COMPOSTING

roerinaci said:

Good Morning everyone

I'm loving this thread..I don't have chickens yet trying to get all my info together I'm hoping for next Spring

..I do have 2 compost bins next to my Veggie Gardens and they work out great..My question is how long does it take for the Chicken poo to break down I'm thinking of letting the chickens go into my garden at the end of the season to eat what is left in there and to scratch and move thing around a bit

I'm thinking of have 12 chickens to start my 2 gardens are 15x20

Click to expand...

I'd say leaving it there over winter will be fine. And the spent bedding from the coop takes me about 4-5 weeks to get to something I can spread on top of soil as fertilizer.

Ok Thank You

The only problem I'm having with my compost pile right now is getting enough green material in there to keep the BSF larvae fed. I can pack all my yard trimmings in there (about 4 wheel barrows full) and then about half that in leaves (brown from last years drop) and with the pile full the darn larvae have it eaten down to less than half of its starting height in less than a week. It'll go from 3 feet of loosely piled material to about 15" in a seven day period if I turn it and water it every other day. Heck two weeks ago I dropped 20lbs of potatoes that had started to go bad in there, in slices, and they were gone by the following afternoon. At this rate I'll either never have a "resting pile" or I'll be using larvae infused material for my garden come spring. The good thing I guess is that the bottom 4 or 5 inches is some really nice black material. Oh and after looking at it this afternoon I have 4 squash plants growing in there from some seeds that the larvae didn't eat. This has been a learning experience for sure.

RichnSteph

Question: should the compost pile be covered or uncovered?

It's better to cover it, that way the rain won't wash away as much nutrients, and in drier times it retains moisture better.

Y'all have talked me into building a compost bin. I just acquired 5 wooden pallets and I'm going to construct a bin this weekend.

With 5 pallets, you could build a double bin. (open at the front)

I am a firm believer in a compost pile in the chicken yard. Hay,cow & horse manure and coffee grounds. The Chickens
luv it!.It cuts down on feed consumption too!

Hi egg man,
won't the caffiene in the coffee grinds hurt the chickens? Fairlly new chicken mama, so I'm cautious with what I give them. Also. I red that they shouldn't have too much fat, but the wild birds love the suet cakes I give them so doesn't make sense to give them to my chickens as a treat?
Thanks! Karen

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