Blacker than black poo

[PingoBags]

Will charcoal turn a chickens poo black?

I have a charcoal pile from a fire pit that my chickens tent to hang around often.
Noticed one of my chickens poop was black as charcoal. I'm thinking it was eating it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Will charcoal turn a chickens poo black?

I have a charcoal pile from a fire pit that my chickens tent to hang around often.
Noticed one of my chickens poop was black as charcoal. I'm thinking it was eating it.

Yep, they will eat the charcoal.

I place wood ash in my run, the chickens love to dust bathe in it, they do eat the charcoal as well, makes black poo

Just make sure your fire pit has no treated wood burned in it.

 

[PingoBags]

Thanks for the reply. From reading online, charcoal helps with toxins so it's actually good for them.
It also reduces odour in the poo. I might add a big piece in the run and see how it goes.

So you use wood ask for a dust bath, interesting. I have a wood stove too which creates a lot of ash in the winter.
I'll add some and see how it goes.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for the reply. From reading online, charcoal helps with toxins so it's actually good for them.
It also reduces odour in the poo. I might add a big piece in the run and see how it goes.

So you use wood ask for a dust bath, interesting. I have a wood stove too which creates a lot of ash in the winter.
I'll add some and see how it goes.

Yes, I put the wood ash in the run, I put it in their favorite areas where they dust bathe.
Mine have had ash added to their dirt since they were about a week old, so far, I have not had any problems with lice/mites, but plain ol' dirt helps with that too, so I can't say it prevents the critters.

I do know in years prior to having chickens, I would see wild song birds in my ash pile taking dust baths. Not sure if it was for the ash properties or if the ash is just finer and easier to take a bath in.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

The charcoal isn't only good for them, it's great for your garden afterwards. "Biochar" helps retain water, nutrients, healthy soil bacteria. Running it through a chicken before applying to the garden probably only improves the soil-enhancing.

 

[PingoBags]

The charcoal isn't only good for them, it's great for your garden afterwards. "Biochar" helps retain water, nutrients, healthy soil bacteria. Running it through a chicken before applying to the garden probably only improves the soil-enhancing.

Good to know. I use ash in my homemade hydroponics solution. Cost me about 5 cents and it lasted me 6 months before I stopped the experiment.

 

[balloonflower]

The charcoal isn't only good for them, it's great for your garden afterwards. "Biochar" helps retain water, nutrients, healthy soil bacteria. Running it through a chicken before applying to the garden probably only improves the soil-enhancing.

You do want to know about your soil prior to using as a garden soil additive. For me in CO, adding charcoal is not helpful--it raises the ph further which is not needed in our alkaline soil.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

You do want to know about your soil prior to using as a garden soil additive. For me in CO, adding charcoal is not helpful--it raises the ph further which is not needed in our alkaline soil.

That's a very good point! Here in New England where the soil is naturally acidic, it wouldn't be anything I concerned myself with. But if you've got alkaline soil in CO or other places, it'd be something you'd want to be aware of before adding ANYTHING in bulk to your soil.