Composting and Chicken Runs

[Rayben2006]

I have several chicken houses with the fence and T poles I am moving need to get rid of them they're located in Louisiana You can text me for details 985-662-4815 And I will post some pictures

 

[chickcrazychick]

My chickens come running when I get anywhere near the compost just in case I am going to turn it. They especially love it when we get a larva infestation. 

 The only thing I don't put in the compose it any part of an avocado as (according to my vet) avocados are known to be toxic to all birds. I put the skins and any over ripe fruit into my worm bin, the worms love.

 

[chickcrazychick]

Wow Im glad I found this thread, I just started a compost in my chicken run, and the first thing I threw in there was avacodos..oops, but they didn't touch em!! Any other ideas, suggestions are very helpful!!

 

[Nutcase]

Wow Im glad I found this thread, I just started a compost in my chicken run, and the first thing I threw in there was avacodos..oops, but they didn't touch em!! Any other ideas, suggestions are very helpful!!

Basically our whole chicken run is made up of compost. The chickens eat the food scraps they want and the rest breaks down over time. I'm very happy that the fly population is very low in fact. If I see a lump of poo at feeding time I just turn it over with the rest of the soil. The rabbit cage is right next to the chicken run and we designed it so you could wash their poos out the back. The poos wash into the chicken run and make the soil oh-so-fertile as they decompose. The chooks love it!

 

[chickcrazychick]

That's kinda what I've been doing, since I dont have a designated area in the run, just throw it everywhere , do you know if it's ok to mix up the pine shaving from the coop into the compost??

 

[Nutcase]

That's kinda what I've been doing, since I dont have a designated area in the run, just throw it everywhere

, do you know if it's ok to mix up the pine shaving from the coop into the compost??

The chickens scratch everything everywhere! So I wouldn't exactly say I have a designated area. There are a debates all over this site about whether or not pine shavings are even safe for chickens. I haven't used them before, but if I were you I would do it. However you may want to look into the safety issue.

 

[PrintedPerfect]

RidgeRunner,
Do the baby chicks know what they can and can't eat too?

Also, do you know if it is safe to put any old kitchen scrap in the pile (within reason)? For instance, the other night we had chicken, boxed scallop potatoes and brown beans for dinner. Could all of this go into the pile? I have read varying information on including meat, bone, eggs and coffee grounds, and have seen nothing regarding 'instant' type foods like the boxed potatoes.

Yes, I am the one with all the questions.

Does the compost need to be contained using boards or something for the chicken's sake or just to be able to collect and use the compost? I am going to expand the little coop that I bought with the welded wire you suggested in another post. Am trying to figure out if I should create a somewhat separate area just for compost. I won't need to collect or use the mulch created until sometime after this summer, perhaps even two summers from now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[bruceha2000]

My chickens seem to instinctively know what to eat. They came as day olds June of 2012, no mama to show them the ropes. Yet they know to eat grit off the ground, they know to eat the oyster shell in the container near their feeder once they start laying. They don't eat wooly bear caterpillars (don't know why) but eat almost anything else that moves. They love gross things like earwigs, grubs and slugs. They eat grasses, seeds, small flowers. They go in the coop around dusk. They just seem to know!

The primary reason not to put meat in the compost is it might attract coons, skunks, etc. Bones will compost but you may not live that long. However, I had some beef rib bones last week and the chickens picked them clean, so don't waste the part YOU don't get off before you toss them in the trash

. You can certainly put egg shells in the compost but crush them first so they will break down more quickly. Same with other larger things like if you have a potato that is going south, cut it up first.

Pretty much the only food we don't put in the compost is moldy stuff (yeah the refrigerator could get cleaned out more often) and meat/bones. I don't buy avocados because you can not get a decent avocado in Vermont. I grew up in Southern California with a huge avocado tree overhanging from the neighbor's yard. An avocado picked solid enough to make the trip to Vermont tastes as much like an avocado as the Log Cabin syrup I grew up with tastes like syrup made by boiling down sugar maple tree sap - IT ISN'T EVEN CLOSE. Yeah, yeah, stick it in a paper bag and it will ripen. No it just gets softer and has little flavor. I no longer eat "breakfast syrup" or avocados that did not ripen on the tree. I know the real thing and the "substitutes" don't cut it.

With regard to design, compost has to get physically hot to break down more quickly so a bin with sides keeps it contained and it will heat up better. You turn it to make sure there aren't any soggy parts. It has to be moist but not soggy which is why you wouldn't do it in something like an open plastic trash barrel. But any pile of vegetation will decompose eventually even if you do nothing to it.

Bruce

 

[bruceha2000]

PERFECT! Make 2 more and you'll have a traditional 3 bin compost set up with chickens to "turn" the compost. Good for them (all the goodies) and good for the compost (chicken poop) and good for you, no turning! (They don't need the branch to get out. Any of those chickens could get to the top of the sides even if the bin were empty)

Bruce

What is this 3 bin system you speak of? That seems like something I have heard before...
As for the branches.. I know they can, but it looks so cute and chicken-y with those branches They were all very apprehensive at first to mess with it, so I made them a ramp... they just hop in and out like you say. I think they were apprehensive about letting the human watch them!

If you have only one bin and keep adding stuff to it, it won't all ever get to "done" and you have to do what you can to separate out the oldest stuff.

A 3 bin compost system lets you put new stuff in one bin, start on the next when the first is full, and again with the third. The first should be ready to use by the time you fill the third (if not before) so you have an empty bin again. There are other ways to use a 3 bin system, but this is the basic concept. If you have a lot of stuff, you can have more bins. Just remember when making them that if you are standing there with a 3 tine pitch fork (much easier than a shovel) to turn the contents, you don't want the bins too big. Three "ganged" (where the sides of bin 2 have a common side with one side of bin 1 & 3) 3'x3'x3' bins is pretty standard. I found one with Google where a guy made 4 bins from concrete blocks, 4'x8'. But he cheats, he is an excavator and uses the machine to turn the stuff in the bins

In any case, you want to put some "done" stuff in the "new" bin to help get it started. Toss in the chickens' contribution from the coop as well.

You can't use chicken manure directly in the garden, it has too much ammonia and will "burn" the plants, killing them. However, it is not a problem if they naturally spread some if it themselves as they forage, assuming they aren't in a small area.

Bruce

Quote:
No need to change the one you have, or even make the future ones you attach to it a different size if you already have wood that size. It isn't that you CAN'T turn the stuff in a larger box, it just gets harder to get to the back/bottom. The one's I've seen have removable boards in the front that you put in as it fills so it is easier to turn and easier to empty.

Yes, one of the surprising things I learned once my girls were adults was that a 4' fence keeps chickens exactly where THEY want to be. All of mine can fly to a 4' fence and one of the Ancona's sometimes decides she wants to be on my shoulder for a short time (I have no idea why) and that is about 5'. She also once landed on my wife's head - 5'6". If you put chicken wire on the bottom of the fence where you want them to stay, they probably will. Mine seem to follow their noses looking for things to eat and only go over fences if they know they want to be on the other side, like going back to the barn.



Bruce

 

[rojororeo]

No need to change the one you have, or even make the future ones you attach to it a different size if you already have wood that size. It isn't that you CAN'T turn the stuff in a larger box, it just gets harder to get to the back/bottom. The one's I've seen have removable boards in the front that you put in as it fills so it is easier to turn and easier to empty.

Yes, one of the surprising things I learned once my girls were adults was that a 4' fence keeps chickens exactly where THEY want to be. All of mine can fly to a 4' fence and one of the Ancona's sometimes decides she wants to be on my shoulder for a short time (I have no idea why) and that is about 5'. She also once landed on my wife's head - 5'6". If you put chicken wire on the bottom of the fence where you want them to stay, they probably will. Mine seem to follow their noses looking for things to eat and only go over fences if they know they want to be on the other side, like going back to the barn.



Bruce

Yep, they definitely could get out if they so chose to. My Polish hen can get some good air. She seems to love flying out of the human door on the coop, rather than walking out the chicken hatch door.To make real functional compost, I will probably do the other bins, but it will probably be a while, we have so much other stuff going on! But a question- if the compost is some 2ft+ deep.. how do the chickens turn the depths of it? Or does that self rot? I did water it fairly well also.