Compost

[Wrigs8]

I’ve been hearing about putting a compost pile in a chicken run and love the idea of it. I have the perfect spot in my run right now. How would I get started making a compost pile and would I need to be careful of what I put in it, for example would I put egg shells in it or what types of plants are toxic?? Would this be a place my chickens could get some protein from in the winter and would they go out to it in the winter?? (We live outside Buffalo, NY and our chickens don’t go in the run if there is snow on the ground) Any other thoughts or ideas would be helpful as well. Thanks so much.

 

[DobieLover]

I’ve been hearing about putting a compost pile in a chicken run and love the idea of it. I have the perfect spot in my run right now. How would I get started making a compost pile and would I need to be careful of what I put in it, for example would I put egg shells in it or what types of plants are toxic?? Would this be a place my chickens could get some protein from in the winter and would they go out to it in the winter?? (We live outside Buffalo, NY and our chickens don’t go in the run if there is snow on the ground) Any other thoughts or ideas would be helpful as well. Thanks so much.

The compost pile would not be a source of anything in most NY winters as it will be frozen.

I give the egg shells directly to the chickens in a specific dispenser I made for them. All the egg shells I generate in the kitchen get zapped in the microwave for 30 seconds, crushed and put in the dispenser. It's a good calcium source. And protein if you don't rinse the shells out first. Be ware that once they figure out that eggshells are in that bag you are carrying out they will jump up and rip it from your hands before you can get it in the dispenser so hang on tight!

I do not put in avocado skins and very fibrous vegetable stalks like broccoli. And no large pits that they could choke on. When I clean out the garden in the winter/spring, that all goes in. Before putting prunings in for landscaping work, check see if they are toxic to chickens. Things like holly, azaleas and rhododendrons don't go in.

Try to keep a good mix of carbon (plant matter: pine/hemp bedding, veggie waste, garden trimmings, leaves, grass clippings) and nitrogen (chicken poop) and turn it regularly. You want lots of carbon to the nitrogen to keep it composting and to keep the pile from stinking. The ideal ratio is 30-35 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. And those chickens make that one part nitrogen BIG!

I typically feed the "good" produce scraps directly to the flock: squash guts, apple cores, past their prime produce, etc.

 

[Percheron chick]

Don't over think it. Put all organic matter in the pile. They will spread it everywhere scratching through it. I like to make a ring of wire to hold it together. One hog panel wired together is my favorite. Squares are big enough for the girls to hop through.
Start with any bulky material. A bag of leaves, pine needles, straw, hay, grass clippings. Clean out the coop and toss on top. Clean out the pantry and freezer. Toss on top. Have a bucket in the kitchen and save vegetable peelings, skins, cores...toss on the pile. Shrimps tails and egg shells go straight on the pile. Feathers on the pile..

 

[paintedChix]

Well - check out these YouTube vids of a fellow New Yorker. He has the website Edible Acres . org. And his chickens do work the compost during the winter - both outside and inside a CP "high tunnel greenhouse"...

Chicken compost - designing the area

Edible Acres (92 YouTube videos) - Chickens & compost - Playlist

Edited to add - If you start with some of the first Utubes in 2016 and then come to 2020 - WOW, look at his compost and chicken yard now!

Edited to add 2 - My own birds ignore poisonous things AS LONG as they have other food and things to do. I have put prunings from our Rhododendrons & Azaleas, our Hawthorne (?) tree. The free rangers that have access to the Holly trees on our property - don't seem to mess with them. We eat a lot of oranges/grapefruit - the rinds/pulp go into the coops/runs and again, they don't generally mess with them - just moving them around and tearing it up so that they also compost down - usually much faster than in our regular compost pile.