dannygirl1
Songster
Can’t wait to start ! Those descriptions nearly have me salivating
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No the subject of compost, I plan to put the bedding from the coop floor into a compost heap. The poop is mixed with saw dust and some shavings from the nest boxes, do I need to add anything else to the heap, or will this do ok on its own, and be ready for next spring ?
If I start the heap on bare soil ( which I plan to do ) would I still need to toss in some dirt ? And yes plenty irrigation here , but I wonder would too much be as bad as too little
I have a Plan for my compost area in the chicken run. I am not sure if this will be a good thing or not.
My goal is to place all chicken waste with the shavings and Hay from the coup and yard in the coup for added feeding. But I also planned on buying a Bag or 2 of Manure to help boost the Pile. I plan on building a Green house in the next few months for the wife and myself.
So my question would be can you effectively place a composting are inside the run without harming the Chickens?
Or will this be a Bad thing we do have a Small raised bed garden but not enough to keep it feed other than the Veggies we eat from buying them at the store.
What about adding ashes ?
Great advice lazy gardener! I find the most helpful thing in keeping my composting pile hot is abundant green grass climpings. I have all sorts of browns, no problem but hubby applies pesticides to the front yard, so that leaves me only the back yard clippings to use in my compost pile. It's amazing how fast it heats up when you can add them. Turning the pile also helps a bunch, but with my back problems I can't do that regularly anymore.Good posts by other contributors. Just a few suggestions: try to put your compost pile where it won't get invaded by tree roots. They will suck all the nutrients out of the pile, and send their rootlets into the pile to turn it into an unusable mat. You are going to need to add more green matter. If your lawn has not been treated with insecticides/herbicides, you can add your grass clippings. Work towards layering greens and browns. Kitchen waste, garden debris, basically, anything that will rot! But, don't put in feces from dogs or cats, meat products, animal fats, or dairy. Also keep weeds that are loaded with seeds out of the mix. Any time you add garden weeds, you are adding a bit of soil which will have the microbes that help to feed the compost.
Too much water is as bad as too little. If your pile is too wet, it will become anaerobic and smell like raw sewage. If that ever happens, you just need to open the pile up to let some oxygen into it, stir it up a bit and add more carbon materials.
In order to effectively compost, the pile should be a approximately 1 cubic yard (3' x 3' x 3') If it is a lot larger, oxygen can't get to the middle to feed the organisms. If it is much smaller, it won't retain enough heat.
Have you considered letting your chickens do all the work? Just put your coop litter into the run. Add other compostable materials to it, and the chooks will gladly turn it into compost. My run is 500 s.f. I've been doing DL for more than 3 years now. And finally, after adding copious amounts of materials, I have arrived: the entire run is covered with about 6" of deep rich black compost. I do not buy shavings b/c they take too long to break down. I use leaves, hay, and grass clippings, plus some garden debris in the coop. The run gets the occasional DL cleaned from the coop, plus aged wood chips, and mountains of garden debris, grass clippings and leaves.
Thanks, yes that's the one thats bad & that's the one hub uses to control the weed. I will do a little more research on how long it remains in the soil after composting.Contact county extension re: pesticide break down in compost. I don't put stuff on my lawn, and there's almost an acre of it, still not enough for my needs! But, I'd be finding out how what you use breaks down. You may still be able to use it. I'd be much more concerned about herbicides.
I'm with you there, maybe I can try to talk him into a more natural lawn in the front yard, but not holding my breath though. I still have the back yard & behind the coops to utilize in my compost pile.Herbicide makes it a no go in my book.