what do you do with all the poop ?

[bokboklady]

thanks everyone for the tips, i have now put an ad on local web selling forum, so i might get some takers,
but also might mix it with the grubby straw and compost it for next year.

 

[matthewschickens]

Compost it... Or if you're really creative you could make it like THIS

 

[bokboklady]

Quote:
all i can say is YUK, !!!

 

[moonlyghtegirl]

Compost it, and till it in to your garden, flower beds, etc...

 

[annie3001]

throw it all over the grass!

walk with caution!

i really did scoop out the big night poops.

i do a big cleaning of shavings etc, about every few weeks. i need to do a cleaning before winter sets.

i use a large garbage can, my husband takes some to work, and dumps it in theirs (hes the store owner so he can)

i spread some over the veggie garden.

 

[fargosmom]

I was winding up with too much for my compost pile (my lot is small and I don't do a whole lot of gardening) so for a while I was bagging and trashing it . . . but I frequently mention my hens to my clients and finally came across someone who IS an avid gardener, so now I put a full bucket in my driveway on Saturday morning, and he comes and swaps for an empty, plus usually whatever is growing in his garden at that moment. He says "thanks for the s**t" and I say thanks for the veggies! I'd thought of offering it on craigslist but I really didn't want to weed through a bunch of knuckleheads - this way I wound up with someone who's local and who I know, so I feel more comfortable about the whole deal.
But if you can keep it for yourself and make use of it that's best - you worked for it, you should benefit!

 

[matthewschickens]

Quote:
all i can say is YUK, !!!

Oh no, it's the best!

 

[biddyboo]

Keeping chickens and "loving" their poop go hand in hand. It's all a state of mind, I guess, but when you realize they produce both eggs and fertilizer for your gardens, then you no longer mind the "poopiness" of poop! As for what I do with it, each morning or sometimes every other day I "turn over" the litter in their coop, which moves the night's poops down into their deep litter of pine shavings where it dries and decomposes, making the deep litter into wonderful compost. I change their deep litter twice a year, dumping the old onto the veggie garden and flower beds and refilling their coop floor with fresh shavings to begin another half year of collection. Turning the litter is little effort and makes the system work. I rarely get a bad smell from their bedding. Some hens sleep and poop in their nest boxes; I just scoop that poop down onto the coop floor before turning it, so it all gets mixed in together. I use a hoe to push the litter to mix in the new poop. I'm not a fool and I realize the inherent danger in handling this so I always wash my hands well and sanitize with a gel immediately upon returning to the house after tending the litter. Well, that's enough about that topic ~G

 

[woodmort]

Throwing away chicken manure is like throwing away money as far as I'm concerned. If you or anyone you know is a gardener the stuff will improve soil so much better than anything you can buy but bagged chicken manure and, probably, is better than the commercially bagged stuff. Since that comes from factory farms, who knows what kinds of heavy metals etc is in it. The backyard stuff is a lot more organic. BTW, the idea that chicken manure should stink is a fallacy as long as you keep it dry and mix it with a lot of pine shavings it shouldn't smell. Once it goes into the composter it may give off an odor but then too, so will vegetable matter but this should dissipate as it "cooks". When I spread mine in the spring it does give off some odor after it gets wet, how much and how long is determined by when I get it tilled under.

 

[Moabite]

Compost! Compost! Compost! .. Believe it or not, but it is the main reason I got chickens in the first place. My pepper plants where twice as tall this year and as an added bonus, the Chillis taste great over eggs!