Composting

[seafood]

Will be using straw in the coop and would like to collect as much of the droppings as possible for composting and fertilizer.

How do you all seperate the droppings from your straw/wood chips/etc.??

 

[Dawn419]

I don't seperate the droppings from the pine shavings, just dump all of it onto the compost pile and let it break-down/cook together. Turn the pile occassionally and it will compost quicker.

Hope this helps!

Dawn

 

[DrakeMaiden]

We pick out the used litter, so essentially the droppings and whatever material it landed on, and compost that. Or if litter gets wet, it is important to clean that out too, so you don't grow mold or whatnot.

 

[patandchickens]

Remember you need high-carbon material (which straw or shavings is) along with high-nitrogen material (that would be the chicken-poo - it's pretty low in carbon) in order to get effective composting.

If you are wanting the poo to mix in with other carbonaceous material you have in a compost pile, consider building a droppings board under the roost to collect each night's droppings, which will be somethinglike 50% of they daily output. Scrape it off each morning into a bucket to take to the compost. Use something like that plasticky-covered particleboard stuff that cheap shelves are made of, or use a board covered in a vinyl flooring scrap, to make it easy to scrape clean.

Most people, tho, just wait til all the litter is good 'n' pooey and compost the whole enchilada. It may end up a little more tilted towards the carbon (rather than nitrogen) side of the equation and take a little longer to compost than if you had the optimal ratio but it does work pretty well.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Brian]

If you use pine shavings, these are more acidic than straw, and the resultant compost may need a little agricultural lime to bring up the pH.

 

[pips&peeps]

I cleaned some of my pens on Sunday and didn't move the last wheel barrow load as I was tired and still have lots of snow to plow through.

Well, on Tuesday I noticed I kept smelling something really bad when I passed the wheel barrow, so I took a better look and the darn thing was putting off heat.

How's that for composting.....

 

[muddler6]

Compost it all together, don't forget the kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, egg shells, etc. and turn it every so often. I can't imagine trying to seperate the poo from the straw and wood chips.

 

[ebaribault]

There must be a few good composting websites out there... Can anyone here recommend some favorites? (especially related to chicken stuff?)

 

[theMickster]

Here ya go.......

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/
Mick

**Edited to say I should have thought of this first.........
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/

Mick