See my composting chicken run

Date sort Score sort
TheFatBlueCat

TheFatBlueCat

Crowing
Oct 16, 2021
694
3,451
281
New Zealand
My Coop
My Coop
I thought you all might enjoy this video I made on how and why to use a composting run. Or you might just want to meet me and see some of my flock on camera! I've been using a deep mulched composting run for quite a few years now and I have to say, I love it. My flock does full-time free range my entire back yard, so they're not always in the run but it's the area where they eat and spend the most time hanging out. Plus it's the zone where they sleep. My garden has really thrived the last couple of years now I have essentially unlimited compost for my needs. The one challenge I am having with it now I've had it established for so long, is it is SO biologically active it really burns through the carbon materials. The leaves you see in the video are half decomposed already and that's only about a month ago! I'm thinking of ordering in a big pile of bark mulch so I can keep topping it up as needed, which is often now. The positive of that is it makes so so so much compost!

 
I've got questions, lots.:D
I'm heading in this direction. Unfortunately the run I'm dealing with had been neglected for many years and overstocked. Rather than take stuff out of the run and dig it over all sorts of crap had been chucked in it. I'm still digging out plastic, large rocks, bits of concrete, bits of metal etc etc. You may have read a bit about the run condition on my thread.
I've deep dug most of the run now. The flooding in heavy rain has now stopped and the dug soil drains almsot as well as the ground outside the run. I want the chickens to live on natural ground.
Anyway, I'm almost ready to start adding organic matter to the run.
Currently what grows in it are a few hardy weeds around the edges, stinging nettles mainly.
My first question is do you, or did you have to weed your run?
Next is how often did you and do you now, dig the run, either to get the compost under the top loose layer or to encourage faster composting?
Do your chickens scratch around in the entire run, or do you get neglected patches which need to be weeded?
How big is your run?
 
Shadrach said:
I've got questions, lots.:D
I'm heading in this direction. Unfortunately the run I'm dealing with had been neglected for many years and overstocked. Rather than take stuff out of the run and dig it over all sorts of crap had been chucked in it. I'm still digging out plastic, large rocks, bits of concrete, bits of metal etc etc. You may have read a bit about the run condition on my thread.
I've deep dug most of the run now. The flooding in heavy rain has now stopped and the dug soil drains almsot as well as the ground outside the run. I want the chickens to live on natural ground.
Anyway, I'm almost ready to start adding organic matter to the run.
Currently what grows in it are a few hardy weeds around the edges, stinging nettles mainly.
My first question is do you, or did you have to weed your run?
Next is how often did you and do you now, dig the run, either to get the compost under the top loose layer or to encourage faster composting?
Do your chickens scratch around in the entire run, or do you get neglected patches which need to be weeded?
How big is your run?
Click to expand...
The composting section of the run is about 7 or 8 metres by 3-4 metres varying, it's not a standard shape so that's a bit of an estimation. I didn't weed the run before I started the composting system but it was already stripped back to bare earth by the flock. At that stage I had 8 chickens. I get no weeds in the run itself, the chickens make that impossible. Weeds will grow directly outside the fence where they can't be scratched, but I don't mind that, I just pull them and throw them back into the run to continue the process. I don't dig the run over at all to encourage composting, although I raked it occasionally in the first year, mostly when I added ag lime, so I raked to mix it. Now with 22 chickens (they are not confined to the run, it's just where they spend a lot of their time, plus half of them sleep in the trees above it) I don't have to bother to mix or rake it, they take care of that within hours. I dig out compost as I need it, on no set schedule but usually a couple of times per month. So that gives it a bit of a natural turnover, but with it being such a large run not all areas are getting dug into very often.
It takes 12-18 months to have really decomposed garden ready compost, depending on your climate and what organic materials you put in there. From that point onward though it's always ready, provided you have kept it topped up over time. With the woodchip/bark mulch as the main base it does instantly start to function as a water/poop/smell sink, it's pretty magic. Mine is bursting with earthworms too, which the chickens like to go hunting for after it rains. I would recommend basing in on some kind of shredded wood because straw and green weeds etc don't have the same absorption capacity. I add anything and everything to mine, but always make sure the main component is wood based.

The original 8 chickens were confined to the run, and let out in the afternoons for a few hours. It probably worked even better that way, as you do need the nitrogen from the poop to get the carbon breaking down. I figure with the expanded flock numbers I'm probably getting about the same amount of poop in there as I was getting with the 8, even though they spend less of their time in there.

I add ag lime once or twice a year, and add fireplace ashes and charcoal. Not required but I find it helps.

Hopefully that answers your questions!
 

Similar threads

L
Sand/fine gravel base with mulch topping for chicken run?
Replies
5
Views
351
Witchychickens
Witchychickens
D
Muddy run -- flooring help/suggestions
Replies
1
Views
475
azygous
azygous
HorseyHokie
Ground Cover/Forage in shaded run?
2
Replies
13
Views
1K
Happy hen lover
Happy hen lover
MightyChickenJF
Keeping predators out of the run
Replies
9
Views
557
aart
aart
RuffIedFeathers
    • Like
Recommendations on coop bedding, nesting material and run floor material
2
Replies
12
Views
2K
CluckkyKrista
CluckkyKrista

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom