Composting with chickens

[esselstyn]

I'm preparing an area of current sod for a future garden. I am currently accumulating a large pile of arborist wood chips and I will put chickens in the area once I have enough of the carbon-rich chips. My expectation is that the chickens will get a fair amount of bug and worm food out of the chips while turning the pile into compost. I know how much compost I need in the end. What I don't know, is how much wood chips it will take to yield that much compost. Compost is much denser than wood chips, so even with the addition of chicken manure, I expect there is a big decrease in volume going from chips to compost. Does anyone know roughly how much compost I can expect per cubic yard of wood chips? My current pile is about 15 cubic yards. I'm hoping that if I double the wood chip pile, I'll get at least 10 yards of compost out of it.

 

[Sally PB]

So 30 cubic yards to get 10? I'd think that would be a good estimate. Depending on the type of wood, you might get a lot more than that. You could add leaves/grass clippings/weeds/kitchen scraps to the pile too. The chickens will mix it and turn it for you, happily.

How big is the area you're making into a garden?

 

[esselstyn]

I do hope for more! That's the goal, to have the chickens turn it and add the manure that is needed. I have added a couple yards each of horse manure and spoiled hay to get the nitrogen up a bit before the chickens start their work. Hopefully they also glean a good portion of their food from the pile.

The garden will be about 2200 square feet. Hence the large volume of compost needed. I can always use any extra elsewhere if it turns out I got carried away with the wood chips.

 

[Tonyroo]

You really should add plant materials it adds extra micronutrients for the compost.

 

[esselstyn]

How so? The pile is almost entirely plant materials (wood chips, tree leaves, etc).

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

A good rule of thumb is that a compost pile will reduce in volume by somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80%. Some items, like food waste, reduce by a higher percent. I'd guess wood chips, a bit less.

Wood chips and leaves are high carbon items, and will decompose and add a lot of organic content to your soil. Adding greens (green plant matter, food scraps, animal manure) may speed the decomposition process some, and adds nutrients like nitrogen the garden will love. The chickens, as they scratch through the chips will make their own deposits, as well.

Really, you don't have to worry too much about the volume of compost...if you cover the area with a nice thick layer of wood chips, come spring you can dig down into the soil and plant, then pull the wood chips back over as mulch.

 

[aynesidea]

I'm preparing an area of current sod for a future garden. I am currently accumulating a large pile of arborist wood chips and I will put chickens in the area once I have enough of the carbon-rich chips. My expectation is that the chickens will get a fair amount of bug and worm food out of the chips while turning the pile into compost. I know how much compost I need in the end. What I don't know, is how much wood chips it will take to yield that much compost. Compost is much denser than wood chips, so even with the addition of chicken manure, I expect there is a big decrease in volume going from chips to compost. Does anyone know roughly how much compost I can expect per cubic yard of wood chips? My current pile is about 15 cubic yards. I'm hoping that if I double the wood chip pile, I'll get at least 10 yards of compost out of it.

You may want to think about some edible (for chickens) kitchen scraps, should help break down faster.

 

[gtaus]

I'm preparing an area of current sod for a future garden. I am currently accumulating a large pile of arborist wood chips and I will put chickens in the area once I have enough of the carbon-rich chips. My expectation is that the chickens will get a fair amount of bug and worm food out of the chips while turning the pile into compost. I know how much compost I need in the end. What I don't know, is how much wood chips it will take to yield that much compost. Compost is much denser than wood chips, so even with the addition of chicken manure, I expect there is a big decrease in volume going from chips to compost. Does anyone know roughly how much compost I can expect per cubic yard of wood chips? My current pile is about 15 cubic yards. I'm hoping that if I double the wood chip pile, I'll get at least 10 yards of compost out of it.

I know lots of things depend on how big your garden is going to be and how many chickens you have to work the area. I put my 10 chickens on some grass for a 13X26 foot chicken run section and they had everything eaten down to bare dirt in about 3 months. After that, I turned the chicken run into a composting system by laying down wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, weeds from the garden, etc... If you lasagna layer the litter layers, you will help speed up the composting process, but the chickens themselves do most of the work with their constant scratching and pecking looking for food.

Where I live, it takes about one year for the wood chips to fully break down into compost if mixed with other greens and carbons, like leaves. Also, you need to keep everything moist like a wrung out sponge if you want the composting process to work. If it gets too dry, composting slows down to a stop. Also, if you can maintain moisture in the compost, you should have it full of bugs and worms for the chickens to eat. That encourages even more scratching and pecking by the chickens as they look for fresh food to eat.

I would estimate that my wood chips reduced by half, or maybe more, as they went through the composting process. You might be on target to get 30 cubic yards of wood chips to yeild 10 cubic yards of compost. But, again, I would suggest using all the green and organics you can to help speed up the process.

 

[esselstyn]

I know lots of things depend on how big your garden is going to be and how many chickens you have to work the area. I put my 10 chickens on some grass for a 13X26 foot chicken run section and they had everything eaten down to bare dirt in about 3 months. After that, I turned the chicken run into a composting system by laying down wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, weeds from the garden, etc... If you lasagna layer the litter layers, you will help speed up the composting process, but the chickens themselves do most of the work with their constant scratching and pecking looking for food.

Where I live, it takes about one year for the wood chips to fully break down into compost if mixed with other greens and carbons, like leaves. Also, you need to keep everything moist like a wrung out sponge if you want the composting process to work. If it gets too dry, composting slows down to a stop. Also, if you can maintain moisture in the compost, you should have it full of bugs and worms for the chickens to eat. That encourages even more scratching and pecking by the chickens as they look for fresh food to eat.

I would estimate that my wood chips reduced by half, or maybe more, as they went through the composting process. You might be on target to get 30 cubic yards of wood chips to yeild 10 cubic yards of compost. But, again, I would suggest using all the green and organics you can to help speed up the process.

Thanks for sharing your experience! It's always wet here, so compost is never dry. Wood chips break down fast, probably < 6 months without adding any high nitrogen materials. The pile is set and full of bugs and worms. It's probably already reduced in volume by 1/3rd. Nineteen chickens will be on it in a month.

 

[esselstyn]

The chicks are showing up to work.