Does anyone know how to go about composting chicken poop?? I have some pretty poor soil (mostly sand) and would like to create the "perfect garden" by composting.
I usually just pile mine in a convent place. And add in any veggie scraps that my girls don't eat, which is darn few. Add grass clippings, leaves and weeds from the flowerbeds and garden. Coffee grounds filter and all, as well as tea bags. Stir it about once a week and spray it down with the hose once a week in the summer. You can't really grow anything in fresh or first year chicken poo. It's too hot. But you can get away with zucinni from what I have been told. You just have to keep an eye on them cause they get huge! The sister site to this one theeasygarden.com has a few topics on composting chicken poo and a whole section on compostion. Hope this help and happy gardening.
nightshade gave great advice. I just wanted to stress again that chicken poo needs to be composted well before it hits the garden. I'm not at all scientific with my compost piles; I keep two going at once - a fresh one to add stuff to and one that is cooking. When I clean the coop it all goes into the pile with everything else - kitchen scraps, yard waste, etc. One year I tried composting just the chicken poop in one spot and I thought it got stinky. The admixture of everything else seemed to make a better mix, in my opinion.
I thought I read somewhere that commercial "compost starter" is nothing more than boxed chicken poop. Does anybody know whether that's true? We compost all of our horse manure. I toss the chicken poop in with it. The important thing is to TURN THE PILE. Aeration is necessary for good, fast, unsmelly composting. And you've got to keep some moisture in it, too.
one thing that not many think about, when composting --- put your shredded "sensitive" mail in there too you know, the stuff that has personal info on it, that you don't want the whole world to know paper will break down, most inks these days are soy based not metallic ... have heard opinions on both sides here, whether to use shredded paper for hatching, nest boxes, in the coop, etc but in the compost pile ? great stuff, adds bulk, breaks down you may recycle your paper, but if you're like me, you do NOT recycle paper with personal financial info or personal-personal info on it ... including all those cards which say "subscribe now, we will bill you later" .. which someone else could fill out in your name ... Candy who may be either paranoid, or canny
During the winter months i apply to the gardens up until 3 months before planting. During the summer i store in a large 6' high circular fence, and save til spring planting. bigzio
This may sound silly but I really wonder how long does it take for straw to breakdown? I have sheep and in there part of the barn I put down straw, my husband hauls it to the dump!!I want a compost pile can anyone help me with the facts?? You all are so helpful. Erica
another good use for you coffee grounds and eggshells is to put it around rose bushes.. works wonders, better than that miracle grow.
I got my compost tips from my sunset western garden book, but my burpee organic gardening guide has good ideas too. You basically want to create an approximate ratio of 3:1 carbon to nitrogen. chicken poo is nitrogen based, and a good source. straw is carbon, as are dead leaves (the green are nitrogen). I kind of layer it up like lasagna and then stir to aerate and keep it damp. It's not too tricky. I haven't done chicken poo yet because I don't have chickens yet...but I can't wait! I don't have very many deciduous trees so I supplement my carbon pile with newsprint and other shredded paper. The smaller the pieces, the faster it all breaks down. I have the opposite problem from you...extreme clay.
oh DON'T take sheep barn straw to dump -- my neighbor raised the very best veggies in the world by digging overwintered sheep hay with droppings, into her garden before she planted pile it in old garbage can if you must, but don't get rid of that wonderful fertilizer ...
