Chicken and duck poop

[Citytransplant]

I would really like a lot of ideas of what to do with the chicken /duck poop after cleaning out the coop. A lot of people say " I then throw it into the compost " In my head I see a pile of poop and thousands of flies along with a strong odor with the wind blowing toward my patio. We live on a farm and right now in early spring we can throw into the field, not after the crops are planted. I do garden with flowers and veggies and would like to use it for fertilizer, but I believe it must be aged. Again where and how to age it. Will be putting our 2 ducks and 5 chicken into their newly arranged coop in 2 days and really what to plan ahead. We do have poop trays and will use Sweet PDZ in them so I can (hopefully) scoop up poop, place in bucket and then???????

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I sell 1,500-2000lbs of chicken manure annually. I age it for 6months at a minimum before I sell it. Every October, when I terminate my garden, I add and till in approximately 600lbs of chicken manure. I've bagged it up straight from the poop board, but I've also tossed it into a pile. Surprisingly, it doesn't smell that much either way.

 

[3KillerBs]

Look up how to build a compost pile. A correctly-made pile with an appropriate proportion of "greens" and "browns" doesn't smell even if it's a cold compost pile rather than a hot pile.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I use compost bins and layer the poop with plenty of dried leaves and other garden and kitchen waste. Stir it every so often to keep air penetrating through there, and it shouldn't smell that bad (if it does, means something's out of balance).

 

[paintedChix]

Yes, you do want it to sit a bit. Both chicken and duck feces are considered hot and will burn veggies and flowers if put directly on them without composting or becoming hot, then cooling down.

Since you've already been told about compost piles - research DLM (basically using natural materials to bed your run in that will "digest" the poop for you with the chickens mostly doing the turning, composting work for you). Use all natural materials - leaves, garden scraps, pine straw, wood chips/mulch, pine flakes/bedding, hemp, coffee grounds, shredded papers/bills/cardboard, food scraps from your kitchen etc. You can toss the poop board scrapings out into it, too. you can sprinkle feed around on top of this - the chickens will scratch and turn it all under. If there is a smell OR any flies, add more material. 3-6 months later - you can remove some of your material - always leaving enough to "start" the next batch composting down.

You can also set up your compost piles, w/ or w/o a fenced in area, with in your chicken/duck run. Many ways to do that too.

 

[Citytransplant]

I sell 1,500-2000lbs of chicken manure annually. I age it for 6months at a minimum before I sell it. Every October, when I terminate my garden, I add and till in approximately 600lbs of chicken manure. I've bagged it up straight from the poop board, but I've also tossed it into a pile. Surprisingly, it doesn't smell that much either way.

OMG, 2000Lbs of poop! I truly hope I don't get that much from my 7 little one's. Aging and putting in fall beds however, is something I can do. On a much smaller scale.

 

[Citytransplant]

Yes, you do want it to sit a bit. Both chicken and duck feces are considered hot and will burn veggies and flowers if put directly on them without composting or becoming hot, then cooling down.

Since you've already been told about compost piles - research DLM (basically using natural materials to bed your run in that will "digest" the poop for you with the chickens mostly doing the turning, composting work for you). Use all natural materials - leaves, garden scraps, pine straw, wood chips/mulch, pine flakes/bedding, hemp, coffee grounds, shredded papers/bills/cardboard, food scraps from your kitchen etc. You can toss the poop board scrapings out into it, too. you can sprinkle feed around on top of this - the chickens will scratch and turn it all under. If there is a smell OR any flies, add more material. 3-6 months later - you can remove some of your material - always leaving enough to "start" the next batch composting down.

You can also set up your compost piles, w/ or w/o a fenced in area, with in your chicken/duck run. Many ways to do that too.

So are you saying it is safe to place my coop floor scrapings into the chicken run, then add brown and green material to it and let them break down the materials by scratching? Love the idea of recycling and I can do this easily, but thought that there would be disease or something worse happen to them if I didn't remove all of their waste. BUT, if I can do this, oh boy, happy chicken dance going on big time!

 

[paintedChix]

Yes, usually works.

How big is your run, how big coop & how many chickens?

There is a HUGE thread on DLM here on BYC & many small ones. Cant remember who started it , what year (before 2010). U can search it under articles - a member, Beekissed, did a video shows how it worked IN her actual coop (not the run). Lots of other pics from other folks.

Beekissed is Montainwoman on youtube. You can search her/DLM & watch it that way.

For ideas on other composting in the run (depending on where you live & how big run is), check out Justin Rhodes (permaculture style farmer near Asheville, NC). Justin Rhodes did a trip around the US showing videos of other permaculture farms - he did a big one in the north eastern US (hundreds of pounds of waste being composted at a farm by a large flock of chickens). Think the year of that was 2017.

You tuber - Edible Acres (Sean - permaculture gardener in western NY) and then search out others from there. He shows several years of composting - using deep litter in his coop and then transferring it out to his "traveling" compost (forget what he calls it). He brings in lots of compost from his local peeps, puts it up in a covered green house type set up for the chickens to work on in the cold winters, then moves it out to the next step, then moves it again until finished. LOTS of work, but really GREAT how he shows - several years worth - from start to finish. He uses the finsihed compost on his own permacuture garden and sells it, I believe.

Here are pics of my DLM. I don't have fully enclosed coops. These are permanent pens/coops and the birds get a combination of free ranging and tractoring out of these coops.

DLM

Edited to ADD: here is a link to another post I did last month...

Opinions on bedding

 

[Rooapalooza]

OMG, 2000Lbs of poop! I truly hope I don't get that much from my 7 little one's. Aging and putting in fall beds however, is something I can do. On a much smaller scale.

Ha! One of the primary reasons I got chickens was for their poop. It's like gold for my raised beds.
I used to have a few ducks and would use the poopy water from their baby pool to water my veggie gardens. I never had any problems and had jumbo sized veggies lol.
As everyone else already said, it really doesn't stink in the compost. I like to put a mix of hay and leaves and grass clippings in the coop so I can rake the whole mix straight into the pile. It works really well.

 

[Citytransplant]

Yes, usually works.

How big is your run, how big coop & how many chickens?

There is a HUGE thread on DLM here on BYC & many small ones. Cant remember who started it , what year (before 2010). U can search it under articles - a member, Beekissed, did a video shows how it worked IN her actual coop (not the run). Lots of other pics from other folks.

Beekissed is Montainwoman on youtube. You can search her/DLM & watch it that way.

For ideas on other composting in the run (depending on where you live & how big run is), check out Justin Rhodes (permaculture style farmer near Asheville, NC). Justin Rhodes did a trip around the US showing videos of other permaculture farms - he did a big one in the north eastern US (hundreds of pounds of waste being composted at a farm by a large flock of chickens). Think the year of that was 2017.

You tuber - Edible Acres (Sean - permaculture gardener in western NY) and then search out others from there. He shows several years of composting - using deep litter in his coop and then transferring it out to his "traveling" compost (forget what he calls it). He brings in lots of compost from his local peeps, puts it up in a covered green house type set up for the chickens to work on in the cold winters, then moves it out to the next step, then moves it again until finished. LOTS of work, but really GREAT how he shows - several years worth - from start to finish. He uses the finsihed compost on his own permacuture garden and sells it, I believe.

Here are pics of my DLM. I don't have fully enclosed coops. These are permanent pens/coops and the birds get a combination of free ranging and tractoring out of these coops.

DLM

Thanks for the tips. I have 2 ducks and 5 chickens ( they refuse to be separated) the coop floor is linoleum about 7X7 and the run is about 20X20. They will also be free ranging. Could spend all day watching Justin Rhodes. LOL