Composting chicken run

[Sally PB]

distaff in it from one of my spinning wheels

Do you spin a lot of flax? I've only done a little bit of tow mixed in with other things. Never done line or wet spinning.

(Sorry, everyone... Spinners' jargon.)

 

[gtaus]

I went ahead and poured it in the run and they jumped on it. In the past my chickens never seemed to care for it. I did move the bag out of the house as I had it in the laundry room. Scratch weevils, lol.

Well, if the chickens don't like the scratch, they probably love the bugs. I know my chickens are always scratching up compost and finding something to eat. I suspect it is bugs they are looking for.

my tubs for the hugelpots are 36" x18"x18". 27" x18"x18" and one round one that is 16" high and about 18" across. ....It has two holes poked in it about 3" from the bottom.

Should work fine if you fill the bottom 4-5 inches full of wood chips. That would allow the water to drain out the holes at 3 inches without clogging up the holes. Use or make a good potting soil for the rest of the pot and you should be good to go. If you want to only bottom water, you can add a short PVC pipe in the tub and use that to fill the tub from the bottom.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

This afternoon I got out and got some compost work done. Much needed, both for the piles, the flock, and my exercise.

I started out by turning the top layer of the mostly rotted down pile to give the flock some motivation to continue to scratch and break things down.

Then I cleaned up a bunch of the material that the flock had kicked out the end of the active compost pile. It needed a turn for sure, and I needed the exercise.

What surprised me, as it’s only the last day of February and there was snow on the ground just a few days ago, was the number of worms I was uncovering (and the flock was enjoying).

Quite a bit of free protein and entertainment for the flock!

 

[vpatt]

Do you spin a lot of flax? I've only done a little bit of tow mixed in with other things. Never done line or wet spinning.

(Sorry, everyone... Spinners' jargon.)

No, really only once. And then I accidentally let the skein lose and it twisted like it was alive. I only saved enough to knit a wash cloth. And I think it was in roving so I didn't need a distaff....which is the reason the distaff was poking a hole in the tub . I've tried most fibers, but still have a few to go. How about you, what is your favorite?

 

[Sally PB]

Red Stars, I'm hoping for a day like that this week. Sunny and 40s after Monday.

How about you, what is your favorite?

Wool is the easiest, and my favorite to knit with. Knitting was my path to spinning, but I've not done any spinning in many years. Still have my wheel though. Gonna get back to it...

 

[vpatt]

Should work fine if you fill the bottom 4-5 inches full of wood chips. That would allow the water to drain out the holes at 3 inches without clogging up the holes. Use or make a good potting soil for the rest of the pot and you should be good to go. If you want to only bottom water, you can add a short PVC pipe in the tub and use that to fill the tub from the bottom.

I may have a piece of pvc that I used as a soap mold...I'll have to look and see. The holes in the round tub are kind of torn so big enough for a piece of pipe.

 

[vpatt]

Can I buy wood chips that will work? I have some logs, sticks and leaves and coir. Did Leon really say you could use Styrofoam in soil?

 

[gtaus]

I may have a piece of pvc that I used as a soap mold...I'll have to look and see. The holes in the round tub are kind of torn so big enough for a piece of pipe.

You don't need a PVC pipe in the side wall of the tub. Just a hole in the sidewall should do fine. What I was talking about was inserting a PVC vertically along the inside of the tub, reaching from the bottom of the tub to just over the top lip of the tub, and then you put water or a water hose into the pipe to fill the tub from the bottom up (until the water comes out your side holes at 3 inches). Most people will cut the bottom of the PVC pipe at an angle so the water flows better and unobstructed. If you left the pipe flat on the bottom, it is possible that it would seal up tight on a flat bottom of a tub and not let the water flow out.

The PVC watering pipe is a primary feature in the tub made by Gardening With Leon, but other people do not use the pipe and just top water the soil. I think the advantage of bottom watering the tub is the the plant roots grow stronger and longer down into the tub to reach the water, whereas if you only top water, the roots may remain more shallow because they never have to reach down for water. I may be wrong on that concept, but I think that is the reason why many people include the PVC watering pipe along the inside of the tub.

On my elevated sub-irrigated planters, I fill the planter up using a PVC pipe until the water starts draining out of the overflow hole in the side. My planter sits out on our deck and gets rained on and that top waters the soil. But most of the time the plants get their water from the reservoir in the bottom of the planter.

 

[gtaus]

Can I buy wood chips that will work? I have some logs, sticks and leaves and coir. Did Leon really say you could use Styrofoam in soil?

I get my wood chips for free at our county landfill. Local arborists dump their wood chips out there and anyone can load up as many wood chips as they want. If you have to buy a bag of wood chips, I would try to get something that was natural; wood chips and not dyed red, black, or brown for example. I usually grow vegetables, so I suppose if you are just planting flowers, it would not be a big deal and you could use anything.

I have never seen Leon talking about using Styrofoam in soil. If you make your own potting soil, people usually recommend 1/3 peat moss or coconut coir, 1/3 perlite or vermiculite, and 1/3 compost. Leon also throws in a few fertilizers in his potting soil, so you might want to take a look at his YouTube videos if that is what you want to do. I have seen many videos put out by Leon, but I don't ever remember him talking about Styrofoam.

 

[gtaus]

This afternoon I got out and got some compost work done. Much needed, both for the piles, the flock, and my exercise.

Sounds like spring already where you live. I expect to have to wait another 6-8 weeks, unless we have an early spring. Right now, we still have a foot of snow sitting out in the yard. But next week we are expected to have a string of days above freezing. So one can hope for an early spring.

This past week I took out a lawn bag full of fall leaves and spread it out on the snow in the chicken run. We had a few sunny days above 32F, and the chickens went outside for the first time since late November. My chickens will not walk on snow, so it's like a fence line for them. However, the leaves on top of the snow is just fine and they will stay outside walking on the leaves. It might not be spring yet, but leaves on the snow make my chickens think it's time to leave the coop and go outside.