my chooks are in the composte heap!!

[mfranti]

hey guys,

will my chooks get sick or are they smart enough to know what to eat?

i tend to think they know whats good for them but i want to know your expert thoughts.

thanks.

 

[Opa]

It won't hurt them at all. Plus they're helping with turning your compost.

 

[suenrob]

I am no expert, but don't assume they know whats best for them. I caught mine eating styrofoam packing peanuts once!!!!!!

 

[Opa]

Quote:
Maybe they were trying to lay shipping ready eggs.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

If it is all organic, do not worry. Mine get into the horse manure piles and "sunbath"

 

[Farmer Brown]

Our girls all love the compost and make it a part of their daily routine. We never have to turn it over, they do all the work. We are careful not to throw large pieces of egg shell in the compost, we don't want them getting any ideas!!

We now bake and crush all of our spent shells and feed it back to them.

 

[what was i thinking]

there is an article in country living about putting your compost in their run, so they can go thru it for you and turn it...

 

[Laskaland]

At first I thought they were dead and you had thrown them in there- LOL
They are probably looking for bugs and wormies. Yummie protein!!

 

[mfranti]

man! the ladies have been digging in there all morning (i just made a new pile in a new location so they must have to investigate it?)

interesting thoughts guys. thanks.

i wonder-compost heaps need the bugs and worms to do the work, right? if the chickens are in there eating all the working critters, doesn't that delay the composition?

but i do like the sound of letting the chickens help the process, if in fact that is the case.

thanks again for your comments.

m

 

[FarmerDenise]

I've been using my chickens to turn my compost for years. They get all kinds of goodies and I get good compost. They scratch it apart, I rake it back into a hill. We do this over and over until we are ready to use it in the field. It works well for the compost, even though the chickens eat worms and such, it seems there is enough to go round.