Small Scale Composting

[tigger19687]

I have a compost tumbler in the front yard along the house where I can't grow anything (not enough sun).
The hens like to dust bath and dig up that whole section.

It is now the Hen Garden. I toss what ever I want out the window there, grass clippings, leaf mulch. When the Hens are out front they dig all over in there.

Well, wait, there are 2 sections, a bit further over on the other side of the stairs gets NO sun, so I dump stuff there too and that window is closer to the kitchen... so house stuff goes there more often.

No smell that I am aware of .. yet anyway. If it did I wouldn't care as I only use the back door, but my crappy duplex neighbor uses her door right there so if it smells I might be happy

 

[shartnett5]

Watching our chickens eat mice and toads always freaks me a bit. Not because of what they eat, more that it may not be dead before they swallow. I have only seen them smash one to death before eating it. Mostly because they fought over it and recaught it a few times.

We compost right in the run and have a few compost areas under the pine trees. My chickens love dust bathing there or around it. I was building squares to keep it neat but then the chickens don't bother with it. Now i make a 3 sided partial cube. Pile it in there. And just rake it back in if the girls kick it too far off. I have 3 acres of forest so that might not work for some.

 

[jthornton]

I have 9 acres of woods but the chicken yard is 1000 square feet with the coop and 8x12' run as part of the run. I'll try a 3 sided box to start and see what the chickens do.

JT

 

[shartnett5]

I have 9 acres of woods but the chicken yard is 1000 square feet with the coop and 8x12' run as part of the run. I'll try a 3 sided box to start and see what the chickens do.

JT

I will take a picture tmrw of the gorgeous black gold I dug out of it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As you can probably tell there is no one answer for all of us. Some of that depends on what your run looks like.

I tried a three sided compost bin, actually double bin, made with spare bricks laying around when I moved here. The chickens were in it all the time scratching so I could not get any compost out of it, they spread it all around. So I enclosed that open end with something I could easily remove. The chickens no longer have access to this area but when they did I dumped kitchen wastes, garden wastes, and their poop from the droppings board in there.

My run has three parts. One is a really large area enclosed in electric netting. It has trees growing in it so I get a lot of leaves this time of the year. The wind or a heavy rain can put those leaves up against the electric netting and short it out when they get wet. I can’t put anything in there that can blow around and I have to rake it.

One part is what I call the main run, 12’ x 24’. I don’t put anything in that, it’s just bare dirt. But the third section is a 12’ x 8’ that is usually open to all but I can close a gate and isolate that with my grow-out coop. It’s also bare dirt but that is where I rake those leaves. I also toss a lot of garden wastes in there instead of the main compost pile, mainly the stuff that has a lot of seeds in it that I don’t want in my main compost. Stuff like tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, and zinnias.

My kitchen wastes go into my main compost bins, and yes that does attract critters. I’m always trapping mice and rats out of that area and often catch raccoons, possum, and skunk there. I even got a groundhog once. I see snakes over there a lot, usually after the mice. As long as they are non-poisonous I leave them alone.

When I scrape the droppings board that pure poop goes into my main compost bins. I just dump it on top and do not mix it in. If it gets really thick it can get wet and stay wet. Flies will breed in it. When it gets that thick I might turn it in but usually I cut the grass (in season) and cover it up with fine grass trimmings to stop those darn flies from breeding.

I don’t know what the right answer is for you. Just try something and see how it goes.

 

[jthornton]

Yes every situation will be unique but hearing what works for others gives you lots of ideas the think about.

Thanks
JT

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes every situation will be unique but hearing what works for others gives you lots of ideas the think about.

Thanks
JT

Totally agree, do your research, that saves a lot of frustration. But a suggestion, stay flexible, don't get too locked in.

A mistake I made, do not put the bin under a tree where the roots can grow in. They drain nutrients and they make it really hard to shovel out. I put scrap roofing metal on the bottom of mine under the compost to stop the roots but that lets it dry out fairly easily. I have to water mine more than I'd like. But it does make it easier to empty, you know when you hit bottom.

 

[jthornton]

I cobbled up a 3 sided bin the other day and moved the pile of pine shavings and poo into the box and added some dry leaves and wet it down some. I've seen as many as 5 chickens in the box digging for gold. The pile was started in April but I did nothing to it but add pine shavings and poo from the coop. Now I'm turning and watering it but not sure what I'm looking for...

JT

 

[jthornton]

I checked the compost pile with my Fluke thermometer and an 8" thermocouple probe this morning. Inserting from the top in a couple of places the temperature was 55°F to 58°F. Can I assume some composting is going on?


JT

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how that compares to your ground temperature, it's probably pretty close. Some composting is going on but it's slow and it's not hot enough to cook any seeds in there. I don't know if the problem is too little or too much moisture, how did the moisture down deep in there seem to you?

It could be that you don't have enough poop mixed in with the bedding and leaves to really get it going. More nitrogen could be a good thing. Something you can try, take a shovelful of topsoil and mix it in some. That will introduce the microbes you want in there. Topsoil should be full of those microbes. Those microbes should show up anyway or should have been in the bottom of that but maybe that will kickstart them.