Deep Litter vs Litter Trays in Winter

Winter Winner — Deep Litter for Dry Air, Sand Shelves for Easy Scraping

Winter chicken keepers learn fast that cleaning the coop in cold weather is not the same as cleaning it in summer. The biggest winter battles are wet air, ammonia smell, and poop freezing into hard chunks. After 30 days of real winter use, most keepers agree that Deep Litter and tray systems both can work — but one works better for air quality, and one works better for fast cleaning.

The Big Winter Truth

When the coop is closed more to block wind, moisture from chicken breath and poop can build up. Wet bedding or poop sitting in a cold tray can make ammonia smell spike fast. That sharp, sour smell can bother chickens much more than humans. Humidity can also freeze into frost inside the coop if the air gets too wet. So winter coop care really comes down to this: dry air, clean litter, and good airflow.

Deep Litter in Winter

Deep Litter means letting bedding build up deep on the floor, and stirring it every few days. In winter, this system spreads moisture out instead of trapping it in one spot. When it’s stirred and topped with fresh bedding, the coop smells better longer, ammonia stays lower, and poop freezes less into big blocks. The bedding even warms the floor a little. But Deep Litter still needs care. If it isn’t stirred, it can get wet, and wet bedding in winter is never fun.

Litter Trays in Winter

Litter trays are boxes made of plastic or metal that hold bedding. In winter, poop can land in them too. If the bedding in the tray gets wet, the poop can freeze and stick, which makes cleaning harder. But there is one tray option that worked much better than regular trays.

Hen House Collection coops have a removable slide-out tray that works like a poop shelf. This tray pulls out fast like a drawer, and keeps poop from getting stomped deep into the bedding. Chicken keepers who used a thin, shallow layer of sand on the slide-out tray said scraping stayed easy, even on freezing mornings.

What kind of sand should you use?

After 30 days, I also noticed the same thing many chicken keepers said: construction sand is the best choice for winter trays.

• Construction sand (also called all-purpose sand) is safe, not too dusty, and drains moisture fast if water spills. This helps keep humidity lower.

• Play sand should not be used in trays in winter. It’s very fine and dusty, and dust mixed with poop and moisture can make ammonia smell worse and hurt chicken lungs.

• Hemp bedding or pine pellets can work too, but only if they stay dry. If they get soaked, they can freeze.

• Straw is still the worst tray litter in winter. It holds moisture, then freezes solid, and turns into a heavy, stuck block that is super hard to dump or scrape.

The most important tray rule is this: sand works best when it’s shallow, not deep like bedding, and scraped often.

So Which System Wins Winter?

After 30 days of cold nights and frozen mornings, the answer is simple:

• Deep Litter wins for cleaner, drier air and lower ammonia, especially if you don’t mind stirring every few days.

• Slide-out trays win for the fastest scraping, but only if you use the right litter — and that litter is construction sand in a shallow layer.

• Regular litter trays can still work, but they must be dumped every 1–2 days and kept super dry, or winter will show every weakness fast.

Smell, Ammonia, and Frozen Poop Recap

Deep, wet bedding makes ammonia stronger. Poop sitting in wet trays freezes into stuck slabs. Humidity can freeze on cold walls. The keepers who used Deep Litter and stirred it had the driest air and lowest stink. The keepers who loved trays scraped easiest when they used a slide-out tray with construction sand. And everyone agreed on this one thing: sand that stays dry makes winter coop life so much easier.

Final Bottom Line

If you want your chickens to breathe easier and your coop to stay healthier in winter, use Deep Litter for air quality and use construction sand on slide-out trays for easy scraping. Stir bedding when needed, scrape trays often, and never let water or poop sit too wet or too long in winter. The Hen House Collection chicken coops are great both for deep litter and removable litter trays - with special barriers and material to keep the coop intact and easy to clean. Check them out today!