What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[fuzzi]

Although I have never attempted to compost dog manure, evidently it is possible..

View attachment 3665102

I don't know if it worth your time or effort, but at least it is possible.

I only do cold composting in my chicken run composting system. So, dog manure would not work in there. Not a big deal as I don't have a dog. I do compost all my chicken manure and when I had rabbits, I used all the rabbit droppings as well.

I remember dog waste septic systems advertised years ago. A little search and I found them:

https://www.the-compost-gardener.com/doggie-dooley.html

We always have dozens of plastic grocery bags available, so I just use one to pick up the waste, tie the bag, and toss it in the trash can.

 

[igorsMistress]

Although I have never attempted to compost dog manure, evidently it is possible..

View attachment 3665102

I don't know if it worth your time or effort, but at least it is possible.

I only do cold composting in my chicken run composting system. So, dog manure would not work in there. Not a big deal as I don't have a dog. I do compost all my chicken manure and when I had rabbits, I used all the rabbit droppings as well.

I never composted rabbit poop, it went straight to the garden. Don’t put dog poop in there either

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

... it might be less effort to dump the dog poo into the bucket than carrying it over to the edge of the forest.

Sorry, I mis-explained

I put it into a bucket as I find it, then go dump the contents from time to time... Usually once a week when it isn't hot (smell factor calculation )

I LOVE that table, may need to frame it to hang on the chicken coop to explain to nosey-vistors who need a "reason" for my keeping my hens well past their egg laying age. (Should I put my spouse to sleep? He had a vasectomy years ago... Maybe I can trade him in for a rooster... )

Thanks again! Love having real data to backup my anecdotal garden experience. My girls are awesome garden helpers! They turn bugs and weeds into Nitrogen!

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I tried composting dog poo once, it was just nasty and stayed nasty.

Sorry it didn't work, but grateful you passed along the info. I don't know if my low guilt threshold might have put me up to "trying" but now I can just "pass" on the experience thanks to yours.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry it didn't work, but grateful you passed along the info. I don't know if my low guilt threshold might have put me up to "trying" but now I can just "pass" on the experience thanks to yours.

Well ... maybe somebody else has had better results than I, I can't say it won't work ... just that the effort was not worth it for me. Otherwise, composting was wonderful for me. I had horses at the time, and between their manure and the waste hay that fell off the bales, and garden waste, I got the most beautiful finished compost! Seriously, I wanted to roll in it! It smelled amazing and it felt like .... I don't know, like soil under the trees in a forest. It smelled clean, like rain and sunshine and, just good clean EARTH. It was almost a spiritual experience for me. I made DIRT, lol! I could grow things in it. I don't even care if I sound stupid. "IYKYK."

 

[gtaus]

I put it [dog manure] into a bucket as I find it, then go dump the contents from time to time... Usually once a week when it isn't hot (smell factor calculation )

I don't have a dog. But I have neighbors with dogs that sometimes visit my yard and leave their business cards out on the lawn. I just scoop it up with a shovel and walk it over to the tall grass in the forest edge of my property. No bucket system for me. But like I said, it's only the occasional visiting dog that I have to clean up after. Maybe only a few times a year normally.

Sorry it didn't work, but grateful you passed along the info. I don't know if my low guilt threshold might have put me up to "trying" but now I can just "pass" on the experience thanks to yours.

I don't think anybody should have to feel guilty about not composting dog manure. Although it is possible, I think it is way too much effort for the benefit. I don't do either hot composting or Bokashi bucket composting, so I am not advocating for those methods. Just wanted to say it is possible.

I got the most beautiful finished compost! Seriously, I wanted to roll in it! It smelled amazing and it felt like .... I don't know, like soil under the trees in a forest. It smelled clean, like rain and sunshine and, just good clean EARTH. It was almost a spiritual experience for me. I made DIRT, lol! I could grow things in it. I don't even care if I sound stupid. "IYKYK."

Count me in your camp, too. Except for maybe wanting to roll in the compost!

I tell everybody that my chicken run compost smells like a forest floor. It should because most of my organics in the chicken run are grass clippings and leaves. My chickens add some poo to the mix, but in the big picture of things, it's a very small amount of chicken manure to lots and lots of other organics.

There is a satisfying smell to rich, finished, black gold compost that you made yourself - or with the chickens. You just know that it must be good for the plants in the garden beds. And it is.

I don't do hot composting, but my chicken run litter is as deep as 18 inches at the front of the chicken run. If we don't get much rain for a long period of time, sometimes it might get too hot and then it smells like burnt grass. A few summers ago, we went for about 3 months without rain, and I had to set a sprinkler to water the compost in the run to keep it at that magical wrung out sponge state for cold composting. The nose knows, and if I ever smell anything out of balance, it's usually corrected with a little water or another layer of leaves/carbon on top.

Normally, I never have to do anything with the litter in my chicken run composting system. The chickens are constantly turning it with their scratching and pecking, keeping everything in balance for cold composting. All I do is continue to add organic matter to the run as I get it - mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, pulling weeds from the garden, etc..

And if I have not mentioned it recently, I typically am rewarded every year with hundreds of dollars worth of high quality chicken run compost that I put into my raised bed gardens, where I grow people food for the family.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

And if I have not mentioned it recently, I typically am rewarded every year with hundreds of dollars worth of high quality chicken run compost that I put into my raised bed gardens, where I grow people food for the family

(Singing) It's the circle ... the Circle of Life!"

 

[gtaus]

Speaking of being both frugal and practicing sustainable lifestyles, just wanted to mention again that I have been using my new power cutter from Harbor Freight to cut heavy packing cardboard into smaller strips to feed into my paper shredder at home. I then use the cardboard paper shreds, along with normal paper shreds and light cardboards shreds, as my coop litter. The heavier cardboard paper shreds add to a nice mix of paper shred materials.

Even better, since I got the power cutter, we have not sent any heavy cardboard boxes to the recycle center in the past 2 months. Lots of companies ship products in recyclable boxes which are great for shredding up to make chicken coop litter. I'm talking about companies that are using paper tape instead of plastic tape on their boxes. Most of the boxes we get from Amazon or from QVC have all been environment friendly boxes. Good for them. Better for me and my chickens as I turn those boxes into coop litter, then compost for the gardens.

I bought the power cutter because my hands are getting old and if I used a heavy-duty manual scissors, my old hands would start to cramp up in no time. That's why I never bothered cutting up heavy packing cardboard boxes before. But now I do.

Of course, you don't need a power cutter to cut heavy cardboard into strips, but it just makes it so much easier. I have a big heavy manual scissors that if my hands were younger, that would work just fine. Or I could take the cardboard boxes out to the garage and use a razor utility knife to cut the heavy cardboard. Both those systems work, but the power cutter just does it better for me.

Frugal Tips: If something like that power cuter is of interest to you, they normally sell for $39.99 at Harbor Freight, but they typically go on sale for $24.99 maybe every 3 months or so. When I bought my power cutter, I got it on sale for $24.99, but I had a HF loyalty rewards check for $15.00 for a one-year anniversary of using the HF credit card, plus I had another $5.00 in HF rewards money from previous purchases. On top of that, the weekend I bought the power cutter, you got a free gift of ratcheting tie downs 4-pack worth $12.00 for any purchase of $24.99 or more. Worked out perfectly for me that weekend. Essentially, I paid $4.99 for about $52.00 worth of merchandise that I will use. I try to stack as many deals as possible when I make a purchase.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hmm.

Well, not sure if these would be tips or tricks but rather what works for me.

For starters, we recycle anything and everything we can. We also don’t discard of plastic bags. (Though we don’t buy them either, sometimes they come with products) I use them for cleaning my chicken coop and other things.

We don’t really have a compost per say, but i bury some fruit and veggie peels in our forest (far from our chicken coop incase of predators) to help the soil instead of tossing it in the trash.

And i rely on my garden for lots of things now. When we moved in there was already pear trees, walnut trees, and a few blueberries too, so that helps in addition to my current garden.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Well ... maybe somebody else has had better results than I, I can't say it won't work ... just that the effort was not worth it for me. Otherwise, composting was wonderful for me. I had horses at the time, and between their manure and the waste hay that fell off the bales, and garden waste, I got the most beautiful finished compost! Seriously, I wanted to roll in it! It smelled amazing and it felt like .... I don't know, like soil under the trees in a forest. It smelled clean, like rain and sunshine and, just good clean EARTH. It was almost a spiritual experience for me. I made DIRT, lol! I could grow things in it. I don't even care if I sound stupid. "IYKYK."

Not at all stupid! I feel the same way about my compost