winter composting

[Old Philosopher]

I guess that's one advantage of having a large coop. My "poop board" is the floor. I refresh the litter in most of the coop on a regular basis during the winter, but under the roost I don't bother.
There is plenty of room below the roost for 3-4 months accumulation. That's why I have a semi-annual schedule of cleaning and disinfecting the coop. The manure from the coop only goes to the compost pile when I'm able to turn it in. I can take a current picture (January) of it, if nobody's sensibilities will be offended.
As for kitchen wastes attracting vermin...yeah. We always bury fresh refuse when we add it to the pile. If the compost pile is frozen, or covered with snow (like mine is now), we used a dedicated garbage can with a secure lid. In my case here, it has to be dog-proof and bear-proof. I use rubber garbage cans because I found even the galvanized ones will rust out.

 

[TalkALittle]

I guess that's one advantage of having a large coop. My "poop board" is the floor.

My coop is 5'x7'. It isn't spacious by any means but there is room for poop to accumulate if I wanted to let it. I don't though. Even if I had a much larger coop, I'd still have a poop board that I'd clean weekly. I haven't refreshed my litter since October and won't need to until Spring. It's all a matter of how you want to spend your time. The thought of slogging out 3-4 months worth of poop just doesn't appeal to me.

I add to my compost pile all winter. I give it a flip just to cover the new stuff a bit and then turn it all in come spring. If the top is frozen or covered with snow and I can't flip it in then it just sits there until Spring.

 

[Old Philosopher]

Quote: With the smaller coops (e.g., 5' x 7') I can understand that weekly cleanings would be a necessity. Mine is 10' x 15', but that includes storage space & a brooding area. When I do my complete cleanups, I can remove all the litter and manure in about 2 wheelbarrows full. That includes the "rearing pen" if it was used. This usually takes me about 1/2 hour, tops, including running it out to the compost bins..

I can't even think about adding to my compost from mid-November on. Our frost line is typically 12", but water lines here are buried to a depth of 5 feet, based upon climate history. If I was to just dump my kitchen scraps on the top of the compost, I'd be feeding every stray cat, skunk, raccoon, and deer in the neighborhood. Hence the critter-proof containers.

I think I WILL take a couple of pix, just for conversation's sake.

 

[TalkALittle]

Between the dogs and chickens there really isn't a whole lot of leftover kitchen scraps. Any that aren't eaten by my animals go in the trash, not the compost pile otherwise I would likely have a pest problem. It's just the frozen poop that sits there until Spring.

 

[Old Philosopher]

My Fall clean up was last September. Had 11-14 birds on the roost since then.




This is why I don't actively compost in the winter...

 

[TalkALittle]

I snowblow a path to the coop and another to the compost pile. If I lay a piece of plywood over the top of my bays it prevents a lot of snow from building up on the piles. It helps that I'm only just expecting the first substantial snowfall of the year this weekend. Anything under 6" doesn't count.

 

[Old Philosopher]

I snowblow a path to the coop and another to the compost pile. If I lay a piece of plywood over the top of my bays it prevents a lot of snow from building up on the piles. It helps that I'm only just expecting the first substantial snowfall of the year this weekend. Anything under 6" doesn't count.

And anything over 12" and you stop counting... hehehehe