I cant believe Im actually waisting brain power thinking about this but what would be my best use for the poop taken from the coop. I only have 9 chickens and a small 3x4 coop. While Im out visiting every morning to water and give scratch I take a shovel and pick up all the droppings in the house. This keeps things clean and smelling nice. So far I have been tossing the poop into the compost but since its pure fertilizer without all the shavings would it be better to put it all into a seperate bin for use in the gardens next year? If so should the been be totally enclosed and should a lid be on it? Kind of an odd question but one that has been troubling me.
Hmmm...Around here the farmers manure (horse, cow) piles are just that..piles, they are not covered, so I guess I would make a bin out of scrap wood and toss the poo in.
I have heard from a few people that the poo and pine shavings have to ferment before you use it on the garden. I work mine into the compost pile and use it the next year in the veggie gardens
We have a seperate pallet compost bin that we put the chicken litter in. When we get one side filled, we will start with the other. It is going to set there until spring when we will work it into the garden.
I fling our chicken poop out over the pasture. Just remember to check wind direction before you fling!
Make a compost pile. Add grass clippings and other debris. Wet it down, turn it over every few days. In no time you'll have beautiful sterile fresh earth for your garden.
I did my first cleaning out of the henhouse in April and put the crushed corn cob and poop into the compost bin with kitchen scraps, yard waste and a little horse manure from a friend. I just sifted it last weekend. It is beautiful, loamy dirt full of worms. I am looking forward to tilling it into my garden for next year's tomatoes and zucchini. I have read on the internet, so we know it is true, that chicken droppings are extra high in nitrogen. It will "burn" your plants if you do not compost it first. I have seen recomendations of composting for a year before putting it into the garden. I plan to till mine in this fall so it will be already in the soil for spring.
We have found that wood shavings don't compost very quickly at all, like not even within a year. So I've been collecting the poo in the same manner as the original poster and just putting that in the compost bin, without the accompanying shavings. Hopefully by spring it will be garden magic!
Quote:If you are not using bedding, then I would definitely put it in with your regular compost pile, not a separate pile -- poo with absolutely nothing else added will not compost well. It needs other stuff with a decent carbon content. The only reason to put a lid on would be to keep the right moisture content and to keep animals out (the latter shouldn't be much of a problem though). Easier than a lid is just to flop an old piece of plywood or carpeting on top of the pile if it is in danger of getting too dry or too wet depending on your current weather. Pardon me for mentioning it but 3x4 is an incredibly tiny coop for 9 chickens - I hope you are in a climate that does not get down to freezing in winter and does not have days that are so rainy etc that the chickens won't want to be outside (unless you have an extensive weatherproofed run)? Have fun, Pat