Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

Quote:
I would say, yep!
I could test this for you if my infrared's target light hadn't gone kaput.

Lights can be fixed.
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Scott
Can they? How?
OH!!!!...just fixed it, there's a button
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that I didn't know the function of....until just now.
Boy, do I feel like a DumbButt....but a happy one, haha!
Thanks for making me look at it again @scottcaddy
Nice work!
And here I was going to say something like 'check the bulb'
Scott
Well, it's weird.....the more I think about it the more I think I did try that button before <shurgs> who knows? SMH.

Could have something loose in it and you just happened to be holding it just right this time. I have a flashlight that you sometimes have to tap on something to make it turn on...
Could be...I never did take it apart to look inside, but if it quits again I probably will.
 
My most recent compost pile is chicken bedding from the last six months. I raked all the places I had moved the tractor and put it all in one big pile. The used up bedding is about a bale and a half of wheat straw mixed with all lots of garden waste and weeds plus every kitchen scrap. The chickens do all the mixing and I just add a couple flakes of straw every week. The size of the pile was just big enough to generate a good thermal mass. Last spring I made the usual horse manure compost and It is mostly used up now. I sift it over a wheelbarrow with half inch wire mesh.
I was surprised how fast the chicken bedding pile heated up. Overnight the pile was steaming hot and you could smell it from far away. I pull back the top and use my hand to check the temperature and it was too hot to handle just a few inches deep. I heard chicken manure was hot but boy oh boy. I have had my chickens for six months and they just started laying. I don't know if I will ever need to go on a horse manure run again.


This is the pile on the second day. It was cooking.



I cover the pile with roofing scraps to protect it from the rain. The frame on top is a sifting frame that fits over my wheelbarrow.



This is what's left of my last pile of horse manure compost. I use it for potting soil, dressing around trees or to stoke my raised beds.



This is my flock this morning doing a good job mixing stuff.
 
Birdy Buddy, thank you - you've given me an idea about having the chickens do the mixing for the compost heap for me.
A few months ago when Hancock Fabrics closed down its store near here, I bought a store fixture that I thought would be an ideal portable & movable chicken run.
It's on casters and is about 5' by 5' and 3' tall. It has a movable "floor" inside so that the employees could raise or lower it to tailor the depth to whatever they're trying to sell at the time (think cushions, pillows, bolts of fleece fabric, big packets of yarn). This floor can be raised high enough to make a ceiling, leaving the bottom open for chicken pecking access. It's made of extremely sturdy wire mesh with a good smooth weatherproof finish, and best of all, it comes apart lickety split for storage.
(If I knew how to get a photo here, I'd spare you the 1,000 words description.)
I've been rotating my girls into it over the summer and they've had a happy & SECURE time feeling grass under their little feet (and actually partially destroying my lawn). I also put in a roosting perch across a corner, a cardboard box for egg-laying, and covers for shade. Just have to remember to roll the thing to a drier spot before the sprinklers come on.
Now - if I filled the bottom with my own accumulation of compost ingredients, they could do the mixing in there!!! I'm excited!
 
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Birdy Buddy, thank you - you've given me an idea about having the chickens do the mixing for the compost heap for me.
A few months ago when Hancock Fabrics closed down its store near here, I bought a store fixture that I thought would be an ideal portable & movable chicken run.
It's on casters and is about 5' by 5' and 3' tall. It has a movable "floor" inside so that the employees could raise or lower it to tailor the depth to whatever they're trying to sell at the time (think cushions, pillows, bolts of fleece fabric, big packets of yarn). This floor can be raised high enough to make a ceiling, leaving the bottom open for chicken pecking access. It's made of extremely sturdy wire mesh with a good smooth weatherproof finish, and best of all, it comes apart lickety split for storage.
(If I knew how to get a photo here, I'd spare you the 1,000 words description.)
I've been rotating my girls into it over the summer and they've had a happy & SECURE time feeling grass under their little feet (and actually partially destroying my lawn). I also put in a roosting perch across a corner, a cardboard box for egg-laying, and covers for shade. Just have to remember to roll the thing to a drier spot before the sprinklers come on.
Now - if I filled the bottom with my own accumulation of compost ingredients, they could do the mixing in there!!! I'm excited!
I want one!
 
Birdy Buddy, thank you - you've given me an idea about having the chickens do the mixing for the compost heap for me.
A few months ago when Hancock Fabrics closed down its store near here, I bought a store fixture that I thought would be an ideal portable & movable chicken run.
It's on casters and is about 5' by 5' and 3' tall. It has a movable "floor" inside so that the employees could raise or lower it to tailor the depth to whatever they're trying to sell at the time (think cushions, pillows, bolts of fleece fabric, big packets of yarn). This floor can be raised high enough to make a ceiling, leaving the bottom open for chicken pecking access. It's made of extremely sturdy wire mesh with a good smooth weatherproof finish, and best of all, it comes apart lickety split for storage.
(If I knew how to get a photo here, I'd spare you the 1,000 words description.)
I've been rotating my girls into it over the summer and they've had a happy & SECURE time feeling grass under their little feet (and actually partially destroying my lawn). I also put in a roosting perch across a corner, a cardboard box for egg-laying, and covers for shade. Just have to remember to roll the thing to a drier spot before the sprinklers come on.
Now - if I filled the bottom with my own accumulation of compost ingredients, they could do the mixing in there!!! I'm excited!
If you're on a desk/laptop, click the image icon in the reply commands.
Then choose pic file from your hard drive to upload.
 
I have been spreading my horse manure in my goat pasture. It isn't composted yet but it does have some moisture in it. We are in a severe drought. I am hoping to have enough moisture in the stuff to start some inexpensive seeds. Our grass is gone and hopefully we will get some rain this month. Maybe the seed will get stated and the manure will hold enough water to get a good start. I talked to a cattle farmer today and he says his ponds are dried up. One even grew weeds on the bottom and they dried up. Please wish me luck.
 
Found this article this will help you.
Spider mites are a type of arachnid, but they are not insects, relatives of spiders, ticks, and scorpions. Tomato red spider mite (Tetranychus evansi) is a small, red-colored arachnid that feeds on the sap of plants using, whiplike mouthparts. Identification of them in the field is difficult and usually requires an expert.



https://lifeandagri.com/spider-mites/
 

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