Composting with duck bedding?

[Miss Lydia]

My ducks perch up on the pallets I used to make my bins....Don't seem them eating from it often....but def, adding nitrogen to it. Last year Mother earth news did a chicken story and one thing they encouraged was fencing them around compost for a few days so they would turn it up and get lost of worm to eat as rewards.

Well I think i am going to open mine up to them and see how good a job they do. I know there are some yummy worms in there but probably way in the bottom right now. lol

 

[Amiga]

Miss Lydia,

I have a few compost piles. (Hey, everybody has a hobby.)

One has more oak leaves for a more acid compost for potatoes. I also put some straw and waste feed in it. Before anyone gets worried, I add water to the waste feed and broadcast it so it doesn't form moldy clumps. The ducks like to climb that and slide down the other side, which stirs the worms out and woweee! Lots of fun!

One has kitchen scraps that aren't suitable even for the ducks, and it's in a bin with a lid, out of the duck area. I add duck straw to that and it composts much faster than before.

One has straw and leaves and a little brush, and the duckies tromp around in that area and do a good job enriching it, and finding worms and slugs.

One has mostly straw, but some kitchen scraps that I bury in the straw so that the ducks can dance around on the pile and not contact (much) gooey stuff.

And so far, everyone seems fine.

I am fascinated by the number of variations of composting advice I have seen. One of the most interesting things I saw online was a C:N calculator. Click on the feedstocks (input) you want to use, and the calculator would give you a C:N ratio based on what you were putting on your virtual compost pile.

 

[Tahai]

Amiga, do you have a link to that c:n calculation site? Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

Here is a similar site

http://www.klickitatcounty.org/solidwaste/fileshtml/organics/compostcalc.htm

 

[Miss Lydia]

Miss Lydia,

I have a few compost piles. (Hey, everybody has a hobby.)

One has more oak leaves for a more acid compost for potatoes. I also put some straw and waste feed in it. Before anyone gets worried, I add water to the waste feed and broadcast it so it doesn't form moldy clumps. The ducks like to climb that and slide down the other side, which stirs the worms out and woweee! Lots of fun!

One has kitchen scraps that aren't suitable even for the ducks, and it's in a bin with a lid, out of the duck area. I add duck straw to that and it composts much faster than before.

One has straw and leaves and a little brush, and the duckies tromp around in that area and do a good job enriching it, and finding worms and slugs.

One has mostly straw, but some kitchen scraps that I bury in the straw so that the ducks can dance around on the pile and not contact (much) gooey stuff.

And so far, everyone seems fine.

I am fascinated by the number of variations of composting advice I have seen. One of the most interesting things I saw online was a C:N calculator. Click on the feedstocks (input) you want to use, and the calculator would give you a C:N ratio based on what you were putting on your virtual compost pile.

Thanks Amiga, so the compost pile with the kitchen scraps is out of bounds but the one with yard waste and bedding is okay. So i will leave my one covered it's so funny to watch them fly up to the top and try their best to figure out how to get inside the one with the top. We do have a rat getting in from underneath so my dh picked up a rat trap today
so we can try to elimanate it. we saw it on our game camera, big sucker too.

 

[Amiga]

Miss Lydia, I had some success with bubble gum. I put it in the rat hole.

I think I will need more, but we'll see. I have not seen any rats since a few weeks after I set out the bubble gum.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Miss Lydia, I had some success with bubble gum. I put it in the rat hole.

I think I will need more, but we'll see. I have not seen any rats since a few weeks after I set out the bubble gum.

Thats interesting Amiga, I'll tell DH.

 

[NYRIR]

I absolutely let my chickens turn my compost. I have had no obvious problems from it since owning chickens for a couple of years. I will say, however, they never let the food get old enough to "rot"

My compost is mostly hay, some pine shavings, leaves and grass clippings when available. I do throw fruit rinds, corn cobs, etc. out as well. In fact, I spread their treats once a day IN the compost pile to encourage them to "turn" it for me.Maybe that's not good, I am not real experienced with chickens or composting, but it has not been a problem for me or mine....
Oops...ETA: No, I do NOT have a lot of kitchen scraps in it...it is mostly bedding because I have plenty of birds to clean up ALL the kitchen scraps quickly

Question? I heard that it isn't good to let chickens into the compost pile because of eating rotting food etc. well i just finished reading Free Range Chicken Gardens and it talks about chickens in the compost which helps to turn it etc. I have kept mine covered since getting chickens 21/2 years ago, but befor that my ducks were always into the compost pile they loved it and never got sick. I guess ignorance is bliss because I didn't know that composts weren't safe till I read it. But anyway do ya'll let your ducks and chickens get into the compost pile?

 

[galgo98]

Is it best to place an open compost pile in the sun or shade? Or doesn't it matter, since most of the composting is happening in the middle and bottom of the pile...

 

[Tahai]

sun. the more heat, the better. that's why commercial composters are black.