Changing the way we feed... (and deep bedding and compost)

[chanceosunshine]

To harvest compost in this system, you rake away the layer of unbroken down material and dig into the good, broken down material underneath. Depending on how you’ll use the compost, you may want to screen it.

Thank you! That makes sense.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you for the advice. I'm going to start the deep bedding today. Is a minimum of four inches enough or should I aim for 8"?

I heard that if it begins to smell it's because it needs more wood chips, but if I'm adding more wood chips, when do I ever get to the point of having compost? Or does it just not get to the point of being "pure" compost and you eventually shovel it out and let it finish without the chickens?

Start with thinner layers and build up over time. Adding too much of any material all at once means the stuff on the bottom just gets smothered without the chickens effectively scratching it around to start breaking it down.

If compost is top priority, you should minimize wood chips or even go without, but that does mean you'll need to harvest compost more often (and might need to put it somewhere to finish) as it'll compact down pretty quickly compared to deep litter with wood chips and if you lose aeration and drainage it'll start getting smelly and gross.

I harvest some of my litter (heavy on the wood chips) to mix into my raised beds/pots but I screen out the wood chips, so that seems to work fine for me.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Droppings can be collected and scattered directly - without first having the opportunity to compost - around trees and other sources where the high nitrogen won't be making direct leaf/stem contact, but rather will be carried via rainwater to the root system. So grape arbors are another place where it can be piled. So is the raised bed you are letting go fallow for a season.

If, by some happenstance, you are blessed to have too many droppings.

Or bring them to me.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

My run is a LOT bigger than 12 x 6, but one thing I'll say is that you'll be surprised how quickly the run "eats" carbon. I'd find myself adding dozens of barrels of leaves to my run in the fall and thinking "I'm all set for a long time" only to find myself search for additional carbon before springtime.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My run is a LOT bigger than 12 x 6, but one thing I'll say is that you'll be surprised how quickly the run "eats" carbon. I'd find myself adding dozens of barrels of leaves to my run in the fall and thinking "I'm all set for a long time" only to find myself search for additional carbon before springtime.

i dread filling mine, too. heck, my raised coop is bigger than 12x6, and its the smaller of the two. 5hey now share a run.

 

[3KillerBs]

My run is a LOT bigger than 12 x 6, but one thing I'll say is that you'll be surprised how quickly the run "eats" carbon. I'd find myself adding dozens of barrels of leaves to my run in the fall and thinking "I'm all set for a long time" only to find myself search for additional carbon before springtime.

Yep. I had to buy straw last month because I ran out of readily accessible pine straw in my yard.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Yep. I had to buy straw last month because I ran out of readily accessible pine straw in my yard.

I decided earlier this week that if I ever write a book about composting, there will be a chapter titled “How I learned to stop worrying and love buying carbon” (with apologies to Stanley Kubrick).

 

[Sally PB]

I used to dread raking all the leaves we'd get. We have oak trees, so they drop some leaves. Then some more. Then the wind blows some down. Then they drop some more.

Now I take it as a chance to rake up some for the chickens. Then some for the garden. Then more for the chickens.

 

[Solanacae]

Absolutely. Throw coffee grounds at mine all the time, when I don't throw them around the blueberry bushes.

It comes down to quantity and relative "greenery". If its really wet and really green, i.e. grass clippings, you don't want much in your deep litter because its "double bad" - high in nitrogen and high in moisture. Coffee grounds are "single bad" - they are high in moisture, but were once dried and roasted - making them mostly "brown", which is a good thing. Chicken droppings are also "single bad" - high nitrogen, the moisture isn't really an issue (unless its hot out, when their droppings tend to become looser due to additional water consumption by your birds).

Then its a matter of relative quantity. I'm a coffee addict. One pot a day. But I'm not a Starbucks. The amount of wet coffee grounds I generate in a day is insignificant next to all the "brown" of my deep litter. Likewise, the amount of nitrogen my chickens drop in a day in their feces is insignificant next to all the "brown" of my deep litter - so it works.

OTOH, if you mow even a small yard, say 1/3 acre, that's what, 9 bags of grass clippings, very wet, very much full of nitrogen? and your going to dump it all at once, maybe in a few spots, but you sure aren't going to rake it out and turn it in. That's where the problems start. Compared to that, some carrot skins, a cantaloupe rind, half an underripe watermelon, and the celery tops from the macaroni salad you made for dinner can't begin to complete.

The goal in hot composting is a 50/50 mix of brown and green. Deep litter, otoh, is based on almost entirely brown - the chickens, kitchen waste, and occasional garden trimming provide all the "green" - and because, relative to all the brown, there isn't that much of it, the process happens much slower, at much cooler temperatures, without the odor associated with a hot compost pile - and with considerably less odor than piling up chicken droppings on their own.

Do leaves count as greens or browns? I’ve gotten conflicting information.

 

[gtaus]

Interesting thread and lots of good comments already. I would like to respond a little to some of the comments from my experience.

The other thing I'm thinking of is lining their run with 8 inch boards and filling it with wood chips and then throwing food scraps on top of it and letting them work it all into compost for me. Does this sound like it would work?

Yes, if you line your chicken run with boards, it will keep in the compost litter better. I have 2X4 inch wire fencing for my chicken run, and there is always a spill over pile of compost on the outside of the fence. Your 1 inch wire will hold material in, but what I find is that my spill over compost is already finely broken down so I would think ever a 1 inch wire would not prevent some spillage.

I throw all our kitchen scraps on top of my chicken run compost. But my chickens eat it all. If there is anything left over, it will get mixed into the compost. For example, if we have meat with bones, the chickens will peck all the remaining meat off the bone and the bones will get mixed into the compost. The chickens will also eat the meat of some fruits and leave the peelings, which get worked into the compost. It's a really good system.

What you can't do is throw lawn cuttings on top.

I have been successfully throwing grass clipping on top of my chicken run compost all the time without any problems. What you want to avoid is a large pile of grass clipping which might get wet, slimy, and moldy. My chickens love to eat fresh grass clippings, so I typically mow the lawn a couple times a week, in different areas, and provide them with fresh greens in the chicken run. If you have lots of grass clippings, then you can spread them out in the run.

I have tried many methods of making compost and I have failed every single time. Thank you for the heads up regarding the grass clippings.

I have had great success with my composting chickens. I turned my chicken run into a composting system, using wood chips as the base, then adding grass clippings and leaves depending on the season. I also have additional wood chips to throw on top of the compost if needed.

I heard that if it begins to smell it's because it needs more wood chips, but if I'm adding more wood chips, when do I ever get to the point of having compost? Or does it just not get to the point of being "pure" compost and you eventually shovel it out and let it finish without the chickens?

If your compost ever smells, something is out of balance. In general, you need to add more carbon to your compost system and mix it in to get rid of the smell. The good news is that chickens naturally love to dig, scratch, peck, and mix the compost litter in their run. Since I turned my chicken run into a compost system, I have never had any bad smells. But I have lots of wood chips and leaves to balance out all the grass clippings I dump in the run.

Wood chips will break down over time and make wonderful compost. My chicken run compost is about 12 inches deep right now. The top 3 inches is maybe unfinished compost, but the bottom layers are a dark black rich compost that I can harvest anytime I want.

I have so much chicken run compost, that I built a cement mixer compost sifter to shift my compost litter. Depending on what I need compost for, I have different sized screens for the sifting. I use a 1/4 X 1/4 inch mesh for sifting out very fine compost for potting and potting mixes. I use a 1/2 X 1/2 inch mesh for compost that goes into my raised beds. My outside wire on the sifter is 1 X 1/2 inch mesh, and sometimes I use that compost for the garden. If I just need compost for top dressing my plants, then I don't have to bother sifting it at all.

Do leaves count as greens or browns? I’ve gotten conflicting information.

Leaves count as brown carbon source. You would use that to balance out an abundance of greens, like grass clippings. In the chicken run, I personally don't think you can have too much carbon sources, like wood chips and leaves. I also shred our paper junk mail and light cardboard from cereal boxes, etc... I put the paper shreds into the coop as dry deep litter bedding along with their wood chips. When I clean out the coop, twice a year, I dump all the coop litter into the chicken run for composting. Dry wood chips and paper shreds don't really compost. When they get wet outside in the run, then they start to breakdown.

People who use confined bins to make fast, hot, compost are more concerned with maintaining a good carbon-green balance. In the chicken run, I let the chickens turn and mix the litter to make the compost. They do a better job then I ever did with my pallet compost bins. My chicken run compost is a slower, cold method of composting. But, I make so much compost in the run that I cannot use all of it anyway. So I just let it sit and age in the run until I need it. It only gets better over time.

I live in northern Minnesota and my pallet compost bins never really got hot anyway. So it took forever for them to compost down. My chickens do a faster job with their constant scratching and mixing of the litter in the run. If you live in a warmer climate, then your composting options may be different. But I would encourage you to put your chickens to work making compost for you. They love that work, anyway, as it brings out their natural chicken behaviors for scratching and pecking as they forage for bugs and worms to eat in the compost.