Ever heard the phrase, “at all times comply with your nostril?” Because it seems, it is a good rule of thumb relating to rooster manure. Composting rooster manure in deep litter helps construct higher rooster well being, cut back labor, and retain a lot of the vitamins to your backyard.

The next is an excerpt from The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, Revised Version by Harvey Ussery. It has been tailored for the online.

Supplies for Deep Litter

The poops laid down by the birds are wealthy in nitrogen, so naturally—as within the compost heap—we wish loads of carbonaceous materials within the litter to steadiness it.

In distinction to the perfect C:N ratio for a compost heap, nonetheless, the upper the carbon content material of the deep litter, the higher. That’s, the extra carbon within the combine, the extra nitrogen- wealthy manure the litter can take up earlier than the C:N ratio shifts out of steadiness, leading to manufacturing of ammonia.

Which Materials for Deep Litter Ought to You Select?

The high-carbon materials chosen for the deep litter relies on what’s least expensive and most available to you. It ought to ideally be considerably coarse, so the scratching of the chickens fluffs it up and incorporates loads of oxygen, helping its breakdown by microbes and discouraging progress of pathogens.

I want oak leaves, however that’s largely as a result of a detailed neighbor, who has half a dozen mature white oaks on her place, prefers to eliminate the accumulating leaves within the fall. She even hauls them over and dumps them in an enormous pile at my place. I say “God bless ’er!”

Utilizing Wooden Shavings and Woodchps

Kiln-dried wooden shavings are glorious, with their extraordinarily excessive carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (500:1), however are a further expense should you should buy them. For instance, I just lately purchased compressed shavings at $6 per bale (expands to eight cubic ft [.2 cubic m]) to make use of as brooder bedding. Shopping for sufficient to deep- mattress all the henhouse could be costly certainly.

Wooden chips may serve—they too are extraordinarily excessive in carbon and final a very long time earlier than they must be changed. Joel Salatin makes use of them because the litter in his Raken Home—he cleans out solely yearly, when even this coarse woody materials has been lowered to compost by the microbes and the fixed working of the chickens.

Sawdust is passable, although it doesn’t fluff up as a lot as different supplies. Whether or not utilizing sawdust, wooden shavings, or wooden chips, make sure to use both kiln-dried or aged materials—“inexperienced” woody supplies might sup- port the expansion of molds, whose spores may very well be unhealthy to your birds’ respiratory programs and yours.

Supplies to Keep away from: What NOT to Use for Deep Litter

Be aware that outdated hay and sure crop residues akin to soybean vines are usually not applicable as litter supplies — with a big nitrogen content material of their very own, they don’t successfully steadiness the nitrogen within the poultry droppings and rapidly warmth up.

Utilizing Straw for Deep Litter

What about straw? Many flocksters keep away from the usage of straw as a result of, particularly within the presence of the slight dampness of an earth flooring, it might help the expansion of Aspergillus molds, whose spores may cause critical respiratory issues. I’ve corresponded with flocksters, nonetheless, who report they use straw over an earth flooring with out issues.

I’ve by no means used a litter of completely straw over an earth flooring, although I’ve used it in a combination with a a lot increased proportion of oak leaves— with no mould issues. Be aware that there isn’t any drawback utilizing straw because the litter over a picket flooring—the drier circumstances in such a litter forestall progress of Aspergillus.

Different Potential Litter Supplies

Close by processing of agricultural crops might furnish different litter supplies. Milling of corn, cane, buckwheat, or peanuts, for instance, might generate corncobs, chopped corn or cane stalks, or hulls which can be obtainable cheaply sufficient for use as deep litter.

Alchemy

Over a few years displaying guests via my poultry home, I’ve observed that if my customer has beforehand been in a rooster home, sooner or later she’s going to sniff the air with a puzzled look and ask, “Why doesn’t it stink in right here?” When that occurs, I do know I’m heading in the right direction with manure administration.

Bettering Hen Well being With Deep Litter

However the transformation of “nasty” to “good” is simply a part of the magic. Keep in mind the comparability of the deep litter to an lively compost heap—the method in deep litter is pushed by the identical completely satisfied gang of microbes. And among the many metabolites of the microbes—by- merchandise of their life processes—are nutritional vitamins Ok and B12, along with different immune-enhancing compounds.

The chickens ingest these helpful substances as they discover attention-grabbing issues to eat within the litter. Don’t ask me what they’re consuming, however chickens on a mature deep litter do little apart from scratch and peck. That is alchemy certainly: What began as repugnant and a possible vector for illness has been remodeled right into a substrate for well being.

Extra Advantages of Deep Litter

Do you have to assume I’m spinning fairy tales, know that scientific experiments have borne out the advantages of a bioactive deep litter. I urge you to learn the total analysis bulletin from the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station talked about in chapter 6, however to summarize some extent that’s particularly related right here: One experiment in contrast two teams of rising pullets, each on outdated built-up deep litter however one group receiving an entire ration, the opposite fed a severely poor weight loss plan. Mortality and weight achieve within the two teams have been just about an identical.

In one other experiment evaluating pullets fed a severely poor weight loss plan, teams on outdated, totally bioactive litter suffered far decrease mortality (7 p.c versus 23 p.c) and achieved a lot increased weight achieve (at 12 weeks, 2.34 in comparison with 1.64 kilos [1 to .7 kg]) than these on contemporary litter. Each these and different experiments demonstrated: “Clearly, the outdated built-up litter adequately supplemented the unfinished ration.”¹

Deep Litter Administration

Plan for the usage of deep litter when designing housing to your flock—deeper litter absorbs extra manure and helps extra microbes, so permit loads of area for it. Intention for a depth of 12 inches (30 cm) if attainable. Fortunately, in winter you’ll be able to think about as properly the position of that thick layer of natural duff in insulating the coop from the frozen floor outdoors—and the warmth generated in an lively deep litter.

Temperature Issues

The temperature is nothing like that of a well-constructed compost heap; however the heat rising out of the pack moderates air temperature within the winter home. Caroline Cooper of British Columbia, Canada, sees temperatures of −13°F (−25°C) for 2 weeks at a stretch in a typical winter however finds that the bedding in her hoophouse, 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm) deep, is heat to the contact a couple of inches beneath the floor.

The beauty of deep litter is that the birds do a lot of the work. However there are some things requiring enter and monitoring in your half as properly.

Stocking Density

Every pen is furnished with laying nests, dustbox, waterer (generally stored outdoors), hanging feeder, and deep litter.

Joel Salatin makes this remark about stocking density on a deep litter: When you permit 5 sq. ft (.5 sq. m) per grownup rooster, the birds’ fixed scratching will incorporate into the litter all of the manure laid down, even in high-poop areas akin to these beneath the roosts.

At 4 sq. ft (.4 sq. m), there might be some capping of manure beneath the roosts—formation of a crusty layer impervious to the hens’ scratching. At 3 sq. ft (.3 sq. m), there might be in depth cap-ping. If there may be capping of the manure in your coop, flip it over with a spading fork occasionally, and the chickens will break it up from the cap’s underside.²

Let It Mellow

You will note recommendation that the coop ought to periodically be totally cleaned out. However because the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station experiments demonstrated, it isn’t contemporary new litter that helps the well being of the flock however “outdated built-up”—that’s, extremely biologically lively—litter. Thus this necessary implication: By no means clear out the litter fully.

As soon as helpful ranges of microbial exercise are established, don’t eliminate them by a de rigueur “thorough clean-out.” Over time, the buildup of the litter—or the necessity for compost for the backyard—requires eradicating a part of the litter. Go away a lot in place, nonetheless, to retain the advantages of the already lively microbes and to “inoculate” the contemporary materials you add.

The Whiff Take a look at

The caveat to the “mellow” rule in opposition to cleansing out an excessive amount of of the litter is that inevitably the addition of nitrogen by the incoming poops will overwhelm the carbon within the combine—ensuing within the technology of ammonia.

Be alert to that first attribute whiff: It’s telling you that an imbalance should be corrected— each as a result of nitrogen for soil fertility is being misplaced to the ambiance, and since ammonia damages the chickens’ delicate respiratory tissues. Reestablishing the required steadiness is just a matter of generously top- ping off along with your high-carbon litter materials of alternative.

Do be aware that ammonia’s deleterious results start beneath the focus our nostril can detect (25 to 30 elements per million). With expertise, you’ll be taught to “learn” the creating situation of the litter, so you’ll be able to add contemporary carbonaceous materials earlier than it begins producing ammonia.

Keep away from Moist Litter

3-gallon waterer on 1⁄2-inch wire mesh over a catch basin. Photograph courtesy of Bonnie Lengthy.

When you present water inside, keep away from moist litter. A soaked litter is anaerobic—disadvantaged of oxygen—and extra more likely to help progress of pathogens. Moist litter additionally generates ammonia much more readily than drier litter.

Beneficiant airflow via the coop prevents litter dampness. Moist litter is extra possible across the waterer, so test circumstances there usually; scatter any moist litter out over the whole litter floor, the place the chickens’ scratching will assist dry it. Waterfowl are particularly more likely to moist the litter.

Nevertheless, the busy critters within the litter want water for his or her work—monitor the litter to make sure that it isn’t powder-dry. Caroline Cooper reviews that the winter air in British Columbia is extraordinarily dry, so occasionally she rigorously provides water to the litter to maintain it lively. If I’ve a waterer contained in the rooster home, I incessantly empty the small quantity of water in its trough straight into the litter when rinsing it out.

Utilizing the Compost

The deep-litter method to manure enlists the flock within the nice work of soil fertility. Over time—as much as a yr—the litter might be lowered by the motion of rooster and microbe to a completed compost. When it’s time to “harvest” the compost, fork apart the highest, coarser materials that “floats” over the finely granulated, barely moist materials beneath. That’s the good things.

Sniff a handful: Like every superb compost, it should scent of earth with not the slightest trace of uncooked manure. In my expertise litter at this stage of decomposition is able to use straight within the backyard—it won’t burn vegetation, won’t inhibit seed germination, and visibly boosts the expansion of crops.

In my expertise, litter from a coop with a picket flooring is simply too uncooked to use straight within the backyard. Such litter must be additional damaged down in a traditional compost heap earlier than use within the backyard.

Notes

1. Kennard and Chamberlin, “Constructed-Up Ground Litter.”
2. Joel Salatin discusses a “unfastened housing possibility” for a layer flock in Pastured Poultry Revenue$ (Polyface, Inc., 1993), 259–61, through which he recommends a “goal minimal area allotment” of 5 sq. ft (.5 sq. m) per hen. His observations about stocking density in a flock on deep litter in relation to capping are from a number of of his shows I’ve attended.

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