How do YOU compost your chicken manure?

[Georgiacanfield]

Yes, then you'll need to "thin" it out a bit with some good browns and greens. Sawdust and wood ash can be added too.

I already compost my chicken manure in an open bin with dirt and kitchen scraps. I have been given a large plastic compost tumbler and I wonder if I can compost the same stuff in that. Can I put chicken manure in a tumbler?

 

[Henry&Friends]

I just move my chickens yearly, till the area and start a garden on the grass they cleared. This year we might have a mini cornfield

 

[Acre4Me]

I already compost my chicken manure in an open bin with dirt and kitchen scraps. I have been given a large plastic compost tumbler and I wonder if I can compost the same stuff in that. Can I put chicken manure in a tumbler?

Sure you can!

 

[Georgiacanfield]

Sure you can!

Thank you!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Going to agree with the others, the way to do it is using any compost method (bin, tumbler, pile, turned or unturned) but mix the raw manure with a carbon heavy source like cardboard, paper, sawdust, wood chips, shavings, straw (not hay!), leaves or other. You'll not only have a safer, better smelling pile but the carbon secures the nitrogen in your pile and keeps it from just running out into the soil to burn local plants and contaminate groundwater with excess nitrogen.

When you get the right balance, especially if you have a lot of it, it should heat up and break down even quicker than if you left it alone as well. And the biomass from the carbon sources and the balanced diet for bacteria, fungi and worms will improve your garden soil more than the raw manure will.

 

[Sequel]

Sure you can!

x2!

 

[Georgiacanfield]

So does the Manure decompose at the same rate in the tumblers other stuff? I’ve always read that it needs to composite for a few months before it can be used in the garden. This what I do with open air composter.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Decomposition rates vary by all sorts of factors, including what your temperature is, how precise your mixing ratios, how wet your soil is, how often it's turned, what your starting bacteria and fungi counts are, etc.
I believe that all things considered if you had two otherwise identical compost mixes and used a tumbler for one and a bin for another with otherwise identical moisture and airflow you'd see two changes;
The tumbled compost would break down faster
The tumbled compost would have a slight change in NPK and micro organisms. Especially I'd think it would lose some of the nutrients in the soil due to more of the nutrients being lost to the air instead of staying in the soil.

 

[Lizzy733]

We run 2 bins - one in the garden and a larger in the back of the yard and have a worm farm as well. I guess technically, the run could count as its own 'deep litter', as we have our own way for maintaining that too.
As needed, we scrape out old and lay new bedding in the coop (pine shavings and straw). This is already a good balance on its own and will compost happily without much additional waste, but we also have a decent size property to maintain, so we also have to deal with grass clippings, house and garden waste, so the coop mix goes to one bin by default, but is occasionally used to re-balance the other if it is getting too far into the green or brown.
The run itself gets the lawn clippings if needed - the girls spread it well searching for bugs and as it dries and decays, it helps improve the soil quality along with their daily droppings.
If you dig your compost bin into your garden or have it exposed to the ground, the new soil will literally disappear - all the nutrients are ferried away by eathworms and other composters directly into the garden plot.
In the summer, bins can really get cranking and things will break down quickly, but expect things to slow down drastically in winter. This is when the bins may start to fill up and you need to pay closer attention to the greens and browns balance.
If your bin or pile is quite large, make sure the center of the bin can get air. The bacteria busy breaking down your scraps can suffocate and crash without proper aeration and this is why it's recommended to turn your pile. Smaller bins generally get enough air to do without this and you can help larger bins by adding a ring of chicken wire fencing down the center to allow airflow.

 

[rosemarythyme]

you can help larger bins by adding a ring of chicken wire fencing down the center to allow airflow.

That's a fantastic idea, never thought of it before. My bins aren't that large but turning it (in winter especially) is a chore, so adding airflow with an open channel like this would help work around that a bit.