Deep litter, compost pile, AND worm bin?

[CarinaRose]

I’m doing deep litter in the coop and run, I also have a worm bin, but I haven’t used it in a couple years. Is there a reason to do deep litter, and keep a worm bin, AND have a separate compost pile? Or is all of that too redundant?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I’m doing deep litter in the coop and run, I also have a worm bin, but I haven’t used it in a couple years. Is there a reason to do deep litter, and keep a worm bin, AND have a separate compost pile? Or is all of that too redundant?

I guess the biggest reason would be if you wanted to compost things you didn’t want in the chicken run. Other than that, if you really love worm castings as fertilizer?

I do 99.9% of my composting in the chicken run. I don’t throw my coffee grounds in there, but mostly because I just apply them directly to my lawn and landscape.

 

[CarinaRose]

I guess the biggest reason would be if you wanted to compost things you didn’t want in the chicken run. Other than that, if you really love worm castings as fertilizer?

I do 99.9% of my composting in the chicken run. I don’t throw my coffee grounds in there, but mostly because I just apply them directly to my lawn and landscape.

Yeah, I can’t think of anything that I would need to compost that couldn’t also go in the chicken coop, except maybe rhubarb leaves? Can chickens eat those?
I think I may still try keeping the worms for a while, especially since I already have the bin, I just need to go buy the worms.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Yeah, I can’t think of anything that I would need to compost that couldn’t also go in the chicken coop, except maybe rhubarb leaves? Can chickens eat those?
I think I may still try keeping the worms for a while, especially since I already have the bin, I just need to go buy the worms.

I don’t know specifically about rhubarb leaves but I bet you can Google it. Desire to compost plants that may be unhealthy for your flock is a good reason to have multiple setups.

 

[CarinaRose]

I don’t know specifically about rhubarb leaves but I bet you can Google it. Desire to compost plants that may be unhealthy for your flock is a good reason to have multiple setups.

Thanks for the reply, I was going to look it up and got side tracked and you reminded me. Rhubarb leaves are indeed toxic to chickens and I found this list of other things they shouldn’t have which is large enough that I think at least a small compost pile will be worth it.

https://opensanctuary.org/article/things-that-are-toxic-to-chickens/

 

[Percheron chick]

No to rhubarb leaves.

 

[Folara]

I definitely like having multiple options! I also use a separate compost pile to throw in things the chickens shouldn't have, like moldy food, toxic weeds/plants, and things in excess that I wouldn't want them to gorge on, like heaps of fresh grass clippings. I want to minimize waste and get free gardening gold so I try to compost everything I possibly can, which would end up being a bit much for my flock to handle.

My run deep litter is still new and will take a while to build up into compost so I'm glad to have a couple different composting setups running. I would love to have a worm bin as well but it may be a bit too much upkeep for me right now - if you have the time and desire I say do everything you can do!

 

[gtaus]

I’m doing deep litter in the coop and run, I also have a worm bin, but I haven’t used it in a couple years. Is there a reason to do deep litter, and keep a worm bin, AND have a separate compost pile? Or is all of that too redundant?

Almost all my compost organics gets tossed into the chicken run. But I do have a pallet compost bin for extremely moldy food that I would not want to feed to the chickens. There is a very short list of stuff that should not be fed to chickens, and those items I would toss into the compost bin.

I tried to have a worm bin, years ago, but overfed them and everything went sour, smelled bad, and the worms died. Complete failure. In any case, I think worm bins are great if you want to put in that effort. I make so much compost with my chickens that I don't have a need for a worm bin.

 

[NatJ]

Yeah, I can’t think of anything that I would need to compost that couldn’t also go in the chicken coop, except maybe rhubarb leaves? Can chickens eat those?

Chickens should not eat rhubarb leaves.

But rhubarb leaves tend to be large and flat. You might be able to just lay them flat on the soil, to serve as a mulch until they decompose in place.

Rhubarb leaves should not contain weed seeds or dangerous bacteria, which are two of the main reasons that some things should be composted rather than added directly to a garden.

 

[CarinaRose]

Almost all my compost organics gets tossed into the chicken run. But I do have a pallet compost bin for extremely moldy food that I would not want to feed to the chickens. There is a very short list of stuff that should not be fed to chickens, and those items I would toss into the compost bin.

I tried to have a worm bin, years ago, but overfed them and everything went sour, smelled bad, and the worms died. Complete failure. In any case, I think worm bins are great if you want to put in that effort. I make so much compost with my chickens that I don't have a need for a worm bin.

I wouldn’t even worry about including a worm bin in the mix of composting methods for me if it weren’t for the fact that we already own the bin (and it’s one of the cute ones) so I may as well use it, and it looks like it can only add value to my garden. Last time we had worms our garden was minuscule so they were more like pet worms that we’d just feed regularly, we did some things wrong though and they didn’t thrive, but I know more now, so hopefully this next time will be successful.