The Ultimate Guide to Chicken Litter | British Hen Welfare Trust (2024)

FAQs

What is the best litter method for chickens? ›

The deep litter method is a way of composting in your henhouse by letting the litter and chicken droppings build up over time. This not only makes things easier for you, the chicken keeper, but also makes it healthier for your flock.

Common concerns for backyard or urban poultry include disease, noise, odor, pests and waste management.

Pine Pellets

They are extremely absorbent. You can even sprinkle them with some water to force them to break apart, creating a fluffy bedding for your chickens. Once they have broken apart, you can easily clean the poop out of the coop to keep the bedding clean and smelling like fresh pine.

Rice hulls, peanut hulls, and corncobs aren't ideal for chicken bedding. They aren't as absorbent, and since they are an organic material, you have to keep on top of it and make sure the area is clean. “High mold levels and high ammonia retention make them not the best,” Byrum explains.

What is the deep litter method when it comes to raising backyard chickens? It's a way to keep healthy, happy chickens in a stink-free coop (no ammonia smell) by piling up shavings into a deep bed on the floor. If you use this method, the deep bedding also creates garden-ready compost simultaneously.

Those months of your chickens pooping will finally pay off! When you clean out your chicken coop, take all that litter and put it in your compost pile. We keep our pile away from the coop and the house, but anywhere is fine really.

“It is not cheaper with a small batch of hens because you don't really get enough eggs to sell them or offset those costs. And it's a lot of work no matter how many birds you have,” she said.

Keeping chickens and staying healthy

Supervise young children closely when they are around chickens to make sure they do not cuddle or kiss the chickens, let them touch their face, or put unwashed hands in their mouths. Don't eat or drink around live poultry and make sure hands are washed thoroughly before eating.

The impact of actually keeping backyard chickens on property values (positive or negative) is likely to be extremely small compared to all of the other major factors that affect home values (the overall economy, neighborhood crime, school quality, size & age of homes, etc).

Other litter materials can be added after the composting process is well underway, but don't begin the process with straw, hay, grass, etc. The smaller the litter pieces, the faster they will break down. Fine shavings will break down faster than flake shavings for example. DO maintain a litter depth of 4-6 inches.

What do you put on the floor of a chicken coop? ›

Wood shavings keep your chickens comfortable through their soft texture and insulation properties. Remember to clean the coop regularly and keep the surface of pine shavings fresh. This ensures the flooring is dry, soft, and clean, and when cleaning the coop you can throw the old wood shavings onto a compost pile.

Sand can be used on coop floors that are cement, dirt, or wood. Inexpensive linoleum placed on top of wood flooring before adding sand protects the wood underneath. I use approximately 4 inches of sand inside the chicken coop and as much as a foot in the chicken run. More is better!

Coffee is lightweight and dust-free, so it is more manageable than sand, which can't be composted or reused. If you collect your own used grounds, the bedding is also free! Who doesn't love free?

As with deer, however, there are plenty of herbs that can be incorporated into the landscape that chickens will avoid. These include: borage, calendula (pot marigold), catnip, chives, feverfew, lavender, marjoram, Mexican sage, peppermint and spearmint, rosemary, sage, salvias, St. John's wort, tansy and yarrow.

Hobby Farms states that coffee grounds shouldn't be feed to chickens, but that coffee chaff makes acceptable bedding. Remember, chickens are not mammals, and mammals are the pets that most data is based upon in terms of toxicity.

For pine, larger flaked shavings are recommended because they create less dust and allow for quick scooping of waste. Cedar shavings are not recommended because the scent can be overpowering and even toxic, especially to chicks. Straw is one of the best materials for bedding.

Hay is greener and is livestock food. It is also more likely to get moldy and harbor bacteria. This is not good for your chickens and can be dangerous for their health. Straw is safe, dry and a great option!

Pine shavings are a good litter choice, but scientific research and personal experience have proven that sand is even better!