City girl needs some compost info, please.

[msjones]

Could someone be more specific for me about composting all this poop?

I have pine shavings in the coop, so do I just keep all the droppings/shavings in trash cans until spring? Do I need to add other stuff? Is it going to stink and irk my neighbors?

How, exactly, do I do this?

Thanks for any info/links, etc. Everyone here has been so helpful. My city friends just think I'm nuts, so you're the only folks I can go to for help!

 

[chookchick]

Here's what I do--I clean off the dropping boards every third day, which is a mix of poo and shavings, heavy on the poo. I also have some Stall dri mixed in. I put this in a large (about 20 gallon container) and add coffee grounds also. When that pot is full, I dump it into another large pot, mixing a bit as I do so. These containers are open to the air, and get rained on. When the first pot is full again, I dump the second pot all over my garden. I have never had any smell (or flies) from any of the poo containers, or the finished product. I used to just dump the shavings etc.. directly on the garden, but I didn't like the pale look of the shavings. The coffee grounds and time darken everything up nicely.

 

[lafemmeale]

I dump mine in a big plastic garbage can with hundreds of holes drilled into the sides for drainage & air flow. It's the same bin that I use for table scraps. It breaks down surprisingly quickly & I the pine shavings help keep the smell down. I think it stinks less than it did before I got the girls!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Y'all really confuse me when you post that City Girl needs something. I keep thinking people are on to me with my cluelessness.

 

[possumqueen]

go to theeasygarden.com. Link at the bottom of this page. It's just as much fun as backyardchickens!

Compost is great stuff, and chicken poo is the best thing to put in it!

 

[Uppity Peon]

Composting isn't all that mysterious. Very simply, when you have enough air and water, the bacteria will break down your compost quickly, and it won't smell too much.

I made a box out of pallets. I hose it down if it dries out, and I stir it up with a manure fork to get the oxygen down in it. If it does not get enough oxygen it starts to smell like sewage.

 

[msjones]

Quote:
So, do the piles heat up enough if they're being rained on? I see you're here in the rainy PNW like me.

And, maybe the Stall Dri keeps the stink down? I'm a bit paranoid about smells due to some neighbor conflict regarding the chickens. I'll be heading to the Grange in Issaquah for some Stall Dri one of these days.

 

[msjones]

Quote:
Great link, Possumqueen! Thank you.

 

[wildorchid053]

we put ours in a big black trash bag and when it is full, dump it on the garden.. after a few days the earth worms under it are tremendous! we take a pitchfork and dig and flip the soil.. the hens are so ready you can hardly move the pitchfork with out stabbing them as you get the worms up lol.. they love it. i think we have tilled the huge garden more with the pitchfork than the rototiller lol

 

[possumqueen]

Quote:
So, do the piles heat up enough if they're being rained on? I see you're here in the rainy PNW like me.

And, maybe the Stall Dri keeps the stink down? I'm a bit paranoid about smells due to some neighbor conflict regarding the chickens. I'll be heading to the Grange in Issaquah for some Stall Dri one of these days.

I live in a close neighborhood, and I have to be careful about the neighbors, too.

I don't know about Stall Dri or Stall Dry -- I think they're two different brands -- but I DO know about compost and chicken poo.

If you're putting the poo on the pile it will smell for less than a day until the pile starts to cook.

And if you live in the PNW (I'm FROM Issaquah, by the way!) You build the pile into a cone and cover it with straw, and the rain will run off. If you have drought conditions like we had here last year (I now live in North Carolina) then you make a little dent in the middle of the top of the pile, and the rain soaks in and keeps the pile from drying out.