Anybody ever burn their chicken poo?

[max13077]

The "leavings" are stacking up from this winter already and we're not even halfway through for my location. The spot I'd designated to dump the poo is filling up fast. It's not an issue in the summer as I use the garden tractor and wagon to haul it to the neighboring farmers poo pile. That isn't possible now with 4 feet of snow. Dad suggested I make a poo burner. Anybody ever tried that?

We came up with a design. It's half a 50 gallon drum with the bottom cut out and flaps cut out of the bottom sides so that you can stoke the fire and fire can get air. Inside the drum there is thick wire mesh laid in a web pattern to hold the poo in there about a foot above the fire, but still let the fire get to it.

I thought it was kind of like a drive through liquor store, almost a good idea. I'm willing to try anything, but I wanted to get peoples thoughts before I proceeded...

 

[Orpingtonman]

I burn mine, winter or summer. All i do is put it in a burn barrel when i rake out the pens of the old bedding and burn it right there. It helps cut down any diseases that are contained in the poo and you don't have anything left other than ashes.

 

[katrinag]

We are looking into a poo burning stove form my hubby shop as I have tons of poo. Chicken, horse, llama.

 

[lurky]

You might be a redneck if....................

 

[dbcooper02]

Admittedly 4 feet of snow is something to contend with, but I bet there are gardeners in your area who would be thrilled to come and haul that stuff away for you. Maybe try a posting in the farm and garden section of your local craigslist.
db

 

[flakey chick]

Quote:
What's wrong with a drive through liquor store? It's great- No shoes, no shirt, no problem.

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
That's what I was going to say, we put as much as we can in our garden and people call all the time wanting to come get it. If I could only figure out a way to get them to come and clean the chicken houses would be even better.

Steve in NC

 

[MrsShag]

yep, I burn mine sometimes.

 

[vermontgal]

I'd still try to give it away first, for those who want compost material. Maybe you can also get someone to clean out your dumping spot to give you more capacity. One advantage of winter is that frozen chicken poop doesn't stink!

 

[patandchickens]

It would be a real real good idea to see if someone WANTS it first. There are lots of gardeners out there who would kill for a bunch of well-enriched organic material like that. Especially if you let it sit til spring and compost down somewhat so it's part-finished and smaller volume -- but if you truly don't have the space to let it sit, you still might as well offer it now, see if you get any bites.

(Or, don't you have a garden *yourself* you'd like to use it on?)

The thing is that it's a valuable, useful resource and it seems stupid to waste that *and* turn it into air pollution in the process, you know?

BTW I love your quote, "like a drive-through liquor store, almost a good idea" LOL. (I did my graduate work in NC, and remember our lab taking a fellow student who had just arrived from mainland China on a trip down to the coast, and stopped at a drive-through near Kitty Hawk to get some beer. The Chinese student was absolutely flabbergasted by this, and did not stop talking about it for *years*. BTW he eventually ended up getting a green card and staying in the States. I do not know how much of a role drive-through liquor stores played in this decision LOL)

Pat