Deep bedding

A couple of months ago when I ran my comparison of chicken tractors, chicken pastures, and deep bedding systems, I felt like the last was the least.  Since then, I've changed my tune.

To recap, deep bedding consists of raising livestock on thick layers of dry bedding, like straw, autumn leaves, or whatever you have on hand.  The manure from the livestock mixes in with the bedding and starts to compost, heating up the coop.  Meanwhile, you keep adding fresh bedding on top, so the animals are never walking through their own waste.

Although I still don't think raising chickens on deep bedding without access to pasture is a good idea, after a month in which snow kept our flock's pasture nearly completely covered at all times, I've discovered that our hens thoroughly enjoy deep bedding in winter.  In fact, on cold, wet days, they may not set foot outside the coop once, especially if they can trick me into feeding them inside.

Meanwhile, the biomass-loving side of me gets pure joy from scuffing my feet through the deep bedding on the floor of the coop.  The top three or four inches are fresh leaves, but below that is a dense pack of compost that will clearly be a boon to my garden in the spring.  At first, I thought it was a waste of good organic matter to use up two bags of leaves per month in the chicken coop, but clearly I'm getting a value-added product out of it.  I suspect I'm also capturing more manure than I have in years past, which will mean less storebought compost for the garden.  Clearly, deep bedding is a good tool to have in your shed, especially in the winter.