What bedding do you use?

[Ruralhideaway]

@aart your run footing looks amazing!

 

[aart]

How hot does your compost pile get during the year? I've been reading up on some off gridders using 'hot composting' to heat their runs. Some have theirs up to 140 degrees. Handsome rooster you have there.

I don't have a compost pile.
Hard to keep a pile that hot(140F) long term without adding to it.

 

[TattooedChicks]

I really want to try adding lime this coming year, heard its great at adding acidity which in turn kills bad things in the bedding. And yes, I've never had a chicken that didn't love some sort of straw, they will dig through it for hours on end finding tid bits.

I’ve been using the First Saturday Lime brand, safe and effective. Got rid of my camelback cricket problem like to other, as I refuse to use traditional pesticides anywhere near my home or birds.

 

[aart]

@aart your run footing looks amazing!

Footing...or bedding?

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Footing...or bedding?

Ha sorry, old horse habits. It's outside so my mind turned it into a chicken riding ring of sorts.

 

[PouleChick]

Wood shavings take forever to break down. You don't want to mix them into your soil as they will suck up the nitrogen thus depriving the plants. Can use as mulch tho, some of the poop nitrogen will filter down into soil for plants to use.

Oh @aart that is so not what I wanted to hear My poor garden needs help and I'm rubbish at making compost so I actually did exactly what you suggested this afternoon after I weeded a section of my round bed I mulched with it. My chickens are meant to help me garden - really they are over 2 months old now surely they can be There isn't a lot of poo in there though as I'm having to clear out shavings almost everyday as they seem to play with the nipple waterbottle and they keep getting it sopping wet bless them!

 

[PouleChick]

Oh and your rooster is just magnificent @aart ! Not something I want or can have with a toddler but he is amazing

 

[Poultry Place]

I use straw easier to scoop out an I get it for free from a friend.

 

[Chullicken]

I don't have a compost pile.
Hard to keep a pile that hot(140F) long term without adding to it.

Well yes, you would have to feed and turn it just like any other compost pile.

 

[lazy gardener]

I really want to try adding lime this coming year, heard its great at adding acidity which in turn kills bad things in the bedding.

Lime actually combats acidity. Lime is alkaline.

Wood shavings take forever to break down. You don't want to mix them into your soil as they will suck up the nitrogen thus depriving the plants. Can use as mulch tho, some of the poop nitrogen will filter down into soil for plants to use.

What she said!!!

Well yes, you would have to feed and turn it just like any other compost pile.

Compost piles can be made and turned on a regular basis, or they can simply be layered up, and allowed to finish composting with no further attention. It all depends on how much you want to work at it, and how much time and energy you have to expend on your compost process. I take the lazy way: let the chickens do it, or layer it. Some of my compost is trenched, and some is sheet composted. Most is DLM in coop and run. Most recent is a 20 x 30 sheet compost to reclaim an area of subsoil covered with woody perennial weeds. Simply layered, and left to ripen. I'll be hilling that area this spring, and planting cucurbits and beans this summer.

Agreed, it needs frequent management to keep it hot.