How and where to compost chicken waste...

[shabbyshic]

Hi there - so I am new to composting as well as chickens! I have 6 week old babes in a brooder.. and we are working on the coop.

I need some help knowing:

- How should I handle the waste from the chicks/chickens

As of now I don't know which is the best method for the bedding in the coop... suggestions? opinions? And in light of this, how often will I need to clean out the coop, and where should I put the refuse (does it need to be a certain distance from the coop - seems that closer is more convenient) . Does I need a "container" for the compost? Or will just a pile work? Will it attract animals? Do it need to be in an area of sunlight?

I appreciate any and all ideas and advice - thanks so much!

 

[<3ChickenForever]

My dad puts it in our gardens because its great fertilizer for when we grow our food. or just make a compost pile!

 

[WallTenters]

I'm by no means a master at either topic, but for us this seems to be working fantastic...

We use deep litter. Our birds do rotate free ranging, so it doesn't accumulate as fast as I'd love, but my chickies are happy!

With the deep litter I clean it out about every three months. This is more often than needed! But I WANT THAT COMPOST! So I have a poop board under their roost, I put all the poop board stuff in the compost, then all my kitchen scraps, then the deep litter (shavings + poo). This stuff starts breaking down into wonderful compost amazingly fast! Even in a few weeks the bottom of my pile was looking like black gold even in the late winter!

I haven't had any problems at all with pests. I put all our veggie kitchen scraps, bread scraps, and our egg shells and coffee grinds. I do rinse the egg shells really quick because I don't want any critters digging into the compost. I don't know if it's necessary, but it's not hard, so yeah.

I used to always cover my compost piles with a bit of clear plastic. I haven't covered our current one yet because of my own laziness! I'll get on that this weekend!! Anyway I water the crap out of my compost piles, put a bit of plastic over it and let the magic happen. I water them in the morning probably every other day or so because we don't get a lot of humidity/rain here. I don't have a compost bin - myn are just on the ground in a pile. When I'm ready, I use a rake or shovel to move off the fresh stuff on top, grab all that good compost below there, take it where I need, then put some more stuff on the pile!

Hope this helps! I don't know if I'm doing it "right" but it's sure easy and my plants love it so far! BEWARE if you let your chickens near your compost pile they will scatter it from here to Kingdom come!

 

[okieinalaska]

A compost pile works best when it's a certain size. Things heat up much faster and it really moves along. You can buy those plastic round compost bin things that run about $30 and pile it in there...or use old pallets (like I did) and pile it in there. This is my first year with chickens and before my compost pile never had enough green stuff. It was always mostly leaves so I am so happy to have my own source of poo! (I hope I stay happy)

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I love my Compact ComposTumbler for composting used litter (pine shavings). I think the carbon/nitrogen ratio is pretty close to ideal after a few months of deep litter operations. I've been experimenting with adding "mostly finished" compost in to the composting worm bins to make vermicompost, and it's looking good! Yay worms!

 

[ketcham]

Big garden and compost pile.I should have no problem getting rid of poop!!! Kevin

 

[DawnCols]

You might want to do a little homework to decide how much you want to be concerned about diseases that could be harbored in chicken poop and how hard you want to work to avoid them. Lots of opinions out there--but I think the general consensus is that using a well-managed hot composting process can significantly decrease the risk.

And then again, there are many that subscribe to the philosophy that generations of humankind used chicken manure in composting and somehow the human species has survived . . .

There are a number of posts on the GardenWeb forum about composting that might be useful to you.

I recommend this one: A Brief Intro to Composting

If you want to read in more depth:
Here's an article on choosing a composting method.

You might also be interested in reading the GardenWeb FAQ on composting animal manures

Lots of people use pine shavings for the bedding/litter in their coops, and this works well with composting.

Happy composting!

 

[packmomma]

Well I am hoping to solve your very problem this year myself. Winter I use deep litter and clean it out every two months. I have a poop board below the most used roost and scrape it every week. I was just dumping it on my garden over the winter..but had to walk 20 feet with a wheelbarrow. Fine if no snow...this year...not fine at all! Two feet of snow and more in drifted areas made me rethink my plan. Now I have two compost bins 4X4 pretty much right outside my coop. 10 feet away max. its on the edge of my garden too. This way on heavy snow periods I can dump it in the compost and on nicer days spread it lightly on my garden. During the warmer months the chickens stay outside for the most part. I still keep the poop board and scrape it weekly but other than that the inside litter is very sparse and I clean it monthly. During the garden season I do not put chicken poop/shavings on my garden because it will burn the crops. I do however use the chick bedding and the summer coop cleanouts for my flower beds. It will burn some but I can live without flowers, cant live without my veggy garden. plus it saves on buying mulch! In the spring my hubby tills under all the shavings I spread on my veggy garden so that it is worked into the soil and is composting. I found that sitting most of the winter and being tilled under doesnt affect my veggies.
I dont worry about diseases too much. The stuff spread on the garden all winter is lightly spread, frozen and then worked into the soil. I havent died in two years or gotten sick and neither has anyone else I've feed my veggies too so I'm good. The new compost area is a "hot" compost area so that should take care of those bugs too. I also would recommend that method if you are worried. To give you an idea my coop is 8X8 and my garden is 40x60 feet.

 

[dkvart1]

In addition to watering the compost pile occasional turning helps keep it hot, which is key to breaking it down. I used to turn mine once every week as I wanted the compost quickly for my garden beds, but even if left untouched they will eventually break down. I always had a couple going as at some point if you wish to break entirely down you need to quit adding stuff to the pile... if the pile is getting enough nitrogen, water and air then odors should never be a problem. Just remember when adding kitchen scraps, put them IN the pile, not on top of the pile, then you won't have critters come callin.

 

[shabbyshic]

So many great posts and ideas - thanks so much - i love reading all of this for ideas and plans. So if I do the deep litter method, and only clean out the coop every few months, how often should I lay new shavings on top of the old? weekly? And how dense?