How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

[gtaus]

@gtaus, how do you get the chicken poo into the cement mixer? Do you have to dismantle it, remove the plastic bucket on the front end?

I use a dry deep bedding method for my chicken coop litter. The chickens poo on the bedding and it automagaically disappears in the deep bedding. Twice a year, I clean out the coop and toss all the used bedding into the chicken run to compost in place.

I don't use poo boards or anthing else to gather chicken poo by itself. It's always integrated as part of my coop bedding and then in the compost out in the chicken run.

My used coop bedding turns into compost in about 2-3 months outside in the chicken run. However, I have so much excess litter in the chicken run that I can harvest as much compost anytime I want. Last spring, for example, I built about 4 new raised beds, filled them with huglekulture wood, and topped them off with a topsoil and chicken run compost mixture 1:1, and only used less than 10% of my available and ready to use Black Gold compost out in the chicken run.

I posted an in depth explanation of my cement mixer compost sifter build at How to determine quality of different types of compost? post #22 dated Aug 31, 2020. That should answer your questions about how I modified the cement mixer to turn it into a cement mixer compost sifter.

I got the original idea of converting a cement mixer into a compost sifter from some YouTube videos I watched. However, they all required you to drill into the cement mixer barrel and make permanent holes in their system to attach the compost sifting barrel. I modified the setup so that I would use hook eyes and turn buckles instead of drilling holes into the cement barrel. IMHO, that is a big improvement because if I ever want to use the cement mixer to make cement, I can easily take off the shifting barrel and still have a complete cement mixer barrel without holes!

But the really short answer to your question is that I did not have to remove the cement mixer barrel, I just added the compost sifter barrel to the end. This picture should show you my modifications to the build so that you don't have to do any drilling and/or removing part of the cement mixer barrel...

 

[MargieG]

Well, I love talking about my composting system. So, I'll try to outline it briefly and if you have any more specific questions, let me know.

When I first set up my chicken run, it was covered in beautiful green grass. That only lasted a few months before the chickens had all the grass ripped up leaving only bare dirt which turned into a muddy mess after a rain.

I first dumped in a load of wood chips which worked great. But then I decided that I might as well turn the chicken run into a composting system. So, I started adding in grass clippings, weeds from the garden, and then leaves in the fall.

I use dry deep bedding litter in the coop. I clean out the coop twice a year and dump all the used coop bedding into the chicken run to compost in place. I have used many types of coop bedding, but the last few years have mainly stayed with paper shreds I make at home. Paper sheds break down into compost in about 2 months where I live. But any organic coop litter would compost over time.

The chickens are constantly scratching and pecking in the chicken run compost litter, looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. That really speeds up the composting breakdown process. They are great little workers turning over the compost all the time.

I have more compost in the chicken run than I can use, but that's a good thing. I harvest a lot of compost in the spring, before I plant my raised bed gardens. I top off all my raised beds and get everything ready for the season. In the fall, I will harvest more compost and top off the beds.

I modified a cement mixer with a screened barrel to shift my chicken run compost. In this picture, you will see the black wagon is full of shifted compost and the rejected material dumps into the gray wagon at the end. It only takes me minutes to shift compost with this cement mixer compost sifter that used to take me hours and hours manually with my old wood frame and wire compost shifter on top of my wheelbarrow.

View attachment 4039803

I can put different sized screens in that barrel. I have a 1/4 X 1/4 inch screen for potting soil, a 1/2 X 1/2 inch screen for mixing into and topping off my raised beds, and the barrel screen itself is 1/2 X 1 inch for less fine compost or mulch. I mainly use the 1/2 X 1/2 inch screen, but I do have other options as well.

Every spring, I shift out about $200 - $300 dollars of compost if I had to buy it at the big box store. So, truly, my chickens bring/save more money in finished compost than I get from the eggs.

Hope that helps.

WOW... just WOW. Kudos! that's amazing

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, @gtaus!

 

[akroberts1085]

So far 1. So after I posted I got 3 more

 

[BigBlueHen53]

10. Good night.

 

[Winderdear]

2 today, from Helmi and Marzo.



Look at those pretty white speckles on Marzo’s egg!

 

[Jenbirdee]

Three duck eggs today

 

[5Australorpasaures]

2 out of 4 from our Blk Aus. Not disappointed as they keep us in more than we use.

 

[thistlewick]

12 yesterday!

Have not seen Tilly get off the nest, but I've not been hanging around the chickens and my cameras are offline (they go offline a decent amount, despite the wifi being just fine out there, bleh)

hope she's alright - she seems fine so far :O

 

[Ponypoor]

21 eggs.

Slow up girls! It’s not a sprint! Save some for the summer

Hoping to get rid of 11 dozen eggs over the next couple days to friends and neighbours.