how to compost da poop?

[Renee]

It's hard to keep a compost pile hot in the winter since you don't have green waste to add to it.

I add my poop to the pile every day (um, I mean I add my chicken's poop to the pile every day) with pond sludge, dry leaves, and grass clippings as we get them. No grass clippings in the winter, no heat in the compost pile. It will heat up come Spring.

 

[eaganchickens]

I use pine shavings in my coop and change them every 3 months and just till them in to my garden.

 

[patandchickens]

It's not going to heat up unless it is a considerable size and/or everything added fresh all at once.

Best thing is probably to lose the trashcan and just pile your cleanings somewhere out of site, not in a spot that floods, and forget about 'em for a year or so. If your cleanings are mostly shavings, it would go faster if you added more poo or fresh grass clippings or that sort of thing (or reduced the shavings content by letting things get dirtier before cleaning); if this is from a droppings board and is mostly or entirely poo, it will go faster if you add some shavings or straw or dried grass or dried leaves or shredded paper.

But left to its own devices everything breaks down on its own *eventually*

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there jforsness, I see that you are in the Seattle area. A few years ago I did some work in the city and was really impressed by the work the city was doing in helping people to start composting---maybe you could inquire about local schemes. I also remember that you could get wonderful " zoo-do" at a reasonable price---I was very jealous at the time as I lived in London. Now I have a great compost heap plus 2 big bins. I find that chicken poo needs a long time to break down and loose it's "burning" properties. You need a big open sided heap, preferably in a container made with wooden pallets. This way the air can get to it, otherwise it will go slimy and very smelly. If you layer in green leaves & weeds, torn up newspaper & cardboard, wood ashes, kitchen waste (but not meat, because of rats). Straw takes a long time to break down, as does the chicken poo so I find the best thing to do is to give it one summer in the heap then in the fall to dig a deep trench where I intend to grow peas & beans,squash and tomatoes, pile in the half made compost and replace the soil you dug out on top. This is how I made my raised beds initially. In early spring you plant into the mounds and by late summer you will be surprised at the wonderful crops.

 

[jforsness]

Ok, I've started. First, even though I may clean the coop every other day doesn't mean I change out the litter, just focusing on the poo. So I built another bin in my compost center and set the poo-straw in it and gave a gooda mixin'. I will then incorporate the additional ideas and be in fertilizer heaven!