What to do with Chicken Poop?

[Leesa Blank]

What does everyone do with their chicken poop? I've been reading a TON and have decided I want to use sand. I have horses so I know all about picking poop up every day. My question is, what does everyone do with their poop that DOES NOT have a compost pile? I do not have the room or desire to do that (I don't garden, we barely have a lawn), nor do I have the room to have a "manure pile" like I do with the horses at the barn. Thanks!

 

[Leigti]

I was going to say add it to the horse manure. But it sounds like your horses and your chickens are not on the same property. You could do the deep litter method but if you don't want to compost at all I guess just throw it away. Or see if any of your neighbors want it for their compost pile.

 

[Leesa Blank]

I wasn't sure if it was illegal to throw it in the trash? And I'm by all farm fields so not to many gardens around me either :/ I suppose I could toss it in a field once I collect a bucket or so? I have no idea how much poop to expect from 9 chickens

 

[pinknblackchaos]

I clean my shavings and poop out of the coop and put it straight in the fire pit. Burns fine.

 

[paintedChix]

What does everyone do with their chicken poop? I've been reading a TON and have decided I want to use sand. I have horses so I know all about picking poop up every day. My question is, what does everyone do with their poop that DOES NOT have a compost pile? I do not have the room or desire to do that (I don't garden, we barely have a lawn), nor do I have the room to have a "manure pile" like I do with the horses at the barn. Thanks!
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My quote doesn't appear to be working...

How large is your coop? How large is your run and is it covered? How many chickens of what sizes? You might want to look into DLM.

I no longer do anything with it<poop> as it happens. We are in NC <sandhills, imagine that> and on sand and I want ANYTHING but sand (nasty, stinky, heavy, non-growing stuff). I think the sand on the last 3 properties we've had chickens on (& here on our new place) must have "something wrong" with the sand, as it's just - EWWW - and I have never been able to figure out how people can maintain chickens on sand w/o it smelling really, really bad or attracting major numbers of flies. Maybe it's because they start with purchased, "clean" sand, I'm not sure...

DLM to our rescue here on BYC! Here on our new place, our "coops" are more like partially covered runs with open bottoms (3 hoop coops that started as tractors now in permanent spots?, maybe). Then several pens/coops that were here before that I used originally when we moved in, but now getting ready to take down and rebuild into permanent hoop coops with DLM from all the vegetation around the area(s) where the coops currently are.

The roosts and the nesting boxes are open to the floors below - and the DLM takes care of all their poop AND the DLM is turning that sand into lovely garden soil. I've even been known to dump some of the pony manure into our DLM and am now building a coop/run over a heavily manured area so the chickens can turn the "pony manure mess" into good compost for us! If our new run works out, we will be moving some pony pens around so that the chickens can do all the work of turning it for us! Working on that... major work in progress. Slowly using movable tractors to turn pastures that are nothing but sand (7 acres worth!) into soil that will support more/better/proper pasture grasses for the ponies (and the chickens and maybe other small livestock in the future). But then we had predator issues that ended that in a hurry (for now).

BUT it sounds like you have your chickens on/in a small area of your yard - so DLM may not work for you? If that's the case, then burning is probably the best option if you don't want to maintain a separate compost pile...