Compost and chickens.

[kocho]

I've been composting for several years and think I have a good system going. I'm pretty new to the chicken thing other then my childhood of farm living. I've heard several things about combining composting and chickens that I wanted to make sure about before doing.

One thing I read is that you can dump your composting into your chicken run for the chickens to mix, scratch eat the bugs and so on. But I worry about what I already put in my composting. Banana peals are bad for chickens and some other things that I may have already thrown in. So should I start a new compost barrel without those things?

The other question is about composting the chicken bedding and waste. I thought it was bad to put manure in my regular composting. Should I have a separate composter for that or is it ok to mix in with what I already have going?

 

[nayeli]

I use red worms or red wrigglers for my compost. I have rabbits and I throw their poo, extra hay, and pellets in and its fine. If you want one under your chickens I would start a new one to keep things they can't have out of it.

 

[kocho]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I'll have to pull up that list again and start a new one. I think they will love picking through it and I read that they will actually help it compost faster.

 

[AxisOfBeagles]

My chickens have free access, all day every day, to two large composting bins located just outside their run. I compost everything imaginable, and the chickens decide what they can or can't eat. Alomost everything on the lists of what chickens shouldnt eat are bad in quantities far greater than what goes into a home compost, and chickens are pretty picky abput what they eat when they have the smorgasbord af a compost pile to choose from.

In the run itself I only put oak leaves as deep litter which eventually gets full of chicken manure and ends up in the same compost bins.

 

[kocho]

Thanks for sharing. The pages I read give me conflicting information. I think quantity may be the key.

My chickens have free access, all day every day, to two large composting bins located just outside their run. I compost everything imaginable, and the chickens decide what they can or can't eat. Alomost everything on the lists of what chickens shouldnt eat are bad in quantities far greater than what goes into a home compost, and chickens are pretty picky abput what they eat when they have the smorgasbord af a compost pile to choose from.

In the run itself I only put oak leaves as deep litter which eventually gets full of chicken manure and ends up in the same compost bins.

Thanks for sharing. The pages I read give me conflicting information. I think quantity may be the key.

 

[zarafa121]

Hi, I'm new to the chicken thing, at least on my own, and so far things have gone well. I have four Red Six Link hens, two of whom are laying. I like to let them out in the evening for a short time, and in doing so, I'm finding that in the spring they are going to tear up my newly planted garden. They already are making mincemeat of the rye I planted for green manure. They don't bother with the crops themselves, but the scratching is very damaging. Their first choice is the compost, and when they get bored with that, they head for the garden. Do you have some ideas about what to do with them in the garden? Fencing it at this time is not feasible. Thanks.