to choose their own greenery at will. 

A better option for providing greens for them in confinement is grow frames with pick and come again type growth of grasses, lettuces, etc.  or a bale of fresh hay they can pluck at and remove small bits from that are more appropriately sized for digestion.

An easy way to incorporate lawn clippings into the compost of deep litter is to rake aside one part of the coop or run's bedding and place the clippings, then cover them well with litter.  They can then break down easily under the litter and be incorporated into the bedding without the chickens having large access to them. 

Providing grow frames for the birds can satisfy this part of their diet and make them less likely to want to eat lawn clippings.  These are pretty easily done and can provide a better habitat for confined chickens wherein they get a better variety of diet and can satisfy the urge to forage, but without denuding the grass cover.

[Sassy]

Grass frames brilliant idea. All those with space issues, and I know there are many of you, should note this. Excellent.

[Beekissed]

These can even be done vertically with the use of pallets if folks have even less space.  I've seen some really cute vertical greens gardens for chooks with the use of pallets.  A person would have to cover the soil with some kind of net to keep the chickens from pulling the whole plant from the soil but with grasses this is easy to do.

[RubyR3d]

These grass frames seem a cracking idea. Other years I've put turf down then covered it in chicken wire held down with tent pegs. But the hens still manage to pull up the roots over time. This is such an obvious thing to do.

[Tenhens]

Would the birds feet be affected by walking on the wire?

[barley]

I do leaf mulch to

Admittedly I do clear it out and replenish with fresh leaves but only because it makes a beautiful compost for my veggies 

Grass Pens agreed a brilliant idea - will definitely give that one a go 

[Beekissed]

Would the birds feet be affected by walking on the wire?

If that's all they had to walk on all the time, I'd say that might be a problem but since the frames are just part of where they walk and live, I'm doubting it causes a problem.  I know several people who have them and they have not reported any issues from it, but they do have large runs where the chickens don't have to walk on the wire unless they want to. 

[Sassy]

Battery hens only have wire to walk on

[Beekissed]

Yep...and that's sad.  Even when they don't, they often don't even know the feel of real earth and have never seen grass.  I have two in my flock right now that had been raised in a cement block building, small windows that were so dirty that no light was let in.  They had no roosts, no dusting areas, no real chicken life....just large flocks of birds in cramped conditions~called "cage free"...what a joke!  The cage was just larger and didn't have wire floors, but cement ones.  When I brought them home they were scared to go out of the pen and didn't know how to roost, then when integrated with the flock, they were scared to come out of the coop.  It was many days before they were comfortable out on free range.  They are slowly adapting to flock life out on the green Earth but they look great compared to when they arrived and they seem to be enjoying their new life. 

Now they know true cage freedom, living a life out on the grass like a chicken should, coming and going when they please.  They eat what they want, roost as is their instinct, lay in nests that have actual nest material in them, and they now have a true flock social system~a rooster as flock leader and birds of different ages and social status within the flock, roosting of different levels so they can have a choice and acres of land where they can just BE. 

[joyfull]

cage free over here is known as barn raised - people have this vision in their heads of chickens being allowed to roam in and out of a barn with bales of straw to hop on and off etc. I have been inside a barn with these hens and it is nothing like that sadly 

[Beekissed]

Same here.  They most often don't even have adequate nesting and usually no roosting at all, very little light except artificial lighting and no good, healthy footing under them.  Usually just powdered, old and new feces.  Usually pretty crowded, so there is evidence of much feather picking. 

And people pay extra for those eggs.....