Chicken poo

[mrsmaonaigh]

I have no idea what category this would fall under so forgive me if this is the wrong spot. What is the best way to collect and store chicken poo for fertilizer? We do have a compost pile although the chickens pretty much devour anything we put out there so it is pretty pitiful. I don't know ANYTHING about this subject so any links and useful information would be welcome.

 

[Mahonri]

I have a coop with a linoleum floor.

Each week it is swept and mopped.

We put down a light dusting of DE followed by pine shavings with more under the roosts.

That is swept up and buried in our garden.

We get, BIG TOMATOES, BIG CORN, BIG SQUASH, nice peppers, great peas, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage. It's wonderful.

 

[woodmort]

I'm a "once a year" coop cleaner. Every spring I dump the accumulated poop and shavings into the garden and till it under. If you do it more often than that, just dump it onto your compost pile and mix it in. Chickens did through their poop all the time anyway and there is nothing in there that will hurt them plus the poop will begin to decompose in the compost pile and cook it up real well.

 

[Erock1234]

@ Mahonri I've seen De alot on here, what is that stand for?

 

[BWKatz]

Diatomaceous Earth, essentially really dry fine sand.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Actually it is the petrified shells of single-celled organisms. If you examine it with a microscope it is very interesting. My grandkids went nuts with some we bought for the pool filter.

 

[kichohana]

I have a poop board under my roosts. I scrape it off every few days and it goes into the compost pile. It is my understanding that chicken poo has extremely high levels of nitrogen in it and needs to be composted for about a year. If it goes directly from your coop to your flowerbeds you can "burn" your plants. Tilling it in might be the way to go if you're not composting it first.

 

[Ed62]

Quote:
Actually it is the petrified shells of single-celled organisms. If you examine it with a microscope it is very interesting. My grandkids went nuts with some we bought for the pool filter.

I hope the original poster understands that the DE for pool filters is not what you want to use for chickens. You want "Food Grade" DE because the stuff for pool filters is not good for chickens.

Ed

 

[SparksNV]

I read in "Let It Rot" that you should dry out your chicken poo first before it goes into your compost bin - I think it greatly increases your nitrogen and, of course, decreases the burn to your plants. I just started with chickens and composting - so ask me next year how my garden grows!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

When I clean my coops (twice a year) I shovel everything out into the runs. (20x30) They are on a bit of an incline so when it rains everything runs to the back corner of the runs. Shavings, poo and other things I used to put in the composter, now go into the chicken pens. Once a year, I dig out the corners where it has all run and broken down. You should see my neighbors trees!!! They are twice the size of the ones at the top of the yard that were planted at the same time, lol.