compost to feed chicken

[abdiro]

Also, if you watch YouTube, check out “Edible Acres” - he feeds a mix of food waste, compost, and soaked whole grains/sprouts.

thanks for recommend it i will follow him

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I always have commercial feed available, they just eat a lot less of it when there’s lots of food waste in the compost.

Ran out at lunch today for a pickup (4-5 banana boxes plus 2-3 bags of food) and gave them a little before I had to get back to work. I’ll process the rest after work and tomorrow.

 

[abdiro]

I always have commercial feed available, they just eat a lot less of it when there’s lots of food waste in the compost.

Ran out at lunch today for a pickup (4-5 banana boxes plus 2-3 bags of food) and gave them a little before I had to get back to work. I’ll process the rest after work and tomorrow.

and the gain weight

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

What I threw out (in the picture) was roughly a 5-gallon bucket worth of food. My son (9) processed the rest this afternoon. It's a wheelbarrow full. It was too heavy for him to move so I'll dump it to them tomorrow AM. That should cut down on the commercial feed intake for a few days.

Weather-allowing, I'll be picking up food every Monday going forward.

 

[abdiro]

What I threw out (in the picture) was roughly a 5-gallon bucket worth of food. My son (9) processed the rest this afternoon. It's a wheelbarrow full. It was too heavy for him to move so I'll dump it to them tomorrow AM. That should cut down on the commercial feed intake for a few days.

Weather-allowing, I'll be picking up food every Monday going forward.

i want to try that system but i have a lot of questions about it so can i ask you or can you give me a name of book or chanel and thank you verry much

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

@abdiro - happy to answer questions to the best of my ability. I have been using compost piles in the run since March, with a 6-8 week “break” when I broke my arm this summer.

As far as channels, “Edible Acres” has a nice chicken compost setup. I like his channel because he’s not flashy, very chill, and doesn’t claim to know everything. Lots of “I did this...here’s what is working and what’s not”.

To learn more about my journey, check out my website in the footer. Lots of blog posts and pictures.

 

[abdiro]

@abdiro - happy to answer questions to the best of my ability. I have been using compost piles in the run since March, with a 6-8 week “break” when I broke my arm this summer.

As far as channels, “Edible Acres” has a nice chicken compost setup. I like his channel because he’s not flashy, very chill, and doesn’t claim to know everything. Lots of “I did this...here’s what is working and what’s not”.

To learn more about my journey, check out my website in the footer. Lots of blog posts and pictures.

i allready saw edible acros and agree 100/100 his chanel verry helping with no extra ego .also i will follow you cuz you look a nice guy how realy love help . i have 5 questions that bother me
1-is the production decrease
2-how much 100 chickens need daily
3-how many time i can let the compost and scraps intel cut it
4-is the smel awful or just a little anoying
5-how i can know i should change the compost
note : i really sorry about all that questions but that system make me curious

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

i allready saw edible acros and agree 100/100 his chanel verry helping with no extra ego .also i will follow you cuz you look a nice guy how realy love help . i have 5 questions that bother me
1-is the production decrease
2-how much 100 chickens need daily
3-how many time i can let the compost and scraps intel cut it
4-is the smel awful or just a little anoying
5-how i can know i should change the compost
note : i really sorry about all that questions but that system make me curious

On production decrease, I think there is likely some. I'm not an adamant egg-counter, so I can't say for sure....with the changes of seasons, ages of hens, etc...it's tough to track. That being said, I've read that a flock raised in this way would produce at about 50% of what one would expect. I only have 20 layers (55 or so coming into lay soon), and some of my current hens are 3 years old...but I think I'm doing a LITTLE better than 50%.

What would 100 chickens need a day? Short answer - a lot! The guy from Edible Acres supplements with soaked grains. I supplement with layer feed. The Vermont Compost Company raises on 100% compost, but they are literally an industrial-size compost facility.

Another consideration is climate...up here in the Northeast, you get a loss less worm activity in the cold weather. In places that stay above freezing, this may be less of an issue. This is important in terms of protein intake. Not a lot of protein in fruit, veggie, and grain scraps...but worms and other bugs can off-set that.

Feeding 100 chickens on compost would be close to a full-time job...you'd be looking at probably a load of food waste every day or maybe two. I'm talking a full pickup-bed full. Processing that can take some time (opening packages, hauling, dumping). If I was to try it full time, I'd probably have about 3 piles the size of my setup and get food waste every day.

The smell is a good question...if my pile starts to smell, I know I need to go turn it and add carbon. At times, sourcing enough carbon is a challenge. In fall I use all my leaves, plus those from a couple of neighbors, and in summer I use whatever leaves I can find, plus spent hay, paper and carboard, etc.

What I do as far as changing the compost is that I just keep adding to a pile for around a year. The chickens tear it down, I build it back up, and I add food waste and carbon as I have it. After about a year, I build a new pile and let the old one rest. My first pile will start to get harvested this spring while I continue to build the new pile.

I hope that all helps. Happy to answer any other questions as best I can. I'm still learning, and I'm not at 100% compost-fed, but it's been an adventure. It's a good amount of work, it's messy, and I get that most people think I'm nuts.

But it's great exercise (no gym membership), I have very happy chickens, and I love turning a truck-full of landfill-bound waste into chicken feed, compost, recycling (I rinse and recycle plastic containers, and recycle or compost most of the carboard), and a small bag of inorganic "trash".

I'd say any given load, the land-fill bound volume is reduced by 90% and instead of being all food waste, it's mostly plastic bags (no good way to clean and recycle them).

It also produces great eggs...I actually donate the vast majority of mine to local food pantries (223 dozen in 2020!), but they could be sold.

No idea what your plans are, but while it'd be tough to do with other employment, in the right situation I could see someone scratching out a living selling eggs or meat, and receiving tipping fees for food waste and carbon drop-offs.

Good luck....feel free to ask more questions and I'll do my best to help, and keep us posted on what your plans are and how it goes!

 

[abdiro]

On production decrease, I think there is likely some. I'm not an adamant egg-counter, so I can't say for sure....with the changes of seasons, ages of hens, etc...it's tough to track. That being said, I've read that a flock raised in this way would produce at about 50% of what one would expect. I only have 20 layers (55 or so coming into lay soon), and some of my current hens are 3 years old...but I think I'm doing a LITTLE better than 50%.

What would 100 chickens need a day? Short answer - a lot! The guy from Edible Acres supplements with soaked grains. I supplement with layer feed. The Vermont Compost Company raises on 100% compost, but they are literally an industrial-size compost facility.

Another consideration is climate...up here in the Northeast, you get a loss less worm activity in the cold weather. In places that stay above freezing, this may be less of an issue. This is important in terms of protein intake. Not a lot of protein in fruit, veggie, and grain scraps...but worms and other bugs can off-set that.

Feeding 100 chickens on compost would be close to a full-time job...you'd be looking at probably a load of food waste every day or maybe two. I'm talking a full pickup-bed full. Processing that can take some time (opening packages, hauling, dumping). If I was to try it full time, I'd probably have about 3 piles the size of my setup and get food waste every day.

The smell is a good question...if my pile starts to smell, I know I need to go turn it and add carbon. At times, sourcing enough carbon is a challenge. In fall I use all my leaves, plus those from a couple of neighbors, and in summer I use whatever leaves I can find, plus spent hay, paper and carboard, etc.

What I do as far as changing the compost is that I just keep adding to a pile for around a year. The chickens tear it down, I build it back up, and I add food waste and carbon as I have it. After about a year, I build a new pile and let the old one rest. My first pile will start to get harvested this spring while I continue to build the new pile.

I hope that all helps. Happy to answer any other questions as best I can. I'm still learning, and I'm not at 100% compost-fed, but it's been an adventure. It's a good amount of work, it's messy, and I get that most people think I'm nuts.

But it's great exercise (no gym membership), I have very happy chickens, and I love turning a truck-full of landfill-bound waste into chicken feed, compost, recycling (I rinse and recycle plastic containers, and recycle or compost most of the carboard), and a small bag of inorganic "trash".

I'd say any given load, the land-fill bound volume is reduced by 90% and instead of being all food waste, it's mostly plastic bags (no good way to clean and recycle them).

It also produces great eggs...I actually donate the vast majority of mine to local food pantries (223 dozen in 2020!), but they could be sold.

No idea what your plans are, but while it'd be tough to do with other employment, in the right situation I could see someone scratching out a living selling eggs or meat, and receiving tipping fees for food waste and carbon drop-offs.

Good luck....feel free to ask more questions and I'll do my best to help, and keep us posted on what your plans are and how it goes!

perfect. thats beyond what i expect verry clear so helpful alot of complet information thank you

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Agree 100% that it is tough and potentially inadvisable unless you live in a warm climate and have significant space for piles and forage.

Also, it is “in process” compost that would provide nutrition, not finished compost.

That being said, an appropriately sized, active pile can significantly reduce use of commercial feed.

I do this actively...I always have layer pellet available, but when the weather is cooperating and I’m getting lots of compost inputs, I see intake in commercial feed go down from 50-75%.

I hope to get out today for a load of food waste today, actually.

This is exactly what we’ve been wanting to do for the chickens. Have you had any issues with rats/mice in the compost? This is the only thing stopping me atm.