Composting...

[TJAnonymous]

I suppose it's normal to change with advancing age so i quit doing it the difficult way . Now i determine in the fall where i will plant a few peppers and tomatoes , dig holes in those locations and that's where all compost-able veg scraps go during the winter . Each time i add a small amount of compost-able it gets a small amount of soil added on top . When spring arrives those holes are already fertilized and willing to accept new plants . We have moved from a property with excellent sandy loam gardening soil to a property with hard clay so i'm looking forward to seeing what that method will do .

I live in the foothills of the Ozarks. Our soil is hard clay & shale. Very rocky.... Over 2 years, I have added humus and lots of homemade compost which I have tilled into the soil. My garden isn't huge (20 ft x 20 ft) but the soil condition has VASTLY improved from the first year. I'm just sayin'.....don't give up! It is possible to make it better.

 

[RoyalChick]

Here’s a photo of the hay bake composter setup, and of the (now empty) pallet composter.


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I love the hay composter idea - is yours two bales deep or one? You have me thinking. Mine would be way, way smaller than yours and I do most of the composting in the chicken coop and run, but I do also compost pine cat litter (yes, don't start at me, I have thought about the risks) and of course some stuff that chickens don't or shouldn't have access to.
At the moment I have 3 pallet bins - by the time the 3rd is full, the first should be ready to use - but the bins themselves are beginning to fall apart so I will soon have to start over one way or another.

 

[Percheron chick]

At the moment I have 3 pallet bins - by the time the 3rd is full, the first should be ready to use - but the bins themselves are beginning to fall apart so I will soon have to start over one way or another.

My solution is plastic pallets. I can usually find them for free on CL. They don't rot, have vent holes and are pretty uniform from brand to brand. Bonus with the black ones is they heat up from the sun. Hit the jack pot last week. 30 for free. I am set for life.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I love the hay composter idea - is yours two bales deep or one? You have me thinking. Mine would be way, way smaller than yours and I do most of the composting in the chicken coop and run, but I do also compost pine cat litter (yes, don't start at me, I have thought about the risks) and of course some stuff that chickens don't or shouldn't have access to.
At the moment I have 3 pallet bins - by the time the 3rd is full, the first should be ready to use - but the bins themselves are beginning to fall apart so I will soon have to start over one way or another.

The great thing about the hay bale composters is that they are very modular. I built mine 3 bales high. I started with a 3 long by two wide by 3 high, then built a second, then added two 3 wide by 3 long by 3 tall. So, I guess the whole thing is 10 bales wide by 3 bales long by 3 high...meaning it's about 90 bales?! Actually, it's MORE than that, since I have 4 cross rows inside the larger structure.

No wonder my hay guy loves me!

I don't expect the hay bales to last multiple seasons, but that's OK...once they're done HOLDING compost, they can BECOME compost.

 

[RoyalChick]

The great thing about the hay bale composters is that they are very modular. I built mine 3 bales high. I started with a 3 long by two wide by 3 high, then built a second, then added two 3 wide by 3 long by 3 tall. So, I guess the whole thing is 10 bales wide by 3 bales long by 3 high...meaning it's about 90 bales?! No wonder my hay guy loves me!

I don't expect the hay bales to last multiple seasons, but that's OK...once they're done HOLDING compost, they can BECOME compost.

Exactly my thinking. Thanks for the idea!

 

[gtaus]

I plan to clean out the pine shaving coop bedding in a few weeks. It's all going into the run. Next fall, I'll be putting it in the garden, after harvest. The soil/compost in the run is looking good, that's for sure. And soft, and thick. You go, girls! (And boy.)

Chickens are great at making compost. Just have to give them the raw material and they will do almost all the work for you making that compost.

My solution is plastic pallets.

That is a great resource. I have never seen plastic pallets where I live. But great score if you can get them. My wooden pallets last many years, and if/when they do fall apart, I'll just replace them with new pallets. I imagine your plastic pallets will out live most of us, so good reuse of that material.

So, I guess the whole thing is 10 bales wide by 3 bales long by 3 high...meaning it's about 90 bales?!

Yep, I have more compost than I need, but nowhere near the scale of production you have going on. Love your idea of the hay bale compost piles.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Like I said, I'm not at your operational level, but I, too, make more chicken run compost than I can use in my gardens. Last year I gave some compost away to my neighbor, and he really appreciated it. Unfortunately, they just moved last week so there is nobody else in the "hood" with a garden to share my bounty. The new owners are out of state and will only occasionally be at the house. I doubt if they will have any garden, but who knows?

I will be adding a few more raised beds this spring, but I will still have way more compost than I can use. I guess that is a good position to be in.

BTW, I have also built a pallet holding bin just like the one in your picture, but only half the size. Anyway, I have it loaded up with leaves and just letting it sit and age to make leaf mold compost. Already talked to my free pallet supplier a few weeks ago and plan on getting some more pallets when the snow melts. You can never have too many pallets sitting in the backyard!

Free pallets! Excuse me sir, did you say, FREE PALLETS? As in, pallets you don't have to pay for? Where do you come by such a treasure?

 

[Percheron chick]

Free pallets! Excuse me sir, did you say, FREE PALLETS? As in, pallets you don't have to pay for? Where do you come by such a treasure?

Start with CL under the free section. FB marketplace. Any industrial park, drive around to the back... Lowe's or HD (but ask as most that are painted on the side are returned for a deposit), the feed store, sporting goods store... Dumpster diving...

 

[gtaus]

Free pallets! Excuse me sir, did you say, FREE PALLETS? As in, pallets you don't have to pay for? Where do you come by such a treasure?

We have a local Co-Op Country Store and gas station. I order my chicks from them. They are good enough to let me take free pallets for compost bins every once in a while. I have been getting about 8 pallets a year for the past three years, and plan on getting more this spring if available.

Most places will not give pallets away for free, so I understand your surprise. What upsets me to no end is that some people drop off pallets at the landfill/recycle center but we cannot take them out of the center. Somebody at the landfill/recycle center management has decided that it is better to crush the pallets up and dispose of them as garbage rather then letting anyone use them at home for compost bins.

Sometimes I could just rant about how much stuff is thrown away at the recycle/landfill center that is still useful, but nobody can take anything once dropped off. We really live in a disposable world. And I suspect you know people that would wonder why you would bother to build compost bins at home when you could just buy bags of compost at the big box store!

Anyway, almost all our kitchen scraps and leftovers get fed to the chickens. All my fallen branches in the yard get chipped up for use in the coop and/or run, all my grass clippings get tossed into the chicken run, and all my leaves get mowed up in the fall and are dumped into the chicken run with a few bags full stored for use as winter litter for the coop if needed. Nothing organic leaves my property if the chickens can use it or it can be composted.

As I have posted elsewhere, Dear Wife and I only fill up about 1-2 kitchen sized garbage bags per month for the landfill. We really have reduced our garbage footprint over the years and I am pretty happy with our efforts. Might not be directly related to the composting thread, but the idea of reducing garbage output by composting as much as you can from the home and yard surely is a good thing.

 

[gtaus]

most that are painted on the side are returned for a deposit

Along that line, are plastic milk crates behind the stores returned for deposit or are they sent back as garbage? I saw a YouTube video where a guy was using those plastic milk crates as a way to make a barrier for composting sections. He had the crates in his run and used them to section off areas. It worked for him.