Best Litter?? Struggling after years

[aart]

You'd need to block access to the high 'roosts'(chicken wire attached to the bottoms of rafters would do the trick) and make the poop board roosts the highest to be attained.


What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
- Large flake pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.
That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 9 years.

 

[saysfaa]

Straw tends to cause problems when it is the only thing used. It is helpful mixed in with lots of other organics.

You don't need a bagger to use lawn clippings. You can rake an armful (if you cut it long) or fill a couple of buckets or wheelbarrow if you cut with a mulcher. Here, the county mows the shoulders of the road a couple of times a year. I've scooped up some of that for litter.

Shedded paper, coffee grounds, corn husks, stalks of weeds or vegetable (you might want to cut the seed heads off the weeds or use immature weeds).

I like some sawdust mixed in - maybe sweeping up from building projects if you or someone you know does some. Only bare wood though, not painted or stained ot treated wood for this purpose.

 

[Okydoky]

Hey,

I have a 12ftx6ftx8ft coop where my 25 chickens free range all day long. However after years of having chickens I’ve never been satisfied with the litter situation. I attempt deep litter but I can only get 6-7 inches deep and I know it requires a least a foot deep. I feel like I’m spending hundreds in shavings to constantly add, turn and then ultimate have to clean out my coop 2-3x a year and I could even bump that up to doing it more. I added in sweet PDZ but it’s still disgusting in there. The chickens won’t turn it and it’s a huge chore to turn the shavings as even after a few days they are compacted down. My chickens are getting the eggs poopy from the floor and I’m just tired of throwing shavings at it and nothing working.
I originally was thinking sand but it will be an expensive route but if it’s cleaner I’m not above the cost. I’ve also seen pellets being more absorbent. I’m just at a loss and everyone says how simple deep bedding is and how clean and how little time consuming it is but I’m at the point of giving up completely. SOS - need help!

oh my gosh, thats a lot of chickens to coop up in that space, we have a 12x12 for 4 and they are to crowded for me, but sm coop says for 4 but really 2 again my opinion. So we have the poop prob often not bad but no choice for bigger coop. We use Hay Bales didnt like the shavings. i wish you the best, we have to depoop daily as they Nest where they Poop basically due to size of Coop

 

[Chikn-Wisperer]

Hey,

I have a 12ftx6ftx8ft coop where my 25 chickens free range all day long. However after years of having chickens I’ve never been satisfied with the litter situation. I attempt deep litter but I can only get 6-7 inches deep and I know it requires a least a foot deep. I feel like I’m spending hundreds in shavings to constantly add, turn and then ultimate have to clean out my coop 2-3x a year and I could even bump that up to doing it more. I added in sweet PDZ but it’s still disgusting in there. The chickens won’t turn it and it’s a huge chore to turn the shavings as even after a few days they are compacted down. My chickens are getting the eggs poopy from the floor and I’m just tired of throwing shavings at it and nothing working.
I originally was thinking sand but it will be an expensive route but if it’s cleaner I’m not above the cost. I’ve also seen pellets being more absorbent. I’m just at a loss and everyone says how simple deep bedding is and how clean and how little time consuming it is but I’m at the point of giving up completely. SOS - need help!

We use the deep litter method. We use hemp. Not sure if using others will work as well. I turn it over once a day in the morning, and are eggs are pretty clean. Hemp usually lasts most of the year, so maybe we need to buy 3 bags once a year (8'x6' coop, 44'x8' foot run).

 

[NewChickenmama06]

I really wish gumballs from maple trees would be great but those things do not break down and we have a million in the yard. We did fence off an area of our yard for the above ground pool maybe I can get a push mower and do that area. i Guess something is better then nothing

Actually, the gumballs are from the Sweetgum tree not maple. We don't have them up north, but lots of Maples. I looked it up wondering why my maple trees didn't have them lol!

 

[WI chickens]

Like OkyDoky said, you have too many chickens in too small a space. No litter is going to fix that.

 

[Okydoky]

We use the deep litter method. We use hemp. Not sure if using others will work as well. I turn it over once a day in the morning, and are eggs are pretty clean. Hemp usually lasts most of the year, so maybe we need to buy 3 bags once a year (8'x6' coop, 44'x8' foot run).

 

[Okydoky]

where do you buy your hemp? thanks

 

[catballou]

Hey,

I have a 12ftx6ftx8ft coop where my 25 chickens free range all day long. However after years of having chickens I’ve never been satisfied with the litter situation. I attempt deep litter but I can only get 6-7 inches deep and I know it requires a least a foot deep. I feel like I’m spending hundreds in shavings to constantly add, turn and then ultimate have to clean out my coop 2-3x a year and I could even bump that up to doing it more. I added in sweet PDZ but it’s still disgusting in there. The chickens won’t turn it and it’s a huge chore to turn the shavings as even after a few days they are compacted down. My chickens are getting the eggs poopy from the floor and I’m just tired of throwing shavings at it and nothing working.
I originally was thinking sand but it will be an expensive route but if it’s cleaner I’m not above the cost. I’ve also seen pellets being more absorbent. I’m just at a loss and everyone says how simple deep bedding is and how clean and how little time consuming it is but I’m at the point of giving up completely. SOS - need help!

I use pine pellets and shavings. I have ten in an 8x5x10H coop. I only use the deep litter method on their poop boards under their roosts in the winter.
My floor is plywood with stall mats under that and linoleum over the plywood.
On the summer, I only put about two inches of bedding everywhere. They end up with it in the corners so when that's getting a little soiled, I dump out the poop boards and put the old floor bedding on the boards, new in the floor area.
I use way less bedding that way.
I put it in a compost bin for using in my flower beds and gardens

 

[Clucktown]

Hemp