Composting Chicken Run Material

[ChickChick2121]

I don't want to compost in my run as the coop is close to the house and I don't want the rotting smell. However... My chickens have been broken down their hay run bedding multiple times since last summer and have of course been pooping like crazy too. If I take the current broken down hay and the top layer of soil from under it that is rich in droppings how would I go about composting that? I wouldn't need it until next year so I'd have time to do it the best way possible. Thank you for your input.

 

[Sally PB]

It's pretty much composted right now, though the fresh poops should sit for a while. If you have a way to store it in a compost bin, or a corner of your garden (if you have one) it can sit there until you need it.

A ring of 2x3 welded wire fencing makes a great compost bin. You can put it wherever you want to. When you want to use it, just take it apart, scoop the black gold into a cart, and move it to where you want it to go.

Oh, as for the smell... if it starts to smell, add some form of carbon, like dried leaves, wood chips, straw, pine shavings. The chickens will stir it up (and have a blast doing so) and the smell should go away.

 

[ChickChick2121]

It's pretty much composted right now, though the fresh poops should sit for a while. If you have a way to store it in a compost bin, or a corner of your garden (if you have one) it can sit there until you need it.

A ring of 2x3 welded wire fencing makes a great compost bin. You can put it wherever you want to. When you want to use it, just take it apart, scoop the black gold into a cart, and move it to where you want it to go.

Oh, as for the smell... if it starts to smell, add some form of carbon, like dried leaves, wood chips, straw, pine shavings. The chickens will stir it up (and have a blast doing so) and the smell should go away.

Thank you

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

As mentioned, adding more carbon will help with smell, but if you want to remove it from the chicken run, I'd suggest piling it up as close to your garden (or wherever you plan to use it) and let it sit.

From there, you can either wait for spring, or spread it on your garden plot in the fall to let the winter further integrate the compost into the soil.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Great advice above.... If you don't have a garden, you can put it under shrubs, bushes and trees as is, it'll act like mulch. Just water it down really good and the smell will go away.The hay seeds will potentially sprout and grow grass, but I just mow, weed whack or stir it up. My soil is pure sand so I don't even compost it, it's like gold and I put it everywhere....

 

[gtaus]

@ChickChick2121 said: I don't want to compost in my run as the coop is close to the house and I don't want the rotting smell. However... My chickens have been broken down their hay run bedding multiple times since last summer and have of course been pooping like crazy too. If I take the current broken down hay and the top layer of soil from under it that is rich in droppings how would I go about composting that? I wouldn't need it until next year so I'd have time to do it the best way possible. Thank you for your input.

First of all, a good composting system should never smell. If it smells bad, it is almost always corrected by adding more carbon (wood chips, leaves, paper shreds, cardboard, etc...)

I have turned my chicken run into a chicken run composting system. It never smells. I throw in all my grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, weeds from the lawn and garden, and just about anything else organic. The chickens will mix it all up as they scratch and peck through the material looking for bugs. Later, as the material composts in the run, the worms will move in and the chickens have even more to eat.

I can start to harvest my chicken run compost in about 6 months, but the longer I let it stay in the run, the better the compost will break down. My chciken run litter is currently about 12 inches deep, but in the fall, when I dump all my leaves into the run, I can have 18 inches, or more, in the run.

In order for composting to take place in the chiken run, you do need some depth of material. If you don't want that much material in your run, then I suppose the next best option would be to periodically remove some of the material and dump it into a composting bin or pile it up somewhere out of sight and just let it sit.

As mentioned, fresh chicken poo is too "hot" for immediate use. If you have lots of chicken poo to compost, let it sit for many months before use. In my case, I will dump lots of fresh compost on my garden in the fall, after I have harvested the food, and just let it sit on the garden over winter (I live in northern Minnesota). In the spring, any fresh chicken poo from the previous fall has had plenty of time to "cool down" and I can go ahead and plant my seeds or transplants.

In the spring, when I clean out my coop bedding, full of chicken poo from out long cold winter, I will put the spent bedding in one area of the run and be sure to let it sit and compost there for about 6 months, while at the same time covering it up with fresh grass clippings, leaves, and wood chips. The chickens do a great job of mixing up everything and it is compost in about 6 months.

Some pictures of what I'm talking about...

Spring cleanout of old spent bedding - this winter I used paper shreds.

All that old winter bedding gets dumped into the chicken run. Then I start piling up grass clipping, etc... on the bedding.

The chickens will level out my piles of run litter, mixing everything together, breaking down the material for faster composting.

Then I harvest the compost as needed, mix it 1:1 with fresh topsoil, and fill my new raised beds or top dress my old raised beds.

Grow people food. All beans in this planter.

Anyway, chicken run compost is a valuable resource for us gardeners who own chickens. There is no one best method of composting, so experiment with what you have and make adjustments that work best for you where you live.

To save time and energy, I moved my new garden raised beds alongside my chickens. It's nice to throw any garden weeds right into the chicken run next door. Chickens love garden weeds. When I harvest compost, my garden is right there and I don't have to haul compost all over my property (I have 3 acres).