Harvesting my Chicken Run Compost - Black Gold!

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

@gtaus Your setup looks fantastic! It looks like you have 2"x4" welded wire for the fence -- how do you keep the chickens from flinging everything out of the run?

Can't speak for @gtaus, but I have a similar setup and I just have a flower bed right outside the coop...I consider it "self mulching".

 

[fat brown hen]

Apologies if this has been covered in the thread, but do any of you use composting worms or other invertebrate helpers? Composting is a slow process in my arid climate. I have tried black soldier fly larvae to great success, but they cannot reproduce in my environment, so I have to keep ordering new larvae.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus Your setup looks fantastic! It looks like you have 2"x4" welded wire for the fence -- how do you keep the chickens from flinging everything out of the run?

Yes, they fling plenty of stuff out of the 2X4 fencing. Every once in a while, I go along the fence line and shovel up the overflow. I either sift it as finished compost, use it as top mulch in the raised bed gardens, or just dump it back into the chicken run - depending on what I need material for at the time.

 

[gtaus]

Apologies if this has been covered in the thread, but do any of you use composting worms or other invertebrate helpers? Composting is a slow process in my arid climate. I have tried black soldier fly larvae to great success, but they cannot reproduce in my environment, so I have to keep ordering new larvae.

I don't live in an arid climate. My entire chicken run is exposed to the weather. The top few inches of litter are usually pretty dry but dig down a few inches and magic happens. My chicken run compost litter is full of bugs and worms, provided by nature. My chickens spend most of the day scratching and pecking in the compost litter looking for those tasty bugs and juicy worms. All that work breaks down the litter into smaller bits, making the compost process faster.

I don't know what you could do in an arid environment other than wetting down the litter every once in a while, to keep it moist under the top layer. Composting really needs to have water to start and keep the process going. I don't know if there is any substitute for water in that respect.

I don't have any experience with black fly larvae, so I cannot comment on that subject.

Maybe someone else has a thought or two on composting in arid climates? I hope so. I would love to hear how composting would work in your climate.

 

[gtaus]

Can't speak for @gtaus, but I have a similar setup and I just have a flower bed right outside the coop...I consider it "self mulching".

That's an excellent idea!

 

[fat brown hen]

I don't have any experience with black fly larvae, so I cannot comment on that subject.

Maybe someone else has a thought or two on composting in arid climates? I hope so. I would love to hear how composting would work in your climate.

The benefit of black fly larvae is they generate their own moisture when metabolizing compost. Worms do this too ("compost tea"). Even regular house flies will liquify compost, but I don't want to encourage them because they are disgusting.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus Your setup looks fantastic! It looks like you have 2"x4" welded wire for the fence -- how do you keep the chickens from flinging everything out of the run?

I took a quick picture of the overflow from the chicken run that the chickens scratch out. I cleaned this up about a month ago, so this is all new stuff scratched out of the fence...

That overflow is about 1 foot out from the fence at the farthest point, and maybe 3 inches deep at most, but most places less than 1 inch deep after one month.

Can't speak for @gtaus, but I have a similar setup and I just have a flower bed right outside the coop...I consider it "self mulching".

At one time, I had considered putting up a wood wall on the fence line to keep everything inside the chicken run. But I don't want a wall blocking my view of chicken TV. I can look out at my chickens from the kitchen, dining room, home office, and our deck. So, the partial wall idea was dropped.

Thanks to your suggestion, I might look at adding some landscaping timber lining up with the chicken run fence. That would confine the overflow while at the same time creating a self-mulching flower bed. That's just a great idea. I think I have some landscaping timber in a pile around here, somewhere.

If I go that route, do you have any suggestions as to what flowers to plant? I would like some flowers that encourage pollinators to visit the flower garden, then visit my raised beds which are right next to the chicken run. Also, I would assume that the flowers would have to be non-toxic to the chickens in case they try to eat them. Thanks for any help.

 

[fat brown hen]

If I go that route, do you have any suggestions as to what flowers to plant? I would like some flowers that encourage pollinators to visit the flower garden, then visit my raised beds which are right next to the chicken run. Also, I would assume that the flowers would have to be non-toxic to the chickens in case they try to eat them. Thanks for any help.

Sage, borage, and butterfly bush have been chicken-scratch-proof for me thanks to their woody stems and deep roots. They are also drought-tolerant. Since you have rain and a fenced run, you could grow just about anything: nasturtiums, marigolds, coneflower, etc.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Apologies if this has been covered in the thread, but do any of you use composting worms or other invertebrate helpers? Composting is a slow process in my arid climate. I have tried black soldier fly larvae to great success, but they cannot reproduce in my environment, so I have to keep ordering new larvae.

I don't deliberately add worms but worms natural to the area crawl in from the soil, reproduce and have fun wriggling around in it until it's mostly broken down. As I rotate between bins each year the worm population pretty much migrates from one bin to the other.

I don't live in an arid environment so the contents of the bin generally stay moist enough for the worms to comfortably live in.

 

[gtaus]

Sage, borage, and butterfly bush have been chicken-scratch-proof for me thanks to their woody stems and deep roots. They are also drought-tolerant. Since you have rain and a fenced run, you could grow just about anything: nasturtiums, marigolds, coneflower, etc.

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to look up all of those flowers. I just don't know squat about flowers, to be honest. The only one in that list that I have heard of is marigolds, but I could not pick out a marigold from any other flower.

I suppose it would not hurt me to learn something about flowers. It's just never been my thing. But maybe an old dog can learn new tricks or at least give it a try.