How to use the deep litter method for your chickens plus watch our featured video: Deep Litter Method for Chickens...Not just deep bedding. The deep litter method of bedding is to allow bedding materials and other materials to compost with chicken feces inside your chicken coop.
Things you can use in deep litter are:
Hay
Pine bedding
Leaves
Grass clippings
Wood chips
Sawdust
Straw
Small weeds (large weeds can be used but should be chopped up first).
Cardboard
Hemp
PDZ
Herbs like comfrey, lavender, mint and other herbs can also be used.
You can also use Food grade DE to eliminate insects and help keep bedding dry and parasite free. You should stir the composting bedding every few days. How long you leave your litter depends on you and how well the materials are composting. Most people leave the deep litter bedding all year and remove it in the spring to use in their gardens. Read deep litter method negatives below.
Things you can use in deep litter are:
Hay
Pine bedding
Leaves
Grass clippings
Wood chips
Sawdust
Straw
Small weeds (large weeds can be used but should be chopped up first).
Cardboard
Hemp
PDZ
Herbs like comfrey, lavender, mint and other herbs can also be used.
You can also use Food grade DE to eliminate insects and help keep bedding dry and parasite free. You should stir the composting bedding every few days. How long you leave your litter depends on you and how well the materials are composting. Most people leave the deep litter bedding all year and remove it in the spring to use in their gardens. Read deep litter method negatives below.
Featured Video: Deep Litter Method for Chickens...not just deep bedding
The deep litter method is recommended by some but not all chicken keepers. While some say it is an easy way to compost feces others say it is a breeding ground for bacteria, insect infestations, mites, and parasite infections. In our experience, the deep litter method is not a sanitary method of bedding poultry because even when using coop and compost compounds insect infestations and predators tend to be a severe problem. Insects such as litter mites, mites, fleas, flies, and horse flies use it as a breeding ground particularly if the deep litter is not composting properly. Mites are known to burrow into wood and can easily take over a hen house. Another disadvantage of this method is hens tend to hide their eggs in it and the scent will attract predators such as possums, skunks, and foxes. On top of the insect and predator issue, there is the added possibility that lost eggs will rot and explode. If you have ever smelled a rotten egg-it is not a smell you will soon forget. Hen houses and coops should be completely emptied, scrubbed, and allowed to dry before new bedding is placed in it. If you are thinking of using the deep litter method you should consult several others who have used it for more than two years. Scroll down to see more about bedding for your chicken coop.
Memory Verse: My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof Psalms 71:15
