Chicken Run Composting for Garden questions

[littledog]

Your system sounds every bit as good as mine! I wouldn't even call what we do a "system," more like, "It's Spring, and the chicken run is getting too deep and muddy, time to get out the mini-tiller, loosen everything up and set aside the large chunks to make a dry surface, then get the rest of this mess out of the run and into the compost bin. When's our next day off, that isn't going to pour down rain? Next week, hopefully?"

One good thing we did this past weekend that will help improve the small run we have now, we put a roof over it. At least now, while we're still working on completing the big run, the chickens have a mud-free area.

If your deep-litter is 16" now, with all the materials you've been putting in recently, it's going to shrink a lot as it breaks down. Maybe leave it through summer as it is, while you keep adding grass clippings. Then in September or whenever Fall comes in your area, do the mini-till, dig out everything down 6 inches or as far as your mini-tiller goes, dig it all out to become compost, then level it off and start adding the fallen leaves.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

If I didn’t mention it already, a long pitchfork of strong build is most practical way to break up and turn over the dirt. You push it in like a shovel then break it upward.

 

[gtaus]

Your system sounds every bit as good as mine! I wouldn't even call what we do a "system," more like, "It's Spring, and the chicken run is getting too deep and muddy, time to get out the mini-tiller, loosen everything up and set aside the large chunks to make a dry surface, then get the rest of this mess out of the run and into the compost bin. When's our next day off, that isn't going to pour down rain? Next week, hopefully?"

One good thing we did this past weekend that will help improve the small run we have now, we put a roof over it. At least now, while we're still working on completing the big run, the chickens have a mud-free area.

If your deep-litter is 16" now, with all the materials you've been putting in recently, it's going to shrink a lot as it breaks down. Maybe leave it through summer as it is, while you keep adding grass clippings. Then in September or whenever Fall comes in your area, do the mini-till, dig out everything down 6 inches or as far as your mini-tiller goes, dig it all out to become compost, then level it off and start adding the fallen leaves.

Yes, I think I am in agreement with all your suggestions. My idea of using the mini tiller was to fluff up/mix up the deep litter, however, I am now thinking that the chickens are doing that job themselves and don't need me to help. At best, I just throw a little scratch grains out into the litter and create more interest for the chickens to till up the litter. I am also thinking of just continuing to add grass clippings, etc... to the deep litter in the chicken run and let it break down in place over the summer. Then, in the fall, I will probably "harvest" some of the bottom layer to put in the garden to winter over.

As far as a roof over the chicken run, I do not plan on adding any roof. First of all, living in northern Minnesota, any roof over the chicken run would have to support our expected snow load in the winter = $$$. So that is not on my list. However, in other threads, I have explored the idea of adding either a small A-Frame or Cattle Panel Hoop house type in part of the chicken run for the chickens in the winter. It would only have to be big enough to give the girls someplace in the chicken run that was not completely covered in snow. This past winter, my girls stayed in their coop for almost 3 months without going outside. This coming fall, I hope to build some type of A-Frame or hoop house connected to the pop door and coop so the girls can get some fresh air under plastic cover.

It has been raining here for the past day and a half, and only stopped a few hours ago. My 16 inches deep litter in the chicken run is not muddy, does not smell, and I could walk in the run without getting my shoes all wet. To me that is a big improvement over last summer when the chickens ate the grass down to the dirt and everything was muddy with a short sprinkle of rain in the afternoon. So I will continue to use deep litter in both my coop and run.

 

[gtaus]

If I didn’t mention it already, a long pitchfork of strong build is most practical way to break up and turn over the dirt. You push it in like a shovel then break it upward.

Yes, there are many different kinds of forks for such use. I have a garden pitchfork for digging, a 5 tine hay fork which works better for my deep litter, and a 14(?) tine manure fork which I use for shoveling wood chips. My idea on using the mini tiller instead of a fork was to save some wear and tear on my aging back.

I'm at that age where I need to think about how I use my back.... I just have not found a good way to use the mini tiller to save effort in the chicken run, but that's OK.

At any rate, I do find that sometimes a good solid fork is the best option. That is why I have at least 3 different kinds of forks in my tool shed. Dear Wife does not understand why I have so many different kinds of forks and when I try to tell her that I use different forks for different jobs, it must come off as mansplaining and her eyes just gloss over.... She bought a small garden shovel from QVC and uses it for everything. So she has no idea why I need so many different kinds of forks because she would just use her one shovel for all those jobs.

 

[littledog]

Yeah, snow is not something we have to worry about here, at least not the kind you get in Minnesota! We only got one serious snowfall last year, and I had to run out at night and push it off the greenhouse roof before it got damaged, but that was it. Your hoop house idea sounds good.

 

[gtaus]

Yeah, snow is not something we have to worry about here, at least not the kind you get in Minnesota! We only got one serious snowfall last year, and I had to run out at night and push it off the greenhouse roof before it got damaged, but that was it. Your hoop house idea sounds good.

Because of snowfall and weight considerations, I am leaning more towards building a portable A-Frame design. The steep A-Frame would shed the snow better than a rounded hoop house, but there are ways to strengthen the hoop house with a beam along the top in the inside to support the wire if snow does start to accumulate on top. But, yeah, the last thing I want to build would be something that I would have to run outside in the middle of the night to shovel/brush off the snow before the structure collapsed under the weight.

 

[gtaus]

time to get out the mini-tiller, loosen everything up

I had some spare time this afternoon so I decided to take out one of my mini tiller/cultivator attachments and took off the top plate above the rotating tines. I use my Ryobi 40v Power Head that uses universal attachments such as this tiller/cultivator. Anyway, once the plate over the tines was removed, the cultivator was able to rip through my deep litter in the chicken run like a hot knife through butter. Before the leaves, etc... would pile up under that plate and bind the tines. Without that plate, the tines were able to dig down through the 16 inches of wood chips, leaves, and grass clippings without any problem. It did a fantastic job in turning over and mixing up the lower layers with the top layers.

One of my concerns was that without the top plate the cultivator would be shooting up everything into my face. Fortunately, the tines do not rotate all that fast with the Ryobi 40v powerhead and the wood chips, leaves, and grass clippings just got mixed up really good and don't end up being thrown all over the place.

I don't think I would try this modification if digging dirt, but for the deep litter, it really worked well after I removed that top plate. I have 2 of these tiller attachments, so now one will be with top plate on for tilling dirt, and the other will be without top plate so I can use it to mix up and turn over the deep litter in the chicken run.

 

[littledog]

Ours is similar to yours, a tiller attachment that works with the same powerhead as our weedwhacker and brushcutter blade. Thanks for the great hint about removing the top plate, I'm going to try that next time.

 

[gtaus]

Ours is similar to yours, a tiller attachment that works with the same powerhead as our weedwhacker and brushcutter blade. Thanks for the great hint about removing the top plate, I'm going to try that next time.

On my tiller attachment, there were only 4 nuts that I had to remove to take off the top plate. Without that top plate jamming up with leaves, it was like I had a totally different tool - one that worked in the deep litter. Anyway, a 5 minute modification on removing that top plate was well worth the effort.

 

[oldwynooche]

Another source of material is used coffee grounds from coffee stands. I have an agreement with 1 stand in our little town where I get all the grounds and I provide clean plastic buckets and rotate filled ones with empty ones a couple times a week. Buckets come from local grocery store bakeries or restaurants.
The grounds go into 1 of 2 piles with coop litter and wood chips and the whole thing is turned about once a month. I don't use grass clippings because I don't have a bagger on my mower. The chickens visit the piles as well. One pile is put onto raised beds in the fall, the other in the spring. In lucky years, I also get old cow manure from a slaughter plant down the street.