Composting in the chicken run?

[ChristieB]

When I was growing up my parents and grandparents always had a lidded bucket under the sink where food scraps went. when the bucket was fullish (every other day or so depending) it got thrown to the chooks as well as grass clippings etc, pretty sure they weren't purposefully composting in the run but it was just what you did if you had chooks. The stuff in the bottom of the bucket sometimes got mouldy and it never seemed to bother the chooks, there was never any meat products in there, I imagine the mould on meat would be bad for them, usually meat scraps went straight to the dogs as we washed the dishes.

Edit to add. I'm pretty sure my dad never bought purposeful chicken food unless they stopped laying, they had scraps, grain and free ranged in the afternoon. Eggs still tasted good as did the chooks when they made it to the kitchen

 

[RichnSteph]

We kicked around the idea of composting in the run but to be honest we need our compost for planting and the darn chickens just scatter anything they get into all over the yard. Our soil here is 99.9% sand with a topsoil layer of less than 1/16" so we will have a hard time growing a garden. Our options are to either compost everything we can and start amending the soil or go aquaponics. We're going the AP route for our garden and then using the compost for things that don't do well in an AP set up and for our fruit trees once spring hits and we can do some planting. I do throw all the poo that we skim out of the poop board into the bin and I've got a friend with rabbits who has said I can have all the droppings I want whenever I want to bring a drum and fill it. That stuff is also going into the compost bin.


RichnSteph

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

I feel your pain, RichnSteph. It's like living on Mars for us... the so called soil is red and sandy Have you considered raised beds? We've opted for raised beds as a quick solution to being able to grow. I've built a few 4'x8' beds of varying heights out of cinder blocks (some people use wood, but I like the look of cinder blocks and I believe it is cheaper than wood), then hauled in a decent mix of compost and top soil from a local landscaping supplier. It's actually really nice to have the sandiness down below to help with drainage.

As far as amending the natural soil around us, I've been looking into the Back to Eden method of just piling on as much organic materials and possible... but who the heck knows!

 

[nellynelly]

we cover our finishd piles with plastic sheets. if not, the chcikens spread it out all over the run looking for bugs and such. from obervation, they ignore the activily composting (hot) piles, and focus on the fresh pile (material dumped 3 days /week) and the finshed product, which has more bugs.

 

[RichnSteph]

I feel your pain, RichnSteph. It's like living on Mars for us... the so called soil is red and sandy Have you considered raised beds? We've opted for raised beds as a quick solution to being able to grow. I've built a few 4'x8' beds of varying heights out of cinder blocks (some people use wood, but I like the look of cinder blocks and I believe it is cheaper than wood), then hauled in a decent mix of compost and top soil from a local landscaping supplier. It's actually really nice to have the sandiness down below to help with drainage.

As far as amending the natural soil around us, I've been looking into the Back to Eden method of just piling on as much organic materials and possible... but who the heck knows!

I built some raised beds last year and was going to compost in them up until next spring and then start planting. Well the deer out here would dig into the piles to get to the fruit and things we threw out. Then they'd find one with less compost and more grass clippings in it and curl up in there to sleep until I fed them in the morning. We quickly abandoned that idea.

RichnSteph

 

[clucking hen]

We have tried to compost in our run with edible food scraps. We don't really get much compost from it because it all gets worked into the ground. If you had a significant amount of organic material I think it would work better than if you only have a few scraps.

 

[triplepurpose]

We kicked around the idea of composting in the run but to be honest we need our compost for planting and the darn chickens just scatter anything they get into all over the yard.

I think a key to making it practical is having the compost area separate from any large run and contained in small enough zone that this doesn't happen. Your compost "bin" therefor encompasses the whole of that little enclosure, so there's nowhere for them to scatter it except around the enclosure. I have hardware cloth lining the base too which helps keep fine stuff in also. You can't, on the other hand, just build a neat pile in one corner of a big run and expect it to stay there!

I get lots of great compost for my quarter acre market garden and other areas. It seems there is some loss from weathering (since it sits in the rain an sun for months as it piles up), but the chickens do all the work of shredding and mixing, which saves me work (I basically just turn it once when I fork it out). A roof over it might help with that too but then I'd have to water the compost somehow. Perhaps it's not for every situation, but I think the method has serious advantages if you plan it right and it fits for you.

 

[Sill]

My bins are made of used pallet wood and are in the chickens' run. Here's one bin with new materiel next to one with almost finished compost. It doesn't take long to make black gold!

Bin one with new materiel, two with compost that is actively cooking and bin three has finished compost. I can add or subtract the boards on the front or cover the top to keep out chickens or rain if needed. I only cover to keep chickens out when there is something that might be bad for them like moldy bread. The front boards keep most of the materiel contained, but the girls do end up scratching some out. I just scoop it back in occasionally.

A couple of the girls checking for bugs in the compost that is getting turned out for aeration. They actively jump in and out of the bins searching for treats and help turn the top of the piles. The bins are too big for them to get all the way to the bottom which is why I turn them myself. That way all the materiel gets broken down instead of just the surface and it takes less time for the pile to process.

It took a while to empty the bin and it got nearly dark but the I took all the front boards off so it was easier to empty. I'll leave the stuff out for a day or two for the chickens to work before forking it all back in to cook longer.

 

[RichnSteph]

Wow Sill that is a great set up!

 

[Sill]

Wow Sill that is a great set up!

Thanks! I've struggled for years with small tumbler composters or just doing it on the ground. I got a free pile of new pallets and asked my DH to make the bins for me after a lot of thought and research. I'm very happy with the result, user wise, but if I had it to do over again (and I will when the boards rot out) I would have had them made with block to last longer.