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I have learned a lot since I posted this thread in 2020. I have converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. The chickens do all the work for me, scratching and pecking the litter in the run, breaking it down. I never bother to till the chicken run litter like I thought...

Sounds like you have some good sources for free composting material. I don't live in town and it would not make much sense for me to go to town - spending time and gas money - to pick up free composting waste material. But I do think it's great that there are businesses that will work with you...

On my tiller attachment, there were only 4 nuts that I had to remove to take off the top plate. Without that top plate jamming up with leaves, it was like I had a totally different tool - one that worked in the deep litter. Anyway, a 5 minute modification on removing that top plate was well...

I had some spare time this afternoon so I decided to take out one of my mini tiller/cultivator attachments and took off the top plate above the rotating tines. I use my Ryobi 40v Power Head that uses universal attachments such as this tiller/cultivator. Anyway, once the plate over the tines was...

Because of snowfall and weight considerations, I am leaning more towards building a portable A-Frame design. The steep A-Frame would shed the snow better than a rounded hoop house, but there are ways to strengthen the hoop house with a beam along the top in the inside to support the wire if snow...

Yes, there are many different kinds of forks for such use. I have a garden pitchfork for digging, a 5 tine hay fork which works better for my deep litter, and a 14(?) tine manure fork which I use for shoveling wood chips. My idea on using the mini tiller instead of a fork was to save some wear...

Yes, I think I am in agreement with all your suggestions. My idea of using the mini tiller was to fluff up/mix up the deep litter, however, I am now thinking that the chickens are doing that job themselves and don't need me to help. At best, I just throw a little scratch grains out into the...

Yeah, I need to figure out what some kind of system like that. For the past week, I have been mowing up dead leaves and grass from the winter and dumping that into the chicken run. There are also a few patches of lawn that are green and growing grass, so I was able to mow up some clippings to...

Well, the idea was to make the chicken run and the coop mobile, but in reality, it's pretty much not moving in the backyard. I have seen a number of YouTube videos where people have smaller coops and runs and, like you, let the chickens till up and prep an area to later plant a garden. That's a...

Yes, I will be cleaning up underneath a bunch of pine trees in the backyard and will be dumping all the pine cones and needles into the chicken run litter. As to the leaves, they are really not compacting so much. I currently have about 18 inches of leaves in the chicken run, and today I dug...

I have lots of free wood chips and could dump them into the chicken run. I am just trying to dump everything (wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, etc...) into the chicken run and compost in place. The idea for the mini till was to turn over the material, provide some fresh air...

Answering my own question concerning using a mini tiller for turning over the built up leaves, grass, and wood chips in the chicken run. Our snow is finally gone in the chicken run and today I went out there with my mini tiller. I have been dumping wood chips, grass clippings, and leaves in the...

Yes, I am aware of the studies done on tilling up the soil and how that can both disturb the soil ecology and also results in a harder, more compacted, mixture in the end. What I am talking about here, is using a mini tiller that digs down about 6 inches in my chicken run litter that is...

Yes, I am aware of the studies done on tilling up the soil and how that can both disturb the soil ecology and also results in a harder, more compacted, mixture in the end. What I am talking about here, is using a mini tiller that digs down about 6 inches in my chicken run litter that is...

That confirms what I am seeing in that top layer(s) are not really breaking down in the chicken run. I was suggesting using a mini tiller to turn those top layers in the chicken run. My litter is about 12 inches deep in the run, and the mini tiller I have only goes down about 6 inches. So I was...

This is my first year with laying hens, and I have been learning a lot. I thought maybe the leaves would break up and decompose fast because I mow them up with my riding lawn mower and collect them in the grass bins. However, the leaves are not very mulched up that way. They are not shredded...

Although I am still 2 months away from actually working in my chicken run which is covered with about 2 feet of snow, I have a number of questions on how to process the compost I hope to make. Last summer, after the chickens ate all the grass and scratched everything down to the dirt, I started...