Composting chicken run

[gtaus]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I still think chickens can save the world. I often describe them as "magic natural machines that can turn landfill-bound protein and carbohydrates into nitrogen fertilizer and healthy, fresh food".

I watched a program on restaurants and the narrator stated that there should be a small chicken yard built right next to every kitchen. Leftovers could be fed back to the chickens, which in turn would reduce the amount of waste going to the landfills and give you compost, fresh eggs and someday, meat. Of course, he was talking about (real food) kitchen restaurants and not fast (fake) food restaurants.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I watched a program on restaurants and the narrator stated that there should be a small chicken yard built right next to every kitchen. Leftovers could be fed back to the chickens, which in turn would reduce the amount of waste going to the landfills and give you compost, fresh eggs and someday, meat. Of course, he was talking about (real food) kitchen restaurants and not fast (fake) food restaurants.

I'd argue that every HOUSE that cooks should have chickens...OR, every town needs a large chicken farm where food waste can be brought for the magic to happen.

 

[Cryss]

Oh, I edited that post to read "meat scraps are removed", I leave vegetable scraps where they are to compost in the run. Meat scraps left overnight will attract predators that I don't want around my chickens. Hope that makes it clearer.

Aha! That clears it up!

 

[trumpeting_angel]

While my garden is producing, I put my daily poop from the coop into my compost pile. Now that the gardens are done for the year, I’m adding the poop (and whatever shavings) to the raised beds, along with leaves, leaf mold, and rotted wood. I figure the poop has all fall and spring to compost itself with the other earthy material. In the winter, I’ll go back to adding it to the compost pile.

I don’t like to add the coop poop to the run. Sometimes the run seems to me to have enough poop! That got better once I had leaves to add (to the wood chips, pine cones etc.), but then the girls decided leaves would make an excellent auxiliary nest. Added more sticks, wood chips, and pine cones!

 

[gtaus]

I don’t like to add the coop poop to the run. Sometimes the run seems to me to have enough poop!

We need to remember that the number of chickens you have and the size of the chicken run all factor into how to manage your specific setup. I have 10 chickens and my run is 13 x13. I rarely see any poo in my run as it seems to disappear into the litter as fast as it leaves the chicken. But I now have a bed of litter about 1 foot thick, made up of wood chips, grass clippings and leaves. I suspect the grass clippings are long gone or decomposed into the wood chips. The leaves are breaking down fast. I think I'll have excellent compost next spring from my chicken run.

 

[aart]

And my understanding is that the botulism is really only possible in an anaerobic (lacking oxygen) setup, not aerobic (with oxygen). Good compost is aerobic, although a poorly maintained pile (too many greens, not enough carbon) can certainly become anaerobic.

Yup!
....and there are plenty of 'bad' compost piles out there.

 

[RUNuts]

I throw all the kitchen scraps, paper towels and cardboard included, into the chicken run compost bin. Boiled bones from rotisserie chicken after making bone broth is a favorite. After the long bones are dried, I smash them between 2 rocks and they are calcium too. The hens will try to grab the bones while I am smashing, be careful if you try this at home kids. The hens will fly up to the top of the bin to inspect the day's offering and pick out the egg shells and tasty bits.

The run is a mix of grass and wood chips that is raked and cleaned up for new compost bins. Large wood pieces, limbs, bones, cardboard, and paper towels that seem to last forever are collected. These go on the bottom of the new compost pile. Butchering offal with feathers put on top of this and then coop clean out with more wood chips. No muss, no fuss, no smell. The new pile heats up quick when wetted down.

After 6 or more months, open the compost bin, 4 pallets wired together, and the hens will pick through it and scatter it. Amazing the number of pill bugs and earwigs they find. I rake, shovel, sift and use for the spring garden. The large chunks return to the bottom. I do like using junk mail as part of the base to smother grass. Works well.

Another idea that is working extremely well for me, plant bananas next to the compost bin. Bananas are heavy feeders and appreciate all the nutrients from the compost pile runoff. Second year of this and have 3 bunches of bananas. The bananas are much nicer to look at than the compost heap. I planted some bananas next to the compost and some on the other side of the yard. The compost bananas are larger, greener and bunches are larger. So I started another compost bin on the other side of the yard. If you are too far north, fruit trees will provide shade and food to the hens. I suggest mulberry.

 

[BReeder!]

I have a DIY 3-bin composting setup, but I let the chickens do some composting too, particularly because I need to loosen the dense compacted soil in the run. I just throw weeds, grass clippings, garden trimmings and leaves into the run. I dump a pile (say a wheel barrel full) and it's spread out, picked through and scratched into the dirt in no time thanks to our 8 chickens and 4 turkeys. I've started dumping some in our duck run too recently. They don't spread it out and scratch threw it much like chickens do but they do enjoy resting on a bed of grass clipping and leaves and snacking on the occasional bug they find in the pile.
As for results, I would recommend building the matter into a pile and letting it cook for a few months before using it. It's important to let bacteria and fungi process excess nitrogen before applying compost to a garden or around any plants/trees.

 

[paintedChix]

I am curious if it is possible to have a chicken run that also works as a composter. I would like to throw a certain amount of food scraps (things that can be composted), leaves, etc. and collect compost from the run to use in my garden. Needless to say, it should not smell as I have neighbors nearby.

Just a few info, my run has a roof so it doesn't get wet by rain. If necessary I can spray water by a controlled amount.

If this is possible, what would be the ideal bedding material? I am currently using construction grade sand but this is probably not ideal for compost. Perhaps some soil mixed with wood chips?

Anybody has experience on this?

Hmmm. There is a VERY long thread on DLM. I don't remember if someone else had posted it to this thread or not. I will look for it in a bit.

Not sure where you are. Or how dry/wet your conditions are. I think monitoring your set up should work for you. Did you state how many chickens you have in what size run/coop? I ask - I read this whole thread, but have the flu and simply don't remember since I didn't get the chance to respond when I read it (was at work Tues/Wed & read both days while on lunch break. Didn't have my password w/ me to log in on work computer or phone).

Here is a permaculturalist (is that a word?? yet?) in NY. I think you may get an idea of what he does from a series of videos he's done on actually using KITCHEN WASTE from local (whole foods) restaurants. Pretty impressive. You can then search YouTube and pull up others who do similar ideas, in their chicken runs... Some are covered, some aren't. Some bring in waste from outside sources, others just use their own kitchen waste - fresh only. Totally up to you in my opinion.

Here is his play list of chicken vids that have the full break out of what they are doing. In looking thru it, I see I haven't watched them all myself yet. YEA! Chicken TV...

I've been doing this on a limited basis in a stationary situation and include all kinds of natural materials (pine straw, weeds/seeds/stickers, grass, leaves, limbs, wood mulch, shredded bills/junk mail, shredded paper plates/towels/napkins, shredded cardboard) along with food waste. Sorry, but I DO put out foods that have become penicillin experiments in the fridge or even on the counter. WHY? Our birds are not starved - they have free choice, balanced feed in their feeders. They pick thru the "bad" stuff to find the good stuff and in the process, they tear up the bad stuff, mix it in w/ other materials and good stuff, poop on it and get it to finish decomposing. The result is VERY nice litter. I do have pictures. I'm going to share an album rather than posting the individual pics - I will eventually separate out the DLM to it's own album. If you want individual pics, let me know...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fgKYkhxNAXBnH6B36

 

[gtaus]

@paintedChix, +1 on those YouTube videos. That guy really has a good composting system going with his chickens, but he also spends a lot of time managing the flow of the material. I don't live close enough to town to make running to a restaurant to get food scraps and feeding them to my 10 chickens worthwhile. But it works for him. My wife and I save almost all our kitchen scraps for our chickens but if something has gone bad, I'll just dump it into a compost bin. Chickens are omnivores, so I also feed them our meat scraps. I do remove any uneaten meat scraps at night so I don't attract predators. So far we are very pleased with our chicken waste recycler project and have reduced the amount of trash going to the landfill. Plus we are making some great compost and getting fresh eggs everyday.