New section on composting in Miscellaneous?

[Birdinhand]

The more I’ve gotten into Chickening the more I’ve gotten into gardening. I raise egg layers and meat birds and have found that the subject of composting could easily deserve a dedicated thread. Sure it’s gardening related, but the subject is not appealing to all gardeners or chicken caretakers. Would it be possible to add it to the miscellaneous section or wherever seems appropriate. I’ve learned some things that I’d like to share and would love the opportunity to hear what trick and tidbits others have learned to tackle the sometimes daunting task of dealing with the Poultry smells and waste of a productive urban homestead. Thanks for considering!

 

[Kiki]

The more I’ve gotten into Chickening the more I’ve gotten into gardening. I raise egg layers and meat birds and have found that the subject of composting could easily deserve a dedicated thread. Sure it’s gardening related, but the subject is not appealing to all gardeners or chicken caretakers. Would it be possible to add it to the miscellaneous section or wherever seems appropriate. I’ve learned some things that I’d like to share and would love the opportunity to hear what trick and tidbits others have learned to tackle the sometimes daunting task of dealing with the Poultry smells and waste of a productive urban homestead. Thanks for considering!

I think it's fine in the gardening section.

 

[Sussex19]

You could always just make a thread called something like 'calling all composters' then everyone can chat about it there?

 

[Birdinhand]

I think it's fine in the gardening section.

I mean sure, but I suspect that it’s will be more detail than most gardeners want to read through. For instance, raising 30+ meat birds a year, one goes through roughly 500 lbs of grain. To provide adequate deep litter to handle this volume, is a huge challenge, resulting well over 1,000 lbs of compostables. The quality of the final compost product is determined by many factors, including how long the wood chips have been resting in a pile exposed to the elements, before being added to the deep litter mix.

Composting hot enough to quickly break down the manure and kill any weed seeds, without breaking your back turning the pile is a huge challenge. This has required a insulated tumbler composter… there are challenges, to even finding one with the requisite build quality to handle near industrial levels of composting. I have lots to share about my hard won battle and would like to attract composting “gurus” to help address the challenges… as well as, of course, share in the geeking out over the whole thing.

The potential that this holds for turning one’s garden into a cornucopia of food for the family is outstanding. I would think this subject, as backyard meat bird production is growing in popularity, deserves a dedicated spot. Anyways, I figured it was at least worth asking.