Drstratton - My Backyard Journey Journal

[drstratton]

I forgot to share the other changes that we've made to the coop! My husband wants to use the deep litter method...for the record, I want to use sand...lol! We will see how this goes. Anyway we needed to raise the door from the coop to the pen. Here are a few pictures of the project!

Interior Before!

After! I have cement blocks in there now so they have steps to get in and out!

Cutting the new door!

Finished Product! He added a door that I can close to the outside of the new door! We didn't remove the old ramp because it was built into the coop, so it was easier to just leave it and use it to support the new ladder!

I didn't get a picture of it before it was dirtied...but you all know how fast that happens...lol!

 

[CntryBoy777]

Looks good!!....

 

[drstratton]

Looks good!!....

Thank you! It's certainly nice to have another project checked off the list!

 

[drstratton]

I told my husband that I want to take back the old chicken pen from the pigs. We have a gate where we can enclose them into just the pig pen area, it will also make them easier to manage. I want to get broiler chickens and I need the old pen area, we just don't have time to build a chicken tractor. I will have to clean it up and put up a roost bar, but that shouldn't take to long...I think my son is going to build me a chicken plucker and I'm sure my husband and I will work on it too, which will make processing them much easier! It will be nice to have a freezer full of chickens this winter! I'm thinking 20 Cornish Cross and possibly some Chantecler's. I have to buy those straight run, but I want to keep a rooster and all of the hens as breeding stock for next years meat chickens, it will be nice to not have to buy more Cornish! It's what I'm hoping for anyway!

 

[drstratton]

We are hoping to process the 6 rabbits that we have in the growout tractor this weekend, need to weigh them to make sure they are where they should be, we're not experienced enough to just eyeball them yet, but they look close in size to what we processed with our friend!
I made shredded BBQ rabbit with my Instant Pot yesterday! Threw it in whole and frozen, cooked it, shredded it, mixed it with BBQ sauce, then cooked it under the broiler, flipping it every minute for about 5 minutes...it was super tasty!!! We had fresh Kohlrabi from our garden as the side...yum!

 

[Beekissed]

I don't think you'll like the DL method much when using the pine shavings in an enclosed coop situation. The ammonia smell will be hard to take and you'll find it labor intensive and expensive after awhile. Same thing happens with sand....eventually the materials get saturated and start putting out a lot of ammonia.

When I first started DL I did the same thing except my coop had one whole wall of open windows for ventilation.....but that didn't help the high ammonia fumes at all. I opened up another large window on the opposite wall and that didn't really help either. I finally opened up a large opening at floor level under the roosts and got the air to move up and out~that was better~ but the pine shavings were still not ideal. They had to be removed on occasion and piled up to further decompose and fresh shavings bought~in other words time, effort and money spent that I didn't need to be spending.

Finally learned that using a combination of materials and moving away from wood as the primary bedding source was the key. Also, MUCH more ventilation at all levels, but especially at the floor level and ceiling level. Using pine shavings is like using a gigantic diaper that eventually stinks so much you have to change it. Using a composting DL instead is like using a compost pile...no smells but earthy goodness, no flies, just materials in various stages of decomposition. I haven't removed the DL in my coop now for 8 years except when I want to use some in the garden~no waiting for it to compost further as it's already fully composted. I also haven't bought pine shavings since then either.

 

[drstratton]

I don't think you'll like the DL method much when using the pine shavings in an enclosed coop situation. The ammonia smell will be hard to take and you'll find it labor intensive and expensive after awhile. Same thing happens with sand....eventually the materials get saturated and start putting out a lot of ammonia.

When I first started DL I did the same thing except my coop had one whole wall of open windows for ventilation.....but that didn't help the high ammonia fumes at all. I opened up another large window on the opposite wall and that didn't really help either. I finally opened up a large opening at floor level under the roosts and got the air to move up and out~that was better~ but the pine shavings were still not ideal. They had to be removed on occasion and piled up to further decompose and fresh shavings bought~in other words time, effort and money spent that I didn't need to be spending.

Finally learned that using a combination of materials and moving away from wood as the primary bedding source was the key. Also, MUCH more ventilation at all levels, but especially at the floor level and ceiling level. Using pine shavings is like using a gigantic diaper that eventually stinks so much you have to change it. Using a composting DL instead is like using a compost pile...no smells but earthy goodness, no flies, just materials in various stages of decomposition. I haven't removed the DL in my coop now for 8 years except when I want to use some in the garden~no waiting for it to compost further as it's already fully composted. I also haven't bought pine shavings since then either.

Thank you so much for that information! My husband actually wants to start using leaves for our DL, so in the fall we will be replacing the pine shavings with those. What material do you use in yours? I will share with him about the ventilation. We have a new vent up top in the front & we'll be adding one on the back side also. The door to the pen sits below the roosts, so hopefully that will be sufficient for the air circulation that you are talking about, if not we can always add another vent!

 

[SA Farm]

I do DL, but have a lot of ventilation, so haven’t had any problems. My sister has waay more chickens than I do and she just uses pine shavings and spot cleans once a day year-round. Keeps it dry, smelling just fine, and no problem with buildup.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you so much for that information! My husband actually wants to start using leaves for our DL, so in the fall we will be replacing the pine shavings with those. What material do you use in yours? I will share with him about the ventilation. We have a new vent up top in the front & we'll be adding one on the back side also. The door to the pen sits below the roosts, so hopefully that will be sufficient for the air circulation that you are talking about, if not we can always add another vent!

I'll post you a video that should tell what materials I use. Please ignore my horrible video skills and weird voice...I've never gotten used to hearing myself on video and it horrifies me.

I use different materials as they come to hand...any vines or stalks I clean out of the garden get placed in there. These create air spaces to help composting later on when the DL gets deeper. Twigs, bark, small amounts of woody plant materials, leaves(the bulk of my materials are leaves but have found if you don't break those up with larger particles/materials that they will just mat down and mold in place...not a bad thing, but they are also not composting much), any kitchen scraps, garden scraps, flower or shrubbery trimmings, lawn debris, etc.

It also helps if you have plenty of moisture in the mass...this speeds composting...but this also means you need plenty of passive air flow~fresh air in at the bottom, humidity out at the top. Can't have too much ventilation, I've found...the more the better, especially in the winter time.

In the video you'll see some pine shavings in the litter...these were from where I brooded some chicks in the coop and then they all got mixed in. Since then I no longer buy shavings but just use the coop's existing litter for the chicks. They get exposed to the flock's germs that way~in the absence of a broody mama to give them that exposure~and I don't have to buy shavings...haven't bought any for years now. I also don't brood chicks any longer, but give them to a broody hen to do it for me. This vid was shot in January, I do believe, but can't really remember...it may mention it.

 

[Baymule]

I got some real bad news for you if you want to keep some Cornish Cross for breeding your own. It won’t happen. Reason being, #1 they are a cross breed of White Rock and White Cornish. The breeding strains that produce CCX have been carefully selected and bred since the 1940’s.
#2 they grow so fast and get so big that they will drop dead of a heart attack or just because they want to. #3 they eat a LOT and I swear, they poop twice as much as they eat. LOL
Find a good place to buy the chicks and become their loyal customer.