Compost for Chickens

[Farinolami]

Tractor supply, not sure what the price , they also have the mealworm bags , also even if I don’t add anything there is plenty of bugs for them to get enough protein outside naturally but I will let you know how it goes , I thank you all for the advice and reply’s

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Tractor supply, not sure what the price , they also have the mealworm bags , also even if I don’t add anything there is plenty of bugs for them to get enough protein outside naturally but I will let you know how it goes , I thank you all for the advice and reply’s

Where are you located? Considering the % of a chicken's diet that needs to be protein, that's a lot of bugs.

 

[Farinolami]

With a compost it attracts lots of bugs and you have to remember they eat things that we can’t even see and I live in NJ , while I was observing chickens even when they eat grain they prefer to always look for things to eat on the ground scratching for most of the day . My chickens can free range and get what they want threw out the day .

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

With a compost it attracts lots of bugs and you have to remember they eat things that we can’t even see and I live in NJ , while I was observing chickens even when they eat grain they prefer to always look for things to eat on the ground scratching for most of the day . My chickens can free range and get what they want threw out the day .

Compost does have a lot of little "bugs" that we can't even see, that's for sure...I'm just not sure you'll find enough of this stuff in the winter. I'm a little north of you, but we don't get many bugs this time of year!

 

[Farinolami]

During the winter I’ll have the compost in the coop which is like a green house , the compost will cook and get hot and attract bugs but I understand what your talking about

 

[Farinolami]

This explains it

 

[centrarchid]

Many of the worms and crustaceans (isopods) do well during winter as they can readily move in and out with heat to stay in ideal thermal conditions. Some insects like crickets I see in mass can operate at below freezing and appear to grow when just a little above freezing.

Some what the chickens may be eating is actual detritus instead of invertebrates. I would not be surprised if they are getting nourishment from that which exceeds that from invertebrates consumed.

 

[Farinolami]

Correct

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I plan on building a large compost area in my run later this year (thinking 16' x 8'...and hopefully feeding the chickens mostly on food waste / compost. I'm planning trying to source meat scraps to help boost protein intake.

I'll be interested to follow along and see if you guys do OK with no "supplemental" animal protein in the compost.

 

[Farinolami]

Did you watch the video I posted in this section , because the guy explains it and had no problems raising chickens on compost and he doesn’t even say they need anything more but well see