How do you manage your compost to stop your chickens eating rotting food and getting sick?

[Squeakles]

I'm interested in hearing from people who allow their chickens to free roam on their compost heaps as I'm confused about the risk posed by them eating rotting or mouldy food. I know we aren't supposed to allow chickens to eat food like this, but I'm completely confused about how to prevent it if the compost is always accessible. I'm wondering if it's a climate thing, as our compost gets quite mouldy very quickly, even with regular turning. (We currently keep our heap outside of their free range area as I'd hate them to get into mouldy fruit and get sick.)

 

[TelfTheElf]

hi there
we don't have that problem, but could you put it in some sort of bin or something or not?

 

[Birdsong 82]

I was having a problem in my compost pile with mold. But I now make sure everything is chopped up real fine before I throw in there. And I always leave the bin lid open and less they are calling for torrential rain Or if I’m trying to keep the chickens out. I had a wire top for it at one point.Different climates different ways though. I made a three box compost bin out of pallets. Pallets are easy to find and assemble And the only thing I had to purchase was a couple hinges to open and close the top. There are tons of easy designs for a compost bin out of pallets online.

 

[Melky]

I'm interested in hearing from people who allow their chickens to free roam on their compost heaps as I'm confused about the risk posed by them eating rotting or mouldy food. I know we aren't supposed to allow chickens to eat food like this, but I'm completely confused about how to prevent it if the compost is always accessible. I'm wondering if it's a climate thing, as our compost gets quite mouldy very quickly, even with regular turning. (We currently keep our heap outside of their free range area as I'd hate them to get into mouldy fruit and get sick.)

We do not have this issue. My chicks love fresh greens in the garden and bugs so they really don’t bother my compost bin. Mine also does not mold. I have Walmart rot resistant cedar compost bins which was The cheapest. Some assembly required. Open slate design no top and has four sides. Kept couple boards off the front so slightly lower in front and easily accessible. Pallets are ok to but need to make sure not chemically treated so no chemicals leach into compost and gardens.

 

[Birdsong 82]

We do not have this issue. My chicks love fresh greens in the garden and bugs so they really don’t bother my compost bin. Mine also does not mold. I have Walmart rot resistant cedar compost bins which was The cheapest. Some assembly required. Open slate design no top and has four sides. Kept couple boards off the front so slightly lower in front and easily accessible. Pallets are ok to but need to make sure not chemically treated so no chemicals leach into compost and gardens.

Good point. I happen to work somewhere where we use eco-friendly pallets that are untreated. We have a lot of environmental rules we follow.But pretty thick and hold up for a while. But they’re probably harder to find unless you happen to work somewhere that uses them. Cedar is a great choice unfortunately extremely expensive. It’s worth it because of how long it lasts But sometimes just simply can’t afford it. There are a couple of wood brands that pressure treated with only copper which is naturally occurring. I wish I could remember the brands off the top of my head but I really can’t

 

[Melky]

Good point. I happen to work somewhere where we use eco-friendly pallets that are untreated. We have a lot of environmental rules we follow.But pretty thick and hold up for a while. But they’re probably harder to find unless you happen to work somewhere that uses them. Cedar is a great choice unfortunately extremely expensive. It’s worth it because of how long it lasts But sometimes just simply can’t afford it. There are a couple of wood brands that pressure treated with only copper which is naturally occurring. I wish I could remember the brands off the top of my head but I really can’t

Free untreated sounds ok to me. I just visited my farm CSA and they use pallets for the compost bin. It works fine. If it rots it will take awhile and just replace with more free bins. He just lays a tarp over the compost sitting in the bin and holds the corners down with brick piece he had laying around the house. He uses a two bin system and it works. His bin has no front or top.

 

[Melky]

Good point. I happen to work somewhere where we use eco-friendly pallets that are untreated. We have a lot of environmental rules we follow.But pretty thick and hold up for a while. But they’re probably harder to find unless you happen to work somewhere that uses them. Cedar is a great choice unfortunately extremely expensive. It’s worth it because of how long it lasts But sometimes just simply can’t afford it. There are a couple of wood brands that pressure treated with only copper which is naturally occurring. I wish I could remember the brands off the top of my head but I really can’t

Campbell county detention center here has 60 raised beds and does a 3 compost bin system with pallets and leaves top and front open works fine and in general no animals get in. They have wood fencing around gardens. No tarping but does not have chicks. That works as well.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I had to add a front to it because the chickens would get in there and kick all the compost out. It’s broken at the moment but that’s why I had the wire Toc to let air get in but not have the chickens take it all out. The front is shorter help get stuff in and out easier. Thinking about adding a hinge on the front to open and close it.

 

[Melky]

I'm interested in hearing from people who allow their chickens to free roam on their compost heaps as I'm confused about the risk posed by them eating rotting or mouldy food. I know we aren't supposed to allow chickens to eat food like this, but I'm completely confused about how to prevent it if the compost is always accessible. I'm wondering if it's a climate thing, as our compost gets quite mouldy very quickly, even with regular turning. (We currently keep our heap outside of their free range area as I'd hate them to get into mouldy fruit and get sick.)

I hate to add this but Justin Rhodes has a farm recognized that farms compost and his chickens at least 100 or so live on the compost pile. They love the scraps but more the bugs that it attracts. It seems to not hurt them but he does not have mold.

 

[Squeakles]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm quite happy with our current set up (except that it takes up a lot of space in our chicken free area) but was curious about those who choose to have open set ups that their chickens have free access to (I've read more than a few posts in here where people talk if using a corner of their run as an open compost heap, which the chickens "turn" for them).

I'm going to assume it's probably not something that's practical for our climate, but will perhaps trial a smaller open heap by cutting up scraps into smaller sizes, and seeing if that's feasible, as I'd love to try and integrate the compost so it's not taking up most of my chicken-free area in the garden.