Composting chicken run

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Yes, but the trick is to not let it be the slimy or stinky type. You don't need to measure compost ingredients but you do need to make sure you remember to add BOTH brown and green.

Oh, absolutely...I think the point is that it’s not as hard as some make it out to be.

It’s not like if you don’t have whatever exact ratios the self-appointed experts say, the food scraps you toss out there will persist for perpetuity.

 

[paintedChix]

Cryss - Sooo, modem/router "broke" & IT guys won't be out until Tuesday to repair/replace. Using my phone with a "hot spot" to work on pics. Lets' see if they will load here now...

This is a temporary fix to our "dog yard". I think we may need to raise the hoop, to make it more hooped and stronger. Looks "flat" to me. But then again, we don't get a huge amount of snow in our area of NC, though what we do get is usually very wet... The tarp is too small and as I stated in previous text, we will be getting a larger tarp that will go to the front of the panels & extend down the back to cover the opening to the top of the dog pen; then down the sides some. We didn't bother with bringing the roof forward further, just used the two CPs (total of 100" from back to front). We (probably me) will re-dig & level the inside of the pen (they sure like their "dens"), treat it with a heavy load of DE (once it's dry again), and put up the straw bales two high plus break a few bales open to spread out. That will last almost a whole year... Except for treating for fleas. I don't want to, but may have to resort to actual chemicals for flea treatment. This is the first time in 5 years that we 've had a problem that just topical treatments on the dogs/cats hasn't taken care of. Think some cats I adopted from a feral colony brought them in. Everything was working great until then.

The 1st pic is taken from behind the dog yard, facing in. The 2nd & 3rd are taken from the side closest to the house & you can see a little more detail. We didn't attach the bottom of the CP to the chain link & I'm glad as if we do raise it, we will be wasting enough of the zip ties... You can see how many squares are below the top bar. The fourth pic shows our 17# rat terrier (?) next to the outside of the pen. Some of our permanent hooped coops (2 newly covered w/ 8x10 silver tarps) show in the back right of the pic.

This pen was sold to me as 10x10, but I've never measured it - it may be a bit larger. It was home/custom built by someone & is at least 10 years old now. Since this is for the dogs, we aren't putting any other wire on the CP. If it was for chickens or ducks we'd use either 2x4" wire or combo of that and 1/2" HC and both front & back would be wired shut, too.






I never thought of using hog panel as I've always purchased CP. Horse panel would be even better, but for my purposes are cost prohibitive. You could also sink a pole in the center, front & back, with a ridge support and that would make it stronger for a snow load.

Aart - I sure do LIKE that pic that shows how it handles the snow load.

Edited to add - O - and to make this wander off topic come back, that stretch of consistent tan/green the dog yard (inside the chain link panels) was 4 yrs in the making. JUST dog waste that didn't get picked up after the first winter (currently houses 3 dogs - 80, 45 & 35 #s in weight during the day only; has housed up to 4), dog den holes filled in & old straw overlaid during the Christmas holidays (the Spay Neuter Vet clinic that I work for closes for 2 weeks) and the bugs below... pretty cool "composting in place". Do not usually have problems with smell, ticks, fleas or flies - this year, during the drought, we did deal with both flies and fleas. First time since 2015 (when we moved in) that I had to treat the dogs' ears/bodies for fly bites/irritation. The dogs only picked up ticks when they ran loose through the forested part of our land (not meant to, none good at recall except Hobb).

 

[Cryss]

Cryss - Sooo, modem/router "broke" & IT guys won't be out until Tuesday to repair/replace. Using my phone with a "hot spot" to work on pics. Lets' see if they will load here now...

This is a temporary fix to our "dog yard". I think we may need to raise the hoop, to make it more hooped and stronger. Looks "flat" to me. But then again, we don't get a huge amount of snow in our area of NC, though what we do get is usually very wet... The tarp is too small and as I stated in previous text, we will be getting a larger tarp that will go to the front of the panels & extend down the back to cover the opening to the top of the dog pen; then down the sides some. We didn't bother with bringing the roof forward further, just used the two CPs (total of 100" from back to front). We (probably me) will re-dig & level the inside of the pen (they sure like their "dens"), treat it with a heavy load of DE (once it's dry again), and put up the straw bales two high plus break a few bales open to spread out. That will last almost a whole year... Except for treating for fleas. I don't want to, but may have to resort to actual chemicals for flea treatment. This is the first time in 5 years that we 've had a problem that just topical treatments on the dogs/cats hasn't taken care of. Think some cats I adopted from a feral colony brought them in. Everything was working great until then.

The 1st pic is taken from behind the dog yard, facing in. The 2nd & 3rd are taken from the side closest to the house & you can see a little more detail. We didn't attach the bottom of the CP to the chain link & I'm glad as if we do raise it, we will be wasting enough of the zip ties... You can see how many squares are below the top bar. The fourth pic shows our 17# rat terrier (?) next to the outside of the pen. Some of our permanent hooped coops (2 newly covered w/ 8x10 silver tarps) show in the back right of the pic.

This pen was sold to me as 10x10, but I've never measured it - it may be a bit larger. It was home/custom built by someone & is at least 10 years old now. Since this is for the dogs, we aren't putting any other wire on the CP. If it was for chickens or ducks we'd use either 2x4" wire or combo of that and 1/2" HC and both front & back would be wired shut, too.


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I never thought of using hog panel as I've always purchased CP. Horse panel would be even better, but for my purposes are cost prohibitive. You could also sink a pole in the center, front & back, with a ridge support and that would make it stronger for a snow load.

Aart - I sure do LIKE that pic that shows how it handles the snow load.

Edited to add - O - and to make this wander off topic come back, that stretch of consistent tan/green the dog yard (inside the chain link panels) was 4 yrs in the making. JUST dog waste that didn't get picked up after the first winter (currently houses 3 dogs - 80, 45 & 35 #s in weight during the day only; has housed up to 4), dog den holes filled in & old straw overlaid during the Christmas holidays (the Spay Neuter Vet clinic that I work for closes for 2 weeks) and the bugs below... pretty cool "composting in place". Do not usually have problems with smell, ticks, fleas or flies - this year, during the drought, we did deal with both flies and fleas. First time since 2015 (when we moved in) that I had to treat the dogs' ears/bodies for fly bites/irritation. The dogs only picked up ticks when they ran loose through the forested part of our land (not meant to, none good at recall except Hobb).

I admit I hadn't thought about running the ends of the CP down along the fence wall for several squares. I probably would have gone for 1 square down. I see yours are 4 squares down. I am understanding that you think you need to raise it to less squares to make it more bowed, therefore stronger against snow load. Am I right so far? If so my question, if you have a number in mind, is how many squares do you think would improve your set up?

 

[aart]

But then again, we don't get a huge amount of snow in our area of NC, though what we do get is usually very wet.

But it's usually gone in less than 24 hours, correct?
Where in NC are you?
..and did that shallow 'arc' buckle under the snow you did get?

I would recommend not more than an 8' span at bottom of arc for a 16' panel to hold up snow....unless you plan to support panel with 'posts', 2x2's would suffice.

 

[sorce]

Keep hearing of cardboard and junk mail with no talk of glues and the plastic windows in some junk mail.

I make sure to toss that stuff in the recycle bin. After it's torn from the compostable parts of course.

Be sure to use cardboard q-tips and the entire bathroom bin can usually be tossed in the pile. Minus Band-Aids and the occasional feminine products packaging.

I don't put glossies in either. Don't trust the gloss chemicals.

Add rusties for Iron.

Sorce

 

[aart]

the occasional feminine products packaging.

Not just the packaging...none of that should go into a compost, IMO.

 

[sorce]

Not just the packaging...none of that should go into a compost, IMO.

Amen, I guess the rest slipped my mind for my own personal safety! Lol.


Sorce

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I put 15-20 wheelbarrow loads of pine straw in my run yesterday. The birds were having a blast spreading it around.

 

[Pickled Plaid]

I absolutely love reading all the ideas everyone is sharing here!

I'm curious about whether composting runs are acceptable to state inspectors? Has anyone passed/failed a state NPIP inspection with composting runs?

I'm trying to understand the NPIP biosecurity requirements, and curious whether the natural congregation of bugs and worms helping to break down the compost would be considered a "health risk" by a state entity?

I'm not trying to introduce politics, only curious about how one could potentially utilize a compost run and pass/keep NPIP. I would love to rework my coop and covered run to employ chicken composting (particularly during winter months and in the future for grow out birds who are too small to free range). If someone has done this, I'd love to see pictures/hear about the process. I think natural foraging and scratching are important behaviors to encourage when birds are kept confined. (And my garden always needs more compost!)

 

[333113]

I am NPIP in Missouri. My state inspector has never said anything about chickens and compost. I get inspected for NPIP in March and a follow-up in September for AI-Free (every six months), so my coops and runs are inspected twice a year.

I mostly have deep litter in the pens and some of the runs, except for the ducks. In March there's not much visible bug activity, but in September, the lower, wetter parts of the duck pens are full of mealworms and soldier fly larva, and ducks digging around for them. That's a pretty good congregation of bugs, and I don't recall comments about that at all, except for the laughs when the ducks come out of the mud to wash the stack of mud off their beaks...before going back to the mud again.

However, every state makes their own rules around NPIP. And I live in the country, not in town, so there might be different rules for residential areas.

BTW, I don't see much visible bug activity, flying or crawling, in the chicken litter, at any time of year. If it moves, it's food, in my pens. I don't make that rule, I just live with it.

I absolutely love reading all the ideas everyone is sharing here!

I'm curious about whether composting runs are acceptable to state inspectors? Has anyone passed/failed a state NPIP inspection with composting runs?

I'm trying to understand the NPIP biosecurity requirements, and curious whether the natural congregation of bugs and worms helping to break down the compost would be considered a "health risk" by a state entity?

I'm not trying to introduce politics, only curious about how one could potentially utilize a compost run and pass/keep NPIP. I would love to rework my coop and covered run to employ chicken composting (particularly during winter months and in the future for grow out birds who are too small to free range). If someone has done this, I'd love to see pictures/hear about the process. I think natural foraging and scratching are important behaviors to encourage when birds are kept confined. (And my garden always needs more compost!)