Composting Bedding from Coop

[citychickinthecountry]

Inside my chicken coop, I have a smaller coop that I use to enclose my chickens in at night. I clean this out weekly and was thinking about composting the chicken droppings from this smaller coop as fertilizer in my garden. The coop that I'd use the droppings from as compost has hay and finely cut pine chip in it. Does anyone have experience with this?

I've been looking at the composting bins that roll, but I have no idea how often I'd have to turn the compost, how long I'd have to keep the compost in the bin before I should put it in the garden and I'm also not sure what, if I anything, I should add to the compost material to make it better for use in the garden (for spreading...such as hay or mulch).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MowNGrow]

I use hay for my girls and change it weekly unelss they poop in it. They usually sit on their roost that sits over grass. I throw it onto the vegie patch, or right onto the garden. Keeps down weads and my pumpkin has gone nuts as have the other vegies.

 

[TheGardenCoop]

We take the mixture of poop and straw/pine shavings from the coop and put it in a simple compost bin made of old wooden pallets. It sits in there for a while, a few months at least. Sometimes we turn it with a garden fork, but mostly just leave it and let it all break down to rich, soil-like compost. It's done when it has that sweet compost smell. We don't add anything to it before spreading it. We just spread it right over our veg. beds -- about an inch deep when preparing a new bed for planting.

 

[B'villechicken]

I have a compost tumbler. Everything goes into it including some bedding. The literature from the people who make the tumblers would like you to believe that you can have finished compost in two weeks or so. That has not been my experience though it is much faster and easier than the traditional method. The other issue is that I have an 8' x 8' coop with 6" of shavings on the floor. That works out to 32 cubic feet of litter. It won't all fit in my compost tumbler (even the double sized one that I have) so I usually pick a spot and pile it up and let it compost naturally for several months. I then use it the next spring for the garden. The problem isn't the poo as much as it is the bedding that is used. I use only pine shavings that have to rot down some or they steal nitrogen from the soil. The poo helps that some because it is high in nitrogen but I let it rot for a season anyway.
The tumblers are nice and convenient. I turn mine once a week or so depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. If the stuff is wet, it gets turned more often. The ones made by Mantis are the best but are a bit pricey. An old fashioned pile will work as well, it just needs to be turned by hand.

 

[Kismet]

I also have a compost tumbler like B'villechicken. It is a double barrel Mantis, and yes, it was expensive. The advantage to me is that I can turn a compost pile quickly and with ease. I use it all year long, adding garbage (that I can't feed to the chickens) and wood ashes in the winter, leaves in the fall, grass clippings and other vegetation all spring and summer. I also put in chicken manure during the spring and summer when I clean the coop, some sheep manure from a neighbor, and hair that my hairdresser saves up for me. While one side is cooking, I fill the other side. Then, empty the cooked side and reverse the process. It works pretty well, but B'villchicken is right, it isn't nearly as speedy as the company makes it out to be. I turn it whenever I pass by - sometimes once a day, sometimes less. In the winter it is a solid frozen mass, so it thumps in a lump when I turn it. Probably useless to even try. I am able to empty it several times (between the two sides) during the summer/fall.

I have a new larger coop that will be creating a lot of manure/shavings when I clean it out (deep litter method, twice a year). The coop is built on a slope so the floor at one end is about three feet above the ground. I designed it with a clean out door so that I just push all the bedding, etc. out the door where it lands in a compost pile. It cooks by itself for a few months and gets put on the gardens before the next batch of bedding needs to be changed.

You can tell when the compost is ready because it no longer has any poop or ammonia smell to it. It has turned into rich, brown soil, truly a wonder of nature.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Great question. Poop management is an issue for all of us.

There is a whole lot of information on composting over on this forum's sister gardening site at the bottom of the screen, TheEasyGarden. We could really use more people over there, asking questions, giving advice and sharing experiences. Composting this stuff can be real simple or it can get complicated.

You can make this as complicated as you wish, looking at how you garden (square foot method, raised beds, container, turn a patch over in the spring, do you mulch), when you clean out the coop or plant your garden, what kind of plants you grow (some burn from the poop easier. Watch out for squash and cucumber type plants especially), the materials you use for your litter, the poop to litter ratio, what other things you add to your compost (grass clippings, garden wastes, kitchen wastes, pure poop from a droppings board), your climate, and probably a few other factors. Or you can keep it simple and just pile it up and leave it alone until it breaks down. There are people who put the stuff directly in their gardens and don't have problems. There are people who have damaged their garden by putting the stuff directly in it without composting it first. See some of the complicating factors I mentioned above.

If you want to study the issue and come up with a way to go directly on the garden, you can. If you want to put it directly on the garden without understanding the issues and trust to blind luck, you can. If you can find someone who is successfully putting it directly on the garden and mimic their procedure (probably not too bad a way to go whether they have developed a process through blind luck or actually understand the issues. I fit works for them , great!), you can. Or you can compost it first.

Now I'll get more directly to your question. One of the factors in how fast something composts is the nitrogen-carbon ratio. The poop provides nitrogen and the litter provides carbon. Naturally there is a perfect ratio of carbon to nitrogen for perfect composting but its very difficult to determine what your actual ratio is. Usually the litter and poop you take out is high in carbon and low in nitrogen. Usually. It depends on how often you clean it out, what materials you use, how many chickens you have pooping in what sized coop, whatever. It's different for all of us. In your case, it may actually not be that bad. Too much nitrogen is not that bad in a compost heap but too much carbon slows down the process. It will still compost but it will take longer. Adding more straw will add carbon, probably slowing down the process. Adding more straw or anything will not make the final product any easier to spread.

I don't have one of those bins. I just pile it in a pile and turn it two or three times before I use it in the garden. I have three piles, one composting, one gathering high nitrogen stuff like kitchen wastes and straight chicken poop, and one gathering high carbon stuff, like bean vines, corn stalks, and tomato plants. I don't sweat the nitrogen-carbon ratio other than trying to get a lot of nitrogen in there.

I'd imagine for the bins to work close to advertised, you would need to get the nitrogen-carbon ratio right, leave it alone until it heats up then cools back down, turn it at the right time, let it heat back up and cool down, and maybe go through this cycle again. The moisture content would have to be perfectly maintained, not too wet and not too dry.

I don't know which method would work best for you. Too many factors to consider that you know and we don't. I'd think a bin might work pretty good for you if your volume is low enough to fit. With you cleaning that area weekly, I'd think that if you go straight in a bin every week that the stuff in there would not have time to complete composting before you add more stuff so you'd never be able to empty it. Maybe store the fresh stuff in a big trash can or such until the batch in the bin is ready. If you get a bin with two sides and they are big enough, problem solved. I save the empty feed bags and store the completed compost in them until I need the compost.

I don't know if this helps or just makes it more complicated for you. Good luck!!!

 

[citychickinthecountry]

Thanks all for the great information everyone! I knew I could count on my buddies at Backyard Chicken!

I knew this wouldn't be a quick process, but you've all given me some great info to start with. I'll check out the sister gardening site and gather some more info before I get started.

I live in Florida, so I'm sure the composting process with go more quickly in the spring and summer for me (but of course not in 2 weeks or anything).

I can't wait to get started.

 

[citychickinthecountry]

I just ordered my composter. I bought one that I can turn...a rotating bin. It's a 7 cubic foot bin, which might seem small to some, but since I only have 3 hens right now that's more than enough for me.

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've decided to also add my rabbit's droppings to the composter. I can't wait for the composter to arrive. It should be here early next week. Yay.

I'm also thinking about adding my coffee grounds to the compost. Does anyone else do this (add any coffee grounds to non-perishable food items to the compost pile/bin)? I'm the only one in the house that drinks coffee, so I only have 4 tsp worth of coffee grounds per day to add to the bin.

I must admit, as cheesy as it sounds, I feel so exhilirated and so fulfilled to be able to provide for my family. I've lived in the city most of my life. Now that I have a place just outside of the city and have my chickens (which give me almost 2 dozen eggs per week), it's like I've started my self-sufficient living lifestyle. I can't wait to get my garden started once the freezes stop!

 

[lauriruth]

i add coffee grounds and filters. it's great! everything but meat. just bought a shredder and soon all shredded paper will go in as well.

 

[flgardengirl]

Yes you can add coffee grounds and filters to your compost. Some starbucks will give you big bags of used coffee ground free. They are great for your compost pile and attract earthworms. I put the bunny poo, chicken poo, veg peels and other scraps that I don't feed the chooks like the really old stuff in the bottom of the veg bin in the fridge lol, all into the pile. You can also add grass clippings and leaves from your yard.