The Deep Litter Method

The Deep Litter Method

May 1, 2022

(Our deep litter in the chicken coop!)

If you're not familiar with it, the deep litter method is a brilliant method to manage your coop litter through the year.

It's easy, economical and results in beautifully composted chicken manure and bedding (whether it be straw, shavings, leaves, pine needles etc.) for your garden come spring.

The deep litter method basically consists of repeatedly turning over the soiled bedding, adding a new layer, and allowing the chicken droppings to decompose on the floor of the coop all winter, at the same time creating heat to keep the coop warm naturally.

As a further bonus, same as when you compost, beneficial microbes grow that actually help control pathogens, making your chickens less susceptible to diseases.

The decompositional microbes produce Vitamins B12 and K, which the chickens take in as they find interesting things to eat in a mature litter. The experiments even demonstrated that biologically active litter compensates for deficiencies of key nutrients, including protein, in ways that are not fully understood."

In the spring, you just clean your whole coop out and dump the litter into your compost pile or right into your garden.

How to do the deep litter method-

• Starting with the 6" layer of pine shavings on the floor with straw on top, each morning I turn over the top straw so the soiled bedding from the night before ends up on the bottom
• You can also use dry grass clippings, leaves, pine needles, or a combination of bedding types.
• Continue doing that each day, adding straw after that as needed to eventually build up to a 12" deep layer. 
• No bedding is removed, but rather turned over to let the droppings fall to the bottom and turn over the bedding.
• You can turn the material with a shovel or rake. The turning and introduction of oxygen will reduce the chance of ammonia buildup, so daily turning is very important.
• Chicken manure is very high in nitrogen.  Mixing it with a source of carbon (either straw, shavings or dry leaves) will balance the mixture and hasten the rate of decomposition.  It is important that your composting material contain oxygen, so turning is crucial.
• Fortunately the hens will help you with that part, especially if you get in the habit of tossing some scratch  grains or sunflower seeds into the coop for them before bedtime. They will learn to scratch through the litter to find the scratch when they wake up in the morning.
• Early in the spring, sweep the composted litter into a wheelbarrow or dump cart and toss it into your compost pile.
• Then scrub down the entire coop and let it dry.
• Replace the bedding with a 6" layer of straw, shavings or hemp bedding.  
• Through the spring and summer, I remove the soiled straw and it goes into our compost pile for the following spring's garden or out into the run to soak up the mud.  
• I only replace the bedding in the coop as needed to maintain a 6" base.

Tips before you try the deep litter method-

•  Your coop must have good ventilation. Of course this is very important regardless of whether you use the deep litter method or not, to keep the humidity levels in the coop down to prevent frostbite.
• The bedding must be turned regularly to keep oxygen flowing through.
• If you smell even a hint of ammonia, you need to either add lots of dry bedding and turn everything to try to dry thing out or clean the entire coop out, let it dry, then put down a new layer of bedding and start over.  Ammonia fumes can cause eye and sinus irritation in your flock, so it's important that the coop stay fume-free.
• It's best not to use DE or lime when you're using the deep litter method because the DE will inhibit the good microbes you're trying to grow.

I would definitely use this method every winter going forward. It is inexpensive, easy and you end up with perfectly composted litter each spring!