Composting System

[XanderWiFi]

I wanted to present the setup I am enabling in case there are unseen drawbacks or ways I could enhance the system.

We do a bit of light gardening and I am making a stronger effort to compost some good fertilizer for when planting time comes. I am employing my chickens for their personal enjoyment and assistance in product creation.

Our coop and internal run is a 12x6 amish coop we purchased when first starting out. This is where they obviously sleep and get locked up at night. Since then I have added a fenced in 30x30 external run to give them more space and protection.

The coop and internal run are bedded with pine shavings. Any bedding or poop scooped out of the coop itself is thrown out the chicken door where it is raked out with the internal run's bedding into the external run.

Within the external run there is a 5x10 compost section that is ringed with logs that are about a foot tall. We put all household scraps here for the chickens to pick through. All leftover food, coffee grounds, scraps go in this section to be picked over.

In fall, I raked a bunch of fallen leaves into the girl's external run since they have effectively killed any grass within their fenced area. The leaves give them something to dig through hunting for bugs or whatnot while they gradually shred and stir it. They also poop on top of it as well. Recently, I raked all of these poopy leaves into the composting corner and raked leaves out of the woods to line their external run once again.

All in all, leftover, coop poop/pine shavings, poopy leaves all end up in this composting corner. It makes a sizable pile altogether and the girls LOVE tearing it apart and pooping in it further. Of course, I rake it back to be scratched, stirred and pecked further.

I think I am starting to see a positive result of our collective labors. Gradually, a dark black "dirt" has been surfacing in the compost corner which I hope to continue building upon as the poop and leaves break down. I've read I require a 30:1 ratio of carbon:chicken poop for it to become safe fertilizer. My hope is it will continually attract bugs to help feed the birds in addition to the scraps and reduce feed cost. All the while they continue turning the compost and shredding leaves further.

Is this system flawed or unsafe in any way? Is there any way I can improve upon it? Should I leave the "pay dirt" there to continue to be dug through or begin piling it somewhere else? I am particularly interested to hear of ideas for more effective compost buildup rather than some old logs. Being in the corner they throw it through the fence as well.

 

[aart]

This guy has a great setup for producing and collecting compost from chicken run.
Not sure if it will help you, but:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/disposing-of-old-shavings.1201566/page-2#post-19035555

 

[XanderWiFi]

Awesome referral. The compost just "falls" out the bottom? I suppose the weight from above just pushes the smaller particles downward?

 

[Below frigid]

You will need to move or fence the compost pile when it is at least 4x4x4 and start a new pile while the finished one cures. The newest poop in the pile needs 6 months with no new poo being added. I always have at least 3 piles. New one, curing and one ready to use. Look up the Berkeley method for quick compost. We do a straw bale garden every spring. First frost it gets broken apart already 80% finished compost. I add some more N and turn it here an there for my raised beds the next spring. Great thing about straw is it is pretty sterile! No weeds.

 

[aart]

Awesome referral. The compost just "falls" out the bottom? I suppose the weight from above just pushes the smaller particles downward?

Not exactly sure how quickly or by what mechanism the compost falls out to be gathered, I doubt it's the weight, but maybe, you could go to thread and quote that post of his and ask, he's very agreeable to answering questions in detail.

 

[RonP]

Hi,

"I've read I require a 30:1 ratio of carbon:chicken poop for it to become safe fertilizer"??

Actually a 30:1 ratio is optimum for decomposition but not necessary. A higher carbon ratio will just take longer for the material to compost. A pile of leaves undisturbed will compost naturally in about 1 1/2 years. Add nitrogen, could be gone in weeks.

Personally, I do not track my ratios. I maintain a higher carbon content to avoid anaerobic conditions (no oxygen), which will often emit foul odors. If your compost smells, add carbons... carbons do not.

The compost does not just fall out of the bottom in my run.
The bottom is well composted and ready...

The girls constant digging craters and tossing material against the 1/2 inch hardware cloth sifts the fine material out of the run to be collected. They seem to love their work and never complain, changing their landscape on a daily basis. An 18" hole is not uncommon in their run as it is mostly soft semi composted material being mixed with new carbons and nitrogen as I add new material to maintain the level...

Hope this helps.

 

[XanderWiFi]

@RonP Thanks for the info. I am trying to discern how you constructed your compost bin there. Did you frame the wood around your perimeter t-post fence with a small catch area surrounding? Or is it constructed in the middle of your run? Do you have a chicken ladder for the girls to climb up or is there one side open they can simply enter/exit? I like it a lot and may model something similar in my own run.

 

[lazy gardener]

@XanderWiFi , you have a good thing going in your run.

I do not try to keep my compostables piled in one area of my 500 s.f. run. However, they do get piled simply b/c of the fact that I get the materials through the door and dump them in the front section of the run. But, the other end of the run is attached to the back end of my coop where there is a clean out door under the perches. So, when I clean DL out of the coop, it gets pushed out that door and piled at the back end. My goal is to end up with at least 6" of DL covering the whole run. Slow going. I've been working at it for about 3 years.

Simply continue the good fight. Haul as much material in there as you can get your hands on. Eventually, you will end up with a good covering, as will I. One thing I do use is hay bales. They are used to provide multi height areas to keep the flock amused when they must be confined, and when they break down, they add to the DL. You might want to employ some hay bales to keep your compost corner more confined, if that is a goal for you. When I set up the winter sun room, I sometimes put some hay bales in front of the closed in area to help contain their winter leaf pile. Didn't do that this year, and missed it.

 

[RonP]

@RonP Thanks for the info. I am trying to discern how you constructed your compost bin there. Did you frame the wood around your perimeter t-post fence with a small catch area surrounding? Or is it constructed in the middle of your run? Do you have a chicken ladder for the girls to climb up or is there one side open they can simply enter/exit? I like it a lot and may model something similar in my own run.

Interesting observations...

My run is my compost bin... 14x14 feet.

The chicken door from the coop to the run is ~24 inches above the original dirt floor in the run, around 18 inches above the coop floor, the coop is on 6x6 inch beams.

I keep the composting material around the same depth, around 18 to 24 inches deep.

The girls are at near "ground level" when exiting the coop, perhaps a 2 inch drop.
There is a ramp to dirt level, but it has been buried for years... This keeps the girls from digging too close to the door and tossing composting material into the coop.

There is about 14 cubic yards of composting material in my run at all times, mostly leaves and free wood chips.

Hope this helps.

 

[XanderWiFi]

Ahhhh I see. You guys essentially keep your entire runs as a composting areas. I would like to keep the compost restricted to the run and never thought of hay bails as barriers for that along with the entertainment factor. I do worry about the hay with impacted crops even though it is an extremely common litter item.

So it seems I may be doing more work than necessary. No need to rake and compile and re-pile then? Just build on top of what exists repeatedly and let it build upon itself? And in about a years time or less I could possibly be ready to start throwing some in the garden.