Composting chicken run

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I think they are so pretty!
Thanks, that makes me feel so much better! I put plastic over the coop window (hoping it won't come off during the nite). Just that they haven't been outside much. I left their box with straw in it in case they want to sleep in it and extra straw on the floor. The window is covered but I couldn't reach the vents. Now I'll pray for the best.
And I just remembered that even tho we have LOTS of leaves here that at my father-in-laws house there is an actual mountain of chopped leaves. Cannot wait to get a trailer load of them!!

Hopefully they do OK. What are your temps like right now? Keep us posted on how it goes!

And yes, always good to find lots of leaves. My pile needs a carbon input now that it's starting to alternate freezing and above freezing days. On the next unfrozen day, I have a few spots in my yard I can grab a few leaves from...and then I have a neighbors yard I can get many more barrels worth.

Yeah, sometimes the neighbors look at you funny when you ask if you can harvest some of their leaves...but so far, nobody has ever said "no".

 

[gtaus]

I just seem perlite and vermiculite in large bags at Home Depot two days ago. Is there one near you?

Yes, but my local Home Depot does not carry either bulk bags of perlite or vermiculite. They do carry the small 8 quart bags of perlite and vermiculite in the garden center, but those are really expensive for the small quantity you get.

Last year I went through two 3 cubic foot bags of vermiculite making potting mix for my raised beds. Buying those 2 bulk bags cost me about $40.00 or $20.00 per 3 cubic foot bag. If I bought enough 8 quart bags to make 6 cubic feet, that would cost me $159.00.

Real time update: But, I just rechecked my local Home Depot online and they now have 2 cubic feet bags of vermiculite for $20.00. I did not see that last week, so maybe they just came in. Same price as last year but now only 2 cubic feet instead of 3 cubic feet per bag. Might be the best option if Menards has discontinued their supply of bulk vermiculite. Thanks.

 

[gtaus]

Yeah, sometimes the neighbors look at you funny when you ask if you can harvest some of their leaves...but so far, nobody has ever said "no".

Would it not be great to set up a list of customers who would pay you to either collect or haul off all their leaves? Getting paid for all those leaves you could collect for your chickens would really be the ultimate.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Would it not be great to set up a list of customers who would pay you to either collect or haul off all their leaves? Getting paid for all those leaves you could collect for your chickens would really be the ultimate.

Raking up leaves is pretty labor intensive, but people do pay good money. I have neighbors who I know paid hundreds to get their fall leaves removed (and these are lots smaller than 1/2 acre).

I also live in an area, that while rural, is populous enough that I could drive around any day in the fall and fill the back up my pickup truck with leaf bags out by the road. If I figured out a good place to stockpile them, they'd be handy to pull out and add to the pile any time it needs a carbon boost. Storage would really be the only limiting factor.

 

[gtaus]

I also live in an area, that while rural, is populous enough that I could drive around any day in the fall and fill the back up my pickup truck with leaf bags out by the road. If I figured out a good place to stockpile them, they'd be handy to pull out and add to the pile any time it needs a carbon boost. Storage would really be the only limiting factor.

I, too, was thinking about a good way to store bags of leaves for winter use. I would like to maybe build a small outdoor shed for leaf storage. For the time being, I just put the bags off the ground on some free pallets and cover the bags with a tarp.

I live out in the country, so nobody around here has bags full of leaves out on the curbside for someone to pick up. I don't even know if they do that in town. I get more leaves than I can use on my own property, but I sure would be picking up those free bags of leaves if I lived in town and needed some.

Leaves are soft and fluffy for the chicken coop in the cold winter and make good compost when thrown out in the chicken run. The base of my deep bedding in the coop is wood chips, but during the winter I find it easier to throw a fresh bag of leaves in the coop to cover the frozen poo.

 

[gtaus]

With daytime temps now reaching the low 40F's where I live, one dreams of springtime around the corner. I have so much compost left in the chicken run from last year that I need another storage solution until I can sift it and/or use it in the garden beds. I was able to get 7 free pallets for our local Co-Op on Wednesday, so I will be making another 3 bin pallet compost system when the snow melts.

That will bring my pallet compost bins up to 6 this spring. Last fall I filled two and half bins with overflow from my chicken run. But I barely made a dent in how much compost I took out of the chicken run. I will not be turning these compost bins after I fill them up. My idea is to fill the bins up and let them sit as storage until needed.

A few years ago I was buying compost for $5.00 per bag at the big box store. Now, with my composting chickens, I have a fortune of compost sitting out in the run waiting to be mined. And that is already after filling all my garden beds last fall with chicken run compost and giving away compost to the neighbors. Hope to see the benefits of the compost in the garden this summer.

 

[Sally PB]

Now, with my composting chickens, I have a fortune of compost sitting out in the run waiting to be mined.

An embarrassment of riches!

I gave a friend a pile of compost late last summer. I hope to give them more this year. Their garden soil is just about beach sand. Whenever I think my soil looks pale (as compared to how I wish it looked), I think of their soil.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

You’ve come a long way @gtaus!

The other part of my “chicken compost” plan has kicked into high gear the last week or so.

The 50 chicks I added in August have started laying, and the existing flock is producing more with longer days.

I made my first egg donation just under a year ago...was donating maybe 4-6 dozen per week.

I dropped off 12 dozen last week. Then 14 dozen 5 days later. Then 7 dozen more 2 days later. It’s an egg-splosion! That brings us to 78 dozen donated for 2021, and 301 dozen since late March last year.

When I started donating eggs in 2019, the food pantry ran once a month. They are now up to 3 days a week - there is SO much need right now!

 

[gtaus]

I gave a friend a pile of compost late last summer. I hope to give them more this year.

I'm at a stage in life where I can enjoy giving something away for free to somebody who appreciates it. I don't need their money, so a small thank you is all I need. If someone does not appreciate the gift, I move on. My neighbors appreciated the compost I gave them last year, so they will get more this year if they want.

I think, in general, gardeners are more appreciative of small gifts because they know the time and effort it takes to actually grow something. Or the value of some good compost from a chicken run compared to the commercial stuff you have to buy in a bag from a big box store. It's just a theory, but that's what I think.

 

[Sally PB]

I think, in general, gardeners are more appreciative of small gifts because they know the time and effort it takes to actually grow something.

Yup. Couldn't have said it better.