Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[vehve]

Welcome, Athena!

Now that sounds like the beginnings of a great compost pile... And my god, are we already closing in on 1000 posts? Yeah, that must have been a bit of a read for you.

No updates on the compost front, but I'm happy to report we got our first glimpse of the baby bunnies today.

 

[AthenaT]

Thank you for the warm welcome and congrats on your baby bunnies. Your post on composting has me itching to get my pile going and I love the suggestion of adding "magic solution" to get the pile going...LOL since my pile has just been sitting and added to on top for about a year and contains mostly oak leaves the added "green" will help alot.

My hens free range in my backyard from about 8am till near dusk everyday so the deep bedding(hay and lawn clippings/shredded leaves in layers) in the coop needs changed only about every 5 months and contains little chicken poo

Time to get a 3 section compost bin going and turn and water it more often.

Since I live in florida I wont need to insulate the bins but I am sure that mixing and watering will give me some great compost.

I may try and slap together another raised bed and use the layering method to get a new bed started for next spring

 

[vehve]

With the materials your describing, one thing to consider is chicken powered compost too. I sprinkled about 5 cubic yards of maple leaves purely as a soil amendment over an area of maybe 100-200 square feet. I've also thrown about two quarts of grain that I managed to spill in our driveway there, it is now starting to grow through the leaves, and the chickens like to peck through that area. They're helping break down the leaves, and they're getting activated in a great way at the same time.

 

[vehve]

It's been a while since my last update so I thought I'd check in. The compost is, and has been, keeping stable at ~35C/95F. That temp is still measured about 8 inches above the pile though, so the pile itself is running hotter. I've been adding a bit of water every once in a while, but I've been trying not to overdo it to keep it from smelling. So far I've been successful. The left side could be emptied out, as it has a lovely almost black color to it, and puts out a wonderful earthy smell when I turn it. I'm going to keep it in the bin until the right side is full though, the breakdown is faster in the bin than it would be in the resting place. The left side had gotten a bit dry though, I noticed today that we had some ants in there, so I watered it a bit too.

Our chicks are 5 weeks old now, so soon we should be able to sex them.

Bunnies are looking adorable as ever, and it turns out we have 8 of them. Here are some pics of the fluffies.

 

[scottcaddy]

It's been a while since my last update so I thought I'd check in. The compost is, and has been, keeping stable at ~35C/95F. That temp is still measured about 8 inches above the pile though, so the pile itself is running hotter. I've been adding a bit of water every once in a while, but I've been trying not to overdo it to keep it from smelling. So far I've been successful. The left side could be emptied out, as it has a lovely almost black color to it, and puts out a wonderful earthy smell when I turn it. I'm going to keep it in the bin until the right side is full though, the breakdown is faster in the bin than it would be in the resting place. The left side had gotten a bit dry though, I noticed today that we had some ants in there, so I watered it a bit too.

Our chicks are 5 weeks old now, so soon we should be able to sex them.

Bunnies are looking adorable as ever, and it turns out we have 8 of them. Here are some pics of the fluffies.

Looks like some tasty meat growing fast! More goodies more meat ya-know.
Scott

 

[vehve]

Yup, they should make for some tasty dinners. We're trying to feed as much lingonberry, blueberry, willow, pine and other plants that should add flavor to the meat. Nice use of the spoiler tag, by the way.

 

[scottcaddy]

Yup, they should make for some tasty dinners. We're trying to feed as much lingonberry, blueberry, willow, pine and other plants that should add flavor to the meat. Nice use of the spoiler tag, by the way.

The same thing works for other meats also, they do taste like what they are fed.
That spoiler tag was just a way to quote without having all of your nice pic's repeated again for the Mobil users, glad it worked!
Scott

 

[vehve]

Yeah, there's a big difference in the flavor depending on the diet. But rabbits are supposedly extra sensitive to flavor changes due to diet. It will be interesting to see how they taste.

 

[aart]

Quote: I wish more people would think of this, and not just for mobile users...or at least delete most of them.....drives me nuts scrolling thru 100 pics qouted over and over again!
Oops sorry rant I guess ;-)

 

[jbkirk]

I wish more people would think of this, and not just for mobile users...or at least delete most of them.....drives me nuts scrolling thru 100 pics qouted over and over again!
Oops sorry rant I guess ;-)

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