Ok, so I haven't gotten my girls yet but I am still trying to learn as much as I can before they arrive next month. What should I do with the pine shavings and chicken poo when I clean out the coop? I know I can compost it but I have no idea how to. Plus I have neighbors that I am worried will be upset if I make a poo pile in my backyard somewhere if it ends up really stinking. Can anyone help me figure this out???
I tossed the last the load out on the spot where I threw the pumpkin seeds the girls left behind from the pumpkin feast after halloween (the brush pile - I figure the pumpkin vines might grow on the dead branches). What grows .... grows. Usually I toss it out in the woods where I trying to get the soil better for some trees next year. You can see if a nieghbor needs some poo. I don't know anything about composting. We never have anything from the table left to compost. If the dogs don't eat it then it goes to the goats or the hens. We have living garbage disposals. You might find something on www.backwoodshome.com about composting. Or make smaller cleanings more often and throw it in a trash bag for trash day. Good luck! And enjoy your chickens!!!!
It kind of depends- how many chickens/ how much yard garden. The amount of shavings vs poo also matters. Poo decomposes very quickly, shavings not so fast. So in my yard I have a lot of garden and only a few chickens. I bought a small compost bin and I dump the soiled mess from their pen and runs in there. I clean their bedding out often, it has not too much poo lots of shavings (not so good). When I clean the runs it is pretty much streight poo with a little sand- very "hot" (good). I throw the coop cleaning stuff in the compost, also the green plants (weeds) from the garden and whatever vegie trats the chickens/ people don't eat and it has layered very well and has cooked down nicely into a wonderful compost. It is contained and there is no smell, mess, or problem at all. I live in a very "fussy" neighborhood. I have had to bag and toss extra bedding in the trash once or twice when I thought the compost was beginning to get too woody. These are not issues for the lucky member that lives in the country but for us "city folk" with close nieghbors to please I think this can be a tricky issue. Read up or take a class in composting. It always takes a little tweaking to get the system to work the way it should, but I compost a lot and with a little attention the system works fine. I love the finished fertile compost and so do my plants.
That's not a weird question! I use a big compost bin with a cover now, because the pile system wasn't working for me. (It was becoming a wildlife buffet, and piles diminished too quickly) I put leaves, vegetable scraps, chicken poo & shavings, coffee grounds grass clippings, etc in mine. Got the bin free from craigslist. Proper compost, a good mix of green material (vegetable, fruit) and brown material (leaves, shavings, etc.) shouldn't smell. If it does, add more brown materials and stir it up. Just be sure to compost chicken manure well before applying to plants. When we do major spring cleaning of the coop, we'll have way too much for the compost bin...we plan to shovel it out and spread it thinly in an area where we want a future garden.
I compost mine, I also add veggies, grass clippings, leaves ect.. mine is not contained and has never smelled. The chickens turn it for me. I have heard garden lime helps break down the pine shavings faster, i havent needed to try it yet but i think i may this spring just to see the difference.
I have 3 hens and pick the poo with any shavings stuck to it out of the coop every day and put it in a plastic composter with a lid. It takes months to fill it up. The garden weeds go in there too. It does not stink if I leave the lid on. You could try putting it into a strong plastic sack if you don't want a bin. It would rot down in that well enough.
