Who uses their chicken compost?

[draye]

Not really sure, but to let you know my garden is just a few steps away from my chicken runs and if I had a compost pile it would have to be fairly close to the chicken pens.

 

[erinszoo]

We compost our chicken manure mixed with the hay and straw we use in their run along with weeds, kitchen scraps, eggshells, and water from the duck pond. Our plants LOVE it. We have the biggest lettuce and beans that we've ever had since starting to use it. Our carrots also are huge this year.

 

[trooper]

(Disclaimer: New to composting and chickens) Is there any recommendations on how close/far to keep my compost bin from the chicken coop and run? I know compost piles can attract vermin, but so can chickens, so should I be concerned about keeping them a bit apart? I just cleaned out my brooder and don't want to throw away all the shavings (and I REALLY need to get composting to help my awful soil.) Thanks!

Composting isn't as hard as you think.It doesn't have to be far from your coop.I feed my table scraps to my chickens.This does a few things.It feeds them so that I save on feed.It gives them the natural things that their bodies need .I give them their egg shells to eat,watermelon,cantaloupe,some bread,veg. and all kinds of table scraps.A nic name for chickens is little pigs.They will eat just about anything.There are a few things that they can't have.These things an be found somewhere on BYC.When you make your compost pile it is mainly made of poop and bedding.There's not much there to invite varmints.You can add leaves,grass clippings,etc to it and this helps your compost.It should be turned every so often.This helps it to cool down and do it's thing.I haven't had any problems with critters as of now and that's been 8 or 9 years.I do live in the country. Good Luck

 

[hemet dennis]

Composting isn't as hard as you think.It doesn't have to be far from your coop.I feed my table scraps to my chickens.This does a few things.It feeds them so that I save on feed.It gives them the natural things that their bodies need .I give them their egg shells to eat,watermelon,cantaloupe,some bread,veg. and all kinds of table scraps.A nic name for chickens is little pigs.They will eat just about anything.There are a few things that they can't have.These things an be found somewhere on BYC.When you make your compost pile it is mainly made of poop and bedding.There's not much there to invite varmints.You can add leaves,grass clippings,etc to it and this helps your compost.It should be turned every so often.This helps it to cool down and do it's thing.I haven't had any problems with critters as of now and that's been 8 or 9 years.I do live in the country. Good Luck

Quote: Composting can be as easy or hard as you want to make it. You can just put the stuff in a pile and leave it. Or you can turn it and water it and add stuff to speed up the process check the temperature and all kinds of things.
I just start with a hole about 1 foot when I get about 6 inches I put a couple inches of dirt then another 6 inches of poop bedding and yard scrap then more dirt. I have it where the sprinklers put water on it when I water everything else. I end up with good compost and a ton of worms that I didn't add they just show up.
Mine has never had any vermin but that may be due to my cat.
Good luck

 

[bruceha2000]

And Alpaca poop. Plus you get the soft non itchy fiber from them

 

[cathiesue]

My compost bin is in the chicken run. I throw the stuff on the top, they take what they want, leave a poop deposit

and we do it again the next time. i even built a ramp for them t get up into it. I should mention that mine is made from 3 pallets with one one open side. I keep screwing in boards to the open side as it fills. To turn it I pull off a couple of the bottom boards and load the bottom out back onto the top. They get lots of bugs that way. They come running when thy hear the power drill!

 

[redstarmama]

I have one compost pile in one of my chicken yards and another that I keep "fresh" used bedding and such in until they break down what is in the yard. It takes no time at all for them to furniture into usable compost and we have not had any pest problems so far.

 

[3forfree]

I took a class on composting and learned that the heat that is generated from inside the pile will kill the seeds from whatever they came from, and not allow them to sprout. This works in my pile. I have mine laying on the ground and will run my rototiller through it every week to keep it turned and preventing it from smelling. And believe me it will smell if left alone.

I had rabbits when the kids were younger and a guy I worked with would ask me to bring him a plastic bag of poo so he could make tea. He made it just like compost tea, in a 5 gallon pail and a bubbler from an aquarium, he said it was the best fertilizer he ever used.

 

[Nicole01]

I have so many sprouts coming out of my compost pile. It's in the woods and only sees the very end of the day daylight sun. I have mushrooms too, all over.

I started a new pile and letting the old pile sit and work its magic. The chickens scratch at it getting the worm, bugs, and sprouts. They hit the jackpot. It doesn't look or smell like poop, the hard rain washed it away already. The pine wood chips are breaking down nicely. Since I free range, I've cut back on the wood chips since they don't get dirty any longer. I've started adding egg shells and fruit scraps/peelings.

 

[Just reebok]

So I am thinking of really tilling up a nice plot in my yard next spring. Should I start composting now for next spring? Should I be adding the compost to the soil all along? We only have 4 hens and are cleaning out their coop weekly... So just a little poo and some shavings.... My grandmother always kept a steel bucket on her counter and we threw all of our leftovers in It. She had the best garden!