Composting with chickens?

[KerriChick]

Also of note: as a fellow keeper of two guinea pigs-ours generate a LOT of poop, and they eat a LOT of timothy hay. I clean the cage daily and as soon as we get our garden composter the dirty/old hay and poo will be going in with the chicken manure and scraps! All types of pelleted poop make great compost for the garden!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Also of note: as a fellow keeper of two guinea pigs-ours generate a LOT of poop, and they eat a LOT of timothy hay. I clean the cage daily and as soon as we get our garden composter the dirty/old hay and poo will be going in with the chicken manure and scraps! All types of pelleted poop make great compost for the garden!

We have four rabbits, who also poop a lot and eat a lot of hay. We also have two small goats. The goats WASTE a lot of hay.

The wasted goat hay goes into old kiddie pools under the rabbit hutches, that catch the poop, dropped food, dropped hay from the rabbits, etc. These get emptied regularly into the chicken compost area. GREAT for compost!

 

[333113]

We have four rabbits, who also poop a lot and eat a lot of hay. We also have two small goats. The goats WASTE a lot of hay.

The wasted goat hay goes into old kiddie pools under the rabbit hutches, that catch the poop, dropped food, dropped hay from the rabbits, etc. These get emptied regularly into the chicken compost area. GREAT for compost!

My dad raised rabbits the entire time I was growing up, and beyond. We never composted rabbit manure, just put it straight into the garden. Dad used to call rabbit manure "hop-up" because the plants grew so fast on it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My dad raised rabbits the entire time I was growing up, and beyond. We never composted rabbit manure, just put it straight into the garden. Dad used to call rabbit manure "hop-up" because the plants grew so fast on it.

Probably why my grass grows so fast in certain areas - amorous wild buns romping around my lawn.

 

[KerriChick]

Yep pig poo can safely go right on the garden too without burning plants! My mother in law lived next door to people who kept alpacas-also great for putting directly in the garden!

 

[DustyDivas]

One more thing...

If you find you really don't have enough ingredients to make a compost "bin" you might want to try composting directly into the garden. I have several small areas sectioned off, topped the dirt with a layer of compostable stuff, then covered it with a layer of cardboard and a couple of black plastic garbage bags, cut open. I put bricks on the corners and edges. By spring, it will be ready for planting.

You can use paper feedbags or newspaper instead of the cardboard, and any plastic bags or tarp instead of black plastic garbage bags.

Yes, we also did this when we moved into our new house last year, was brilliant
The soil was pretty bad and needed quick raised beds, so filled newly built raised beds with composting material and covered them up just the same way as you describe, until planting time.
Super rich compost

 

[Tinypahomestead]

I will be composting right in the chicken/rabbit run area similar to Edible Acres on YouTube. It will help feed the chickens and they will do the turning work for me. We will chop our fall leaves (mountains of leaves) and use it as a base and add kitchen scraps and some grains to it. In the fall I'll clean it out and top the garden beds with it and add new leaves. Anything they can't have will be chopped and thrown in the worm bin.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

That sounds like a winner to me.

I want a compost area.

 

[MaggieMoo21]

I would like to start composting, (I've never done it before) but it seems like between the chickens, dogs, and guinea pigs there's nothing left to compost! The 7 chickens eat all the veggies, the 2 guinea pigs eat all the citrus and vitamin C veggies that the chickens don't eat, and the dogs eat the meat unless it's in a casserole, then it's trash. things like grapes, obviously , go in the trash because they aren't healthy for any of the animals. There's very little trash left over, which is awesome.

However, how do you compost when it seems like there's nothing left? I could do just the grass clippings and things like the tomato vines in the fall, but it seems like I should be adding more stuff to make compost. Can anyone give me some pointers? I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thanks!

I teach composting class and have a PowerPoint that I can email to you. Let me know if you're interested.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Fill your chicken run with wood-chip and bark. The nitrogen-rich poop will break down the wood and you'll be able to get lots of great compost.
Worm composting is great for the little bits and pieces if you haven't got enough for full bin composting. Worms will happily eat damp cardboard and paper too. Plus the chickens can eat the worms.