Can I compost chick bedding yet?

[cinnamongirl]

I'm not sure but I think I read somewhere (either here on in a book) that I can't compost the pine shavings from the brooder because of the medication in their feed. It would be going into our future veggie garden so this could be a serious issue. I've been looking all over for that same info but I'm beginning to think I'm imagining that I read it

Does anyone know?

 

[LittleMamaBigPapa]

Good question!!! I never thought of that. I dumped my bedding out into the flower garden, so, not a biggie for me. But thanks for the raising the question and getting me thinking for the future. Did you try searching in the index? That's what I am going to do.

 

[cinnamongirl]

Yeah I tried...came up with lots of good composting info but none specifically related to baby poo.

 

[mjdtexan]

I would not. I am not a certified organic grower and because of that the co-ops that I sell my vegetables to come out and inspect my operation. When they see my chickens one of the first thing they ask me is if I am using medicated feed. If I was I would not be able to particapate in the co-ops.

Good luck to ya.

 

[cinnamongirl]

Ah thank you! I was sure I read it somewhere!

 

[KittyKelly]

Good-to-know info!! Thanks!

 

[RioLindoAz]

I've always wondered this. I've composted their shavings anyway.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Akane]

Personally I don't think it's a big deal if you are not selling the produce. Amprolium is not a very dangerous medication in the first place. Unless you are allergic to it there should be no health risks to even eating eggs or meat from birds on medicated feed. I would prefer not to do it and actually don't even give my chicks medicated feed but that's more because I find it unnecessary and it's easy to not give it than because I think it's all that important to avoid for their health. The co-op probably asks because first off everyone is paranoid of medicated anything for animals and sometime rightly so and second because of the risk of a customer having an antibiotic allergy. Amprolium also tends to be broken down quickly both by the body and environment. For meat birds that were on medicated feed they are supposedly free of medication within about 3 days. Spraying a single plant on your property with roundup or another weed killer or having your neighbor if you live in a more crowded area spray their property would probably contaminant your veggie garden more than composting the shavings from your brooder. Spraying a line of weeds once probably would have left more contamination on your land 5years from now than composting the shavings every year. However like I said there is a risk of someone having an allergy and so I would not sell anything that might contain any level of amprolium.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Quote:
The weird thing is that Certified Organic farmers (grain farmers especially) can spread conventional manure on their crop fields. What kind of sense does that make?

 

[cinnamongirl]

Quote:
I wondered about that. It doesn't seem like something that would hang around for long after being in a cooking compost pile. I think I'll just use that first batch for my flowers just in case. My son is allergic to some antibiotics so I probably shouldn't take any chances. Thanks for the great info!