deep litter and linoleum floor?

[CarlaRiggs]

Hi, Pat ~
Yes, I will use plenty of nitrogen in my composting.

Here in the West, we seem to be nitrogen deficient in many places. After garden for 30 years, I have wonderful soil

with lots of earthworms/anglers. I'm expecting the hens to have lots of fun with that!
The dropping boards seem to be an excellent idea. I was planning on using a board with linoleum on it (ala Seachick). The fresh droppings will go into the compost with lots of leaves and kitchen peels until they're broken down and won't burn the plants.

McGoo, thanks for the photos of your coop. I have a question about your door. I love the way it opens for easy cleaning, and ventilation. Do you find that it sags at all because of its weight? Do you ever leave it open for extended times?

It would be great to have here where the summer gets very hot. If I could leave the door open for evening breezes, that would help. I'd have to secure the opening with 1/2" hardcloth, though.... I know some people take off panels and then store them until the temps plummet, but I don't think that would work for me.


Carla

 

[skatcatla]

Quote:
McGoo, I LOVE your coop! And that droppings tray is exactly what I was picturing for my new coop too! Its too late for me to build something in, but I think I could mimic the concept and just lift it out...hmmmm..thanks for posting your photos!

 

[skatcatla]

Quote:
Carla, I think I recall reading that chicken poop actually IS really high in nitrogen. So I'm thinking that if you just dump the poop and soiled litter into your composter along with the other brown/green materials that should actually work well, right? At least its been working for me so far, when I remember to go out and turn over the composter that is...
:-D

 

[CarlaRiggs]

Yes, Sara, you're right.

Chicken 'fertilizer' is high in nitrogen which makes it a 'hot' fertilizer. If you were to put it on plants without composting it first, it will burn the plants. Most compost piles could use some nitrogen here in so California.
Rabbit droppings can be placed right into the soil; it's dry and won't burn. But chicken droppings can be lethal!

Are you enjoying your coop? It was worth the wait! Will you post photos for us when you've painted it?

 

[patandchickens]

well. the thing is, chicken poop ITSELF is high in nitrogen, yes, but shavings are extremely LOW (high-carbon), and litter will typically be more shavings than poop.

In order to have the right carbon to nitrogen ratio for optimal composting, it really has to have almost no shavings in it. THAT is why I'm saying you may actually still have to add nitrogen to get your coop cleanings to compost relatively rapidly.

Make sense?

Pat

 

[skatcatla]

Quote:
Hmm. But wouldn't the pine shavings count as the "brown material" needed to get a good mix in the compost? I just got one of those electric fast composters as a gift, and the instructions say to mix in sawdust with the kitchen scraps. I was thinking that the pine shavings would be about the same thing..

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yes, in those terms chicken poo is "green material" (hi N, low C) and shavings are "brown material" (lo N, hi C).

It's a matter of AMOUNTS. The concentration of N in chicken poo, and the amount of C in shavings, is such that you need very little shavings amongst the chicken poo to get optimal composting. If you have lots of shavings and not so much chicken poo, your compost will be N-deficient and not compost nearly as well or rapidly.

Of course you can throw just any ole combination of 'greens' and 'browns' together (e.g. any ole combination of some amount of chicken poo and some amount of shavings) and it will EVENTUALLY compost.

Pat

 

[CarlaRiggs]

Pat,
I compost all my grass clippings; in southern California, grass clippings are a year-round thing.

What I actually do, is to scatter the clippings thickly around the garden; this will help keep down weeds. So there is plenty of nitrogen available with that and other plant clippings.
With kitchen peels, egg shells, etc. I generally dig a hole a few feet down and then dump them in. After chopping this up with a shovel, I'll cover this with a few inches of soil to keep the flies from laying eggs. ~Although, I'm sure chickens would love a few maggots, right?

Sometimes I will sprinkle some nitrogen into that. Each time I turn over a shovelful of soil, I've got lots of nice worms. The soil is healthy. I'm hoping the hens enjoy it as much as I do. lol

Thanks for the tutorial; I think nitrogen/carbon, and organic/inorganic can be very confusing to those just getting started with gardening.

 

[countryentertainment]

We have linoleum on our coop floor and the droppings did start to compost last year with the shavings. I think the shavings were almost saw dust to begin with. I couldn't stand going in the coop, I'd have an asthma attack every time, I had to clean it out. The bigger the shavings pieces the longer it takes to break them down. If you have trouble with worms or anything else they pick up from the litter of others it sounds like a bad idea to me.

 

[ebonykawai]

CountryE, bad idea doing the deep litter? I'm also wondering about a dropping board. I've read for and against them. Some think they stink the place up, some think it's easier to clean. Not sure what I want to do yet.