Composting chicken run

[gtaus]

and Gardening With Leon about bucket and tub gardening that looks simple enough for me.

I have watched many YouTube videos from Gardening With Leon. Essentially, he is making a sub-irrigated planter in a tub instead of a raised or elevated bed. He prefers to use perforated drain pipes or empty plastic containers. The idea is to maximize the water holding capacity of the tub in the bottom as the water fills the plastic containers.

If you use wood chips instead of plastic containers, like we have been discussing, the wood will take up physical space and not be able to hold as much water as an empty container. But, it still will hold lots more water than a planter that has drain holes on the bottom and the water is just allowed to run through. The plastic containers will probably last forever, but the wood chips will slowly break down and decompose, feeding the plants as they decompose.

There is a guy on YouTube that gives yearly updates on his hügelkultur pots. He dumps out all the contents and looks at how the wood is breaking down. I think after his third year, he said he was going to recharge the wood as he rebuilt the planter. So, that might give you some idea of how long the wood chips would last. In theory, as the wood decomposes, it becomes more sponge-like and retains even more water. But, I would assume that at some point the wood breaks down to a point where it would have to be replaced.

Leon is all about using a number of different fertilizers in his planters. I am not opposed to this as the potting soil in these type of planters is not a true living biome. I just don't know much about fertilizers myself as I have mostly planted in the ground until the recent 5 years. And now I am mixing the chicken run compost into the garden beds with the idea that it will act as a natural fertilizer.

Leon has a saying that I have heard many times on his various videos. "You only need to feed the plants on the days you eat." He really believes in boosting production with fertilizers.

 

[gtaus]

I put logs or a pile of branches, cover with chips followed by leaves if available and then dirt and compost on top. Using straight leaves would matt and plug in a heartbeat. Figure a way to keep them loose and free draining.

Yes, these planters need to breath. The idea of having the bottom six inches of the 16 inch high planter full of wood chips, and then a drain hole in the side at about 4 inches, allows for about 2 inches of "air" gap between the water reservoir and the potting soil so the planter does not get water logged and drown the plants. Also, these guys all recommend using a potting soil type mixture for these planters and not a heavy garden soil mixture. Wood chips should allow good drainage and not plug the drain hole(s) on the side. I would think leaves would plug up just about anything, like the gutters on my roof. So I would not recommend them in any place where they could block the drain hole(s).

 

[vpatt]

I was a bit confused about his fertilizer explanation and I think I am leaning toward the hugelpots. But I don't always have the best luck trying out new things that I'm not familiar with. But I'm going to give it a try.

I keep messing up on the quote tab.

 

[gtaus]

But I don't always have the best luck trying out new things that I'm not familiar with. But I'm going to give it a try.

In my case, I was not having much luck with in ground gardening and I went out looking for better options. So it was my gardening failures that pushed me to try other methods. If I would have had more success with my in ground gardening, I doubt I would have tried anything else.

I live on a lake and have very sandy soil in the garden. My plants did not grow too good. So I moved to raised bed gardens with Square Foot Gardening methods. I had much better results. Then I started composting and using that to amend my sandy soil. I have some successes and some failures, but I hope to learn from the experience and eventually move to what works best for me. I'm always looking for something better because my results need improving.

 

[vpatt]

Got my first load of mulch today! I had not planned it this soon...But when you depend on others you have to be flexible. Only a little bit is in the run right now. But I have all spring to move it and maybe one of the grand's will help. I plan to get some straw tomorrow. I'm excited!

 

[gtaus]

Got my first load of mulch today! I had not planned it this soon...But when you depend on others you have to be flexible. Only a little bit is in the run right now. But I have all spring to move it and maybe one of the grand's will help. I plan to get some straw tomorrow. I'm excited!

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Nothing says it all has to be done in a day. I lay down my material in layers, wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, etc...

I'm at an age where I can be just as happy with a little progress every day and not force myself to complete the project in one day. If you don't have the grandkids to help you, at least you can consider a little work on your own every day as your daily exercise. Even a big pile of wood chips gets worked down using a 5 gallon bucketful of chips every day.

 

[vpatt]

Yep, that's how I'm thinking. I'm just happy to at least get one step done. Also, I lost a chicken last week so I'm down to two! How sad is that? So I'm going to start looking around and find some more. I'd like at least one that will go broody. The sex links are good layers but I like to see chicks, too.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Got my first load of mulch today! I had not planned it this soon...But when you depend on others you have to be flexible. Only a little bit is in the run right now. But I have all spring to move it and maybe one of the grand's will help. I plan to get some straw tomorrow. I'm excited!

Great! When things warm up just a bit more I need to see about getting a load of chips dropped. I could use 10-20 yards to start, maybe more after that.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I used compost turning and dirt hauling as my exercise last spring/summer. Was down 14 pounds when I broke my arm in August and was put out of commission for a while. Even 15 min a day makes a big difference!

 

[vpatt]

I used compost turning and dirt hauling as my exercise last spring/summer. Was down 14 pounds when I broke my arm in August and was put out of commission for a while. Even 15 min a day makes a big difference!

Well it would be awesome if I could lose a few pounds!
I've already contacted one person about more chickens. I'm guessing a few more will be necessary for compost, lol. This rooster I have is strange, he seems to prefer staying in the coop over being outside....need some new blood maybe? Not sure why he is like that. I remember my old rooster would patrol the coops, too. But he was outside a lot more than this one. Well, sorry I'm getting off topic.