Composting chicken run

[RUNuts]

3 pallets wired together to form a 3 sided cube? Something easy.

 

[gtaus]

chicken Run Compost Day 1....These two are not very interested in the new mulch and straw.
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You can see there's plenty room for more compost stuff. On the top of that mountain is the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail.

Looks like chicken heaven to me. Very nice setup for your chickens. They have lots of stuff to look through in your run. With so much area to chose from, you might want to encourage them to work on the mulch. If they don't seem to be interested in the mulch, I'd start throwing a handful of chicken scratch and/or grains into the mulch. They will scratch through the mulch to get to the feed.

 

[gtaus]

Ah what kind of furniture do you think they would like?

Before I turned my entire chicken run into a compost system, I set up a pallet compost bin in a corner of the run. I used full sized pallets for the the back and two sides. I cut the 4th pallet in half, placing one half as the front of the bin and the other half on top of the bin. My chickens love to jump up on the half front, the top of the sides, or the half pallet sitting on top of the bin. On a nice day, I can sometimes see all 10 of my chickens perched on that compost bin sunning themselves. If it's too warm, they go into the bin and sit under the shade provided by the half pallet on top of the bin.

I no longer use that compost bin in the chicken run to make compost, but decided to leave it in there because the chickens just love to jump up on it and look around.

I think chickens would like just about anything they can jump up on or hide under for shade. Just don't put something like a box in there on its side where they could get cornered by a predator or a bully chicken. They need to be able to escape and get away even from their flock mates.

I saw one guy made chicken swings for his birds. I asked him if the chickens ever used those swings and he said they never did. So he got rid of the swings.

I saw someone who put in an old A-Frame ladder in his run. His chickens loved perching on the rungs. I suppose it also becomes a status issue and the top hen is going to want to perch higher than everybody else.

 

[vpatt]

They can get under the coop and they can stand on those stumps. I'll look for a good branch or something else that they can climb on. Yesterday I had Steven take out the dog box... It was from someone's truck but the hens started laying in it and I had an awful time getting eggs out of it. I could put a lean to against the back of the coop with both ends open. I have a bag of scratch about a year old...I wonder if it would be ok to scatter in the mulch? Also I bought the boss yesterday. Now to find more chicks....tractor supply will have a swap...not sure about the closest one but the one two towns away will.
Chicken fever.......

 

[jthornton]

Ah what kind of furniture do you think they would like? They can get under the coop. I could add a large branch or 2.

Anything really, a chunk of wood they can hop up to, a roost out in the sun etc.

JT

 

[vpatt]

Anything really, a chunk of wood they can hop up to, a roost out in the sun etc.

JT

I just saw a chicken swing on Amazon, but from the reactions I'd say it's made for canaries. But would not be hard to make one.

 

[gtaus]

It was from someone's truck but the hens started laying in it and I had an awful time getting eggs out of it.

Yeah, I would get rid of anything that encourages the hens to lay eggs in it instead of their nest boxes. I don't want to be egg hunting every day.

I have a bag of scratch about a year old...I wonder if it would be ok to scatter in the mulch?

Absolutely. Farmers store their grains for years in silos. As long as the scratch does not smell bad or there are signs of rot, I would not hesitate to throw it out in the mulch.

 

[gtaus]

I just saw a chicken swing on Amazon, but from the reactions I'd say it's made for canaries. But would not be hard to make one.

I sent a message to a guy who built some chicken swings and asked him if the chickens ever used the swings. He said they did not. The swings were just in his way, so he took them down.

I guess I would not buy any "chicken swing." But your flock might like them. You could make one yourself with some rope and a scrap piece of scrap lumber. If your chickens like the swing, please give us some feedback.

 

[vpatt]

I put a bit of the scratch in a little white bucket...in a couple of hours there were little black bugs crawling up the inside of the bucket. 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. No bad smell or look.

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. I had a distaff in it from one of my spinning wheels and it is not sharp but I guess weight on top caused it to poke thru the plastic. So I will just use it like it is.

 

[vpatt]

It could have been bugs from outside that got into thei scratch but in case they actually are in the bag I moved It all out