Hello from winter white MN. Help, I'm wanting to clean out the coop but my composters are both full and FROZEN. What could I do with the litter? It's about 4 inches deep and I toss it every day but there seems to be more poo then litter these days. I don't want it to get any deeper as then it gets into the feeder my hubby made. Could I store it in black garbage bags until spring?
Put up another compost bin. Obviously you're short on space for dealing with your compostables, so make more. That said, if you're removing 4 inches of bedding that is mostly feces daily I've got to be quite suspicious that your birds are vastly over crowded. I cannot even imagine how that's possible.
You can certainly store it in bags. Do you have enough land to have a dump pit? We dig one a year and fill it in. A year later it's great for planting pumpkins and squash. It's also wise to offer deeper bedding in winter simply because it keeps the birds warmer. How many do you have?
If you have some annual flower beds, they would be a great place. A corn planting area would also be good. Don't put it anywhere you intend to plant low or hanging fruits or veggies that you eat raw. Also, avoid perrennial beds because the excess nitrogen will stay suspended in the frozen manure until Spring and it will burn the plants and cause huge leaves with no flowers. Definitely avoid squash family planting areas because they suck bacteria right through their roots. Other than that, you should use a dropping board to allow you to collect the manure and leave the litter. At least there would be less volume.
To answer your question about chicken space...they are 6 chickens in a 6x8 coop! They have plenty of room but I didn't know enough to put up a poop board before we built the roosts and need to reconfigure to accommodate one in the spring. Forgive my newness. I plan on more raised beds in the summer and will use all the coop compost for filling those in. I know how to use it but didn't know how to store it We have a 50 gal. drum we compost in and I just thought we'd do the deep litter thing until spring and not need to use is this winter...my bad!
I scrape the droppings board and throw it on the compost heap............where the dogs eat it. Maybe I should send you my dogs.
Just got the best idea! The kids dug a "cave" hole in a pile of dirt in the backyard...If I put it in there will I attract other animals (pests)?? Oh, and there are plenty of neighbor dog poop eaters here already
If you build a large effective compost heap it should actually generate heat. (All the microbial activity and reactions going on). If you want to use your compost in the garden you want it to be fully broken down, both by microbes and by worms. Smaller piles are colder and take a long time. Instead of making a sepearate new bin or pile. It may be worth making one very very large pile, and the barriers to hold it in place.
I just keep piling it on top. We've pretty much finished collecting all the leaves now. So it will eventually, next spring probably, be turned together for a wonderful rich compost. The girls get in the compost pile whenever they are out and turn it too. What good girls I have!!
