Composting in the chicken run?

[Abunari]

I am wanting to compost in the run I have. I have a pile of wood chips I can pile in the run. My question is what do with the pine shavings I remove from the coop. I read somewhere to compost bedding seperate , has something to do with parasites?

Would it be safe to just pile the coop bedding in the run along with everything else?

 

[triplepurpose]

I am wanting to compost in the run I have. I have a pile of wood chips I can pile in the run. My question is what do with the pine shavings I remove from the coop. I read somewhere to compost bedding seperate , has something to do with parasites?

Would it be safe to just pile the coop bedding in the run along with everything else?

i would do it, assuming the flock is generally healthy. i dont see the logic of protecting them from whats already there. they are going to be pooping on the compost in the run anyway (kind of the whole point), so you couldnt separate them from their poop even if you wanted to.

besides, plenty of people use deep litter in coop or run that never gets emptied completely and beneficial microbial forces tend to keep parasites in check. parasite infestations are usually a function of poor health, poor diet, bad management, or stress rather than because a chicken happened to touch its own poop.

i could be missing something, but thats what id do...

 

[0wen]

I am wanting to compost in the run I have. I have a pile of wood chips I can pile in the run. My question is what do with the pine shavings I remove from the coop. I read somewhere to compost bedding seperate , has something to do with parasites?

Would it be safe to just pile the coop bedding in the run along with everything else?

I use a wood chip base for the flooring of my run and the bedding in their coop. This year, I had a couple of extra pine shavings left over from earlier use and started the coop bedding with the shavings - I've since added the wood chips to the shavings and didn't bother to remove the shavings. I use DLM in the coop and run, and when it comes time to remove the coop DLM I add it to the run if it needs finished composting, or the an outside pile waiting to go on the garden if it is complete. It may take the shavings a bit longer to break down, but I'll just leave them in the run until they do.

I add, basically everything I want composted to the run; weeds, garden waste, food scraps, dried leaves, dried pine needles, grass clippings, etc. I don't add any of this in the coop, but will toss in some herbs on occasion to encourage the chickens to scratch the bedding around. In the nesting boxes, I also add herbs (mint, lavender, etc) and these also, go into compost eventually (if they haven't been eaten) along with the soiled nesting box bedding. I do virtually all of my composting in my chicken run these days. I do have a small outside pile for things such as avacado and chicken toxic organic matter (I once composted a chicken that had died that I didn't have time to bury) - these usually go on flowers, trees, etc and not into the food garden since I let my chickens in there eventually to weed and such.

 

[Abunari]

Thanks. I have two small compost pile where I cleaned out my coop( pine shaving) and they just don't seem to be composting at all. I think I will transfer them to the run and let the ladies get to work! I worry they will kick a lot out of the run though. I'll have to think of some kind of sides or something.

 

[triplepurpose]

yeah, wood, even as shavings, is slow to break down. (one reason i oersonally prefer straw or leaves.) even sawdust tho fine is harder to comp just because the carbon/nitrogen ratio is so high. so needs lots of extra N and/or lots of time. (secret tip: urine makes a great free N amendment btw!) but it will eventually make fine compost!

also in my exp avocadoes will not harm chickens when added casually to a compost run. we have feed overripe avos to our flock for 25+ yrs. they will tear into the skin to eat the flesh and leave the skin and pit behind, just like the wild chickens, rats and other creatures do. not sure where this idea of avos being deadly to chickens comes from--but i only heard of it after wed been feeding the ones from our orchard to our flock for decades...

 

[0wen]

Wood chips are definitely a long term process but it works well for us. We 'Back to Eden' garden so having an ongoing supply is perfect for us. We made a sifter, basically a framed screen that sits on top of a wheel barrow, to work whats composted from whats not in the chicken run. Essentially we just shovel a scoop on the screen, shake until the fine litter/compost/manure falls into the barrow through the screen and then return the matter that needs more work (that's left on the screen) back to the run to finish...

 

[triplepurpose]

 We made a sifter, basically a framed screen that sits on top of a wheel barrow, to work whats composted from whats not in the chicken run.  Essentially we just shovel a scoop on the screen, shake until the fine litter/compost/manure falls into the barrow through the screen and then return the matter that needs more work (that's left on the screen) back to the run to finish...

thats cool! i used to use something like that. but ive really come to hate the added chore of sifting compost and dont bother now. i notice that weather and the chivkens do a lot of the sifting for me.

what i do to collect from the compost run is first acrape aside the stuff on top, which is mainly the coarser, uncomposted stuff. once i dig that aside, whats underneath is mainly the finer stuff that is mostly beoken down, so i just shovel it out, pull out any large pieces of whatever and throw them back into the run as i go, then use the comp as is. the only time i would ever bother screening now is maybe for making potting mix for small seedings. for soil amending or sidedressing i dont find it worth the trouble... i suppose it just depends how youre using it tho.

 

[0wen]

That's basically what we do. I don't sift bulk, just smaller projects like you mentioned.

 

[rusticpumpkins]

I compost two ways. Worm farms and a deep litter method in the run. The worms get things like avocados, completely rotten fruit, ect.
With the chickens I add lots of hay in the winter and they layer it with their manure and food scraps for me. Once spring comes around, I dig it all out of the coop and into the garden. I also like to let the chickens till and clear the garden plots of weeds. Add a pile of compost and they'll spread it evenly too!

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks. I have two small compost pile where I cleaned out my coop( pine shaving) and they just don't seem to be composting at all. I think I will transfer them to the run and let the ladies get to work! I worry they will kick a lot out of the run though. I'll have to think of some kind of sides or something.

When I built my run, I used 2 x 6 around the base of it to help contain the deep litter. It's a challenge to keep material in there for them to work on, b/c it melts into the ground so quickly. I even put in multiple WB full of wood chips. While the chips don't exactly disappear, they break down to the point that they are fine to use on the garden. I am also doing BTE, converting my garden to same, and have put in a BTE style orchard. Just finished spreading chips under the last of the trees last week. Still a work in progress b/c the area not covered with cardboard before chips has weeds sprouting up through. And of course the chips need to be added to on a regular basis. Over all, I'm delighted with what I see BTE doing for my land.