Compost tumbler for chicken droppings

[ZMamagoose]

I've never composted before and this is my first summer with chickens and I have come to realize that there are a lot of shavings that need to be taken care of. I'm using an already made Coop that was on the property I am renting and it holds up to 50 chickens and I have 8. So it takes a lot of pine shavings and straw to fill the cemented bottom floor and I realize to clean it out is going to have a lot of pine shavings to take care of so composting might be a better option then trying to throw them out. I have no experience with this so I thought maybe a tumbler compost bin would be the easiest route to go, I'm curious if anyone has use these and their thoughts on them?!

I'm also curious how often people clean their coops out, and if they clean it out completely and add all new fresh stuff or just lay new fresh stuff over the old stuff

Thanks

 

[rosemarythyme]

Problem with wood shavings is they don't seem to compost great. I do use shavings in the nest box though, so when I clean out the coop both the shavings and the coop litter (wood chips) get raked into the run, where it becomes part of the run litter. I clean out the coop "as needed" which for my old coop was about every other month, but might only be twice a year for my new coop.

 

[ZMamagoose]

Problem with wood shavings is they don't seem to compost great. I do use shavings in the nest box though, so when I clean out the coop both the shavings and the coop litter (wood chips) get raked into the run, where it becomes part of the run litter. I clean out the coop "as needed" which for my old coop was about every other month, but might only be twice a year for my new coop.

What would be a better option on the floor?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm a big fan of wood chips in the coop but depending on what you have available you can do a different mix of plant materials. Like dried leaves compost amazingly well, though you'd need a lot of leafy trees around to get enough to fill up a run or a coop.

 

[snow5164]

I love my sand floors , just scoop as needed.. they love to dust bathe in it as well

 

[Aerliss]

I compost my rabbit litter trays, which comprise of poop, hay, and wood or recycled paper pellets. I have three compost piles that I rotate.

I've only had the chickens three weeks but what I've been doing is giving them a bucketful from the oldest pile each morning (they loooove compost bugs), and then on the weekend raking it out and either using it in the veg garden or tossing it back into the pile. My plan is to rotate, using the compost when its ready (or giving it away) or simply tossing it back into one of the piles.

I have litter pellets in the coop, covered by a nice layer of straw. I only have four, so I poop pick in the afternoon, putting poop, straw and newspaper from the poop board (free papers at home and work) onto the current "building up" compost pile. I add extra water to help it along. It's not a FAST composting method.though chickens have helped a lot, as it's mostly browns. But it works well enough for me.

Wood shaving should compost quite quickly, but they need to be wet. Water is a big boon to compost. The bacteria, fungi, and yeasts in the pile need water to be productive. A covering over the pile will help prevent evaporation in hot and dry climates. A tarp is also good, or just some open cardboard boxes.

 

[lazy gardener]

What would be a better option on the floor?

Sounds like your coop is custom made for composting deep litter. You can do so right in the coop. Simply start by building up a nice layer of what ever natural yard waste you have handy. Other posters are correct when they state that shavings don't compost well. It takes them a long time to break down. In my coop, I use a combination of dry leaves, hay, grass clippings, garden debris. I often toss in some mint, creeping charlie, lemon balm, citronella. I let it build up to 6 - 12" under the roosts and do a partial clean out several times/year. The stuff moved out of the coop gets tossed into the run. After 3 years of continually working to build DL in the 500 s.f. run, I have finally arrived: I now have a 6" layer of spongy fragrant DL in the run. I can harvest from there any time I want to. Hubby just built a second door for the run, so I can add fresh material, and remove compost from each end.

 

[igorsMistress]

Our girls, 9 of them, spend most of their time in our yard so I use a poop board to scoop and compost their manure. I put it in my compost tumbler with torn up feed bags and kitchen scraps. This process seems faster than just tossing everything in the big pile I also keep.
The problem with too much pine is that it's allelopathic...it can affect the germination and growth of other plants. I think hot composting helps, but can't swear to it.
I'm currently using a very thick layer of hay in the coop and bedding straw in the coop yard. Based on performance so far it could be a year before I have to clean it out. When I do, I'll divide the materials between my big compost pile and the coop yard to benefit both.