The Deep Litter Method??

[T-oddity]

I've a small chicken run and coop, the run is straight on soil gets a bag of wood chip, woody garden shredding's every so often to keep things sweet and dug out for compost about once a year, the coop is deep litter, adding a sprinkling of wood ash on the droppings and fresh wood shavings every day or so and cleaned out when it gets a bit full and like BDG a liberal sprinkling of diatomaceous earth before the fresh bedding goes in.