It's all about the poop

[mrbstephens]

I have my 7 week old chicks in a run during the day which used to be my compost pile. I surrounded it with wire fencing. The compost consists of dead oak tree leaves from the fall, kitchen scraps, and saw dust from my dh who is a woodworker. The chicks hang out in there during the day, eat the kitchen scraps and bugs and bathe in the saw dust. I've also been tossing the bedding from the coop(actually they've been in a baby pool in the garage for the nights till the coop is ready) in there.
My questions are......
1)How often do I need to clean out the run?
2)Is it ok that I'm putting the used bedding in the run or should I dispose of it another way. Maybe I can toss it right in the garden?
3) When can I use the poop in the garden? Does it have to be composted first?
4)Are there any tips on keeping the poop smell down? Like mixing up the compost from time to time to aerate maybe?

 

[Backyard Hencam]

It is better to compost the sawdust/manure mixture before putting it into the garden simply because the composting process takes nitrogen from the soil. Mine is breaking down pretty fast (4 months) in compost bins so it is ready to dig in pretty quickly.

I would not put the sawdust/manure mixture in the run. Just adding a fly attractant to your environment.

I rake the run at least once a week to remove poop and I try to turn the compost once a week also (or a least stir it up a little). I add greens from the garden and coffee grounds to balance the sawdust/manure mixture. No smell, no flies.

Good luck!

 

[mrbstephens]

So your poop and compost is decomposing somewhere else? I have an old turtle cage 3x2x3 feet enclosed with hardware cloth that my dh built years ago. The turtles died and the cage is right next to the chicken run. Do you suggest I put saw dust, chicken poop and coop bedding in there?

 

[rainbowgardens]

If your run is large enough to accomodate a lot of material being added to it, I'd throw the litter from the coop in. I would add more straw, leaves or wood shavings though, to absorb extra moisture. As long as it isn't situated in a soggy area and you can add enough dry material to it, it should be okay.
When you want compost for the garden, you can dig down into the lower layers to get it.
Compost can be smelly, no matter where you put it. With the dry materials and the chickens scratching around in it, you should get good results, as long as you can prevent it from getting soggy.
You'll have happy chickens, a happy garden, and less work for you.

Harvey Ussery wrote a good article on letting your chickens do your composting for you in either Backyard Poultry Magazine, or in Mother Earth News Magazine recently. I can't remember which. You can check out their websites. They often let you read past articles online.

 

[mrbstephens]

That's exactly what I was hoping I could do! Thanks so much!

 

[rainbowgardens]

The article is in the Feb/March issue of Backyard poultry magazine. The article was titled The Lazy Gardener's Compost Heap.
They don't let you read that particular article, but you can also read it at Harvey Ussery's website called The Modern Homestead. I think it's themodernhomestead.org.
Sorry, I don't know how to do links.

He has loads of chicken and homesteading articles.

 

[GoldenSilverLaced]

I read that article, it was good. Something I plan to do when I have more space, although I personally wouldn't dedicate the entire run space to a chicken compost.

 

[rainbowgardens]

I was at Mr. Ussery's homestead and saw his set-up. The chicken run off of his breeder house is about 8'x16'. As I recall, he had a pile of pony poo sitting in the run. He didn't bother spreading it, but the chickens were doing it for him as they dug through for bugs and seeds.

My run won't be that large, but I will try to keep the compost area to one side so they don't fling it into their water.

Mr Ussery showed us how good the debris was in that area. He reached down into it and pulled out a handful of wonderfully composted soil.