My neighbor's chicken coop design made me question my whole setup

I was chatting with my neighbor Diane last weekend while we were both out in our yards, and she mentioned she built her coop with a deep litter method from day one. She said "I haven't fully cleaned it in 18 months and my birds are healthier than ever." It hit different because I've been doing full cleanouts every 3 weeks like clockwork, and now I'm wondering if I'm just stressing my hens out for no reason. Has anyone else switched to deep litter and seen a big difference in their flock's health?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo_harris3d ago

My uncle runs a big operation down in Alabama and he switched to deep litter about 5 years ago after I bugged him about the smell at his old place. He said the first few months were rough because the bedding layer has to build up right or you get ammonia issues but once it's established the chickens actually scratch and turn the compost themselves. His egg production went up about 15% and he only does a full strip out once a year now. The key he told me is you gotta keep adding fresh carbon like wood shavings every week or the moisture gets out of hand fast.

wesleybutler3d ago

Yeah that bit about "only does a full strip out once a year" is pretty standard for deep litter but it's not quite that simple... he's probably doing spot cleanings under waterers and roosts way more often than that, which is a big part of making it work. Even with good carbon management those high traffic areas get nasty fast if you don't pull out the wet spots every couple weeks. Your uncle's right about the weekly shavings though, that's the real secret to keeping the system balanced.