Hello, thinking about composting with chicken manure, any advice on how to begin, already have the chickens!

[JPadronMiami]

My composting is a long term little work option. Here is my process.

• Early spring I remove "finished" compost from the chicken run. I shovel out as much as I need to add to gardens. I also remove some for friends and family. I quoted "finished" as there is some chicken poop that is quite new and perhaps has not combined. One family member choses to take this combo and let it further cook near her garden until fall.
• Spring and summer I remove all pine shavings and poop from the coop and dump it into the run. The girls turn it for me.
• Throughout the year I dump yard waste into the run. This includes, cut grass (not fertilized), Garden trimmings, Leaves and pine needles (many), kitchen scraps. The girls turn it form me. Of course the girls contribute poop to the run throughout the year. They do not free range.

This is not very scientific. But it all looks like black gold to me. The veggie and flower gardens are quite nice. If I do say so myself.

easy enuf process Id say.....my girls are not completely free range all day, they are in large runs and I turn them out for a bit every other day Weekends they are out early right after dawn, and go in and out of their run at will, i feed them in the runs, they lay eggs in the runs

 

[Bluejay7]

Nowadays I mainly use these, which are sort of open-bottomed conical and oval versions of a water butt. Once it's filled, the top goes on, and when it has rotted down I can just lift it off, so easy as pie to access - by me or the chickens, as here
View attachment 4029817
then I just pop it down where I want the next compost shot to go (next to a hungry plant, or where I plan to plant, for example) and start filling again, layers of chicken poo, bedding and vegetation. Simple.

Would love to know where you purchased the open bottomed water butt n the picture

 

[Perris]

Would love to know where you purchased the open bottomed water butt n the picture

it was about 20 years ago, so I'm not sure the details would be of any use now; I think they were offered at cost price by the local council keen to get recycling going (Wales has been ahead of the curve on that).

There are probably modern equivalents out there now: maybe try whichever branch of govt is responsible for reducing landfill / waste/ increasing recycling where you live, or eco- or sustainability- focussed outlets?

 

[chickenwhisper123]

Hello, thinking about composting with chicken manure, any advice on how to begin, already have the chickens!

back to eden garden is great for that

 

[Borders3]

Would love to know where you purchased the open bottomed water butt n the picture

Just google Compost Bins for Sale there are all sorts out there to buy, not cheap so as Perris said enquire at your local council first. B&Q sell these for £32.00

 

[JPadronMiami]

I've been composting it for coming on 7 years.
I have poop boards so I put nearly all poop in when the buckets are dumped. One bay will have nearly all poop with a little zeolite/DE and wood ash. This gets layered in with the 1 year old pine shavings from the coop during the annual clean out. This layered pile will sit for another year before it is incorporated into garden soil. Then I start filling up the empty bay with poop/zeolite/DE/wood ash again for another year.
The compost is excellent and my gardens grow incredibly well.

thank you for the input, was wondering if adding/combing horse manure into the chicken compost pile would be ok and beneficial in the garden, i started a medium sized galvaniized trough garden about 5 months now, have green peppers, red peppers and mint to test the horse compost and so far so good....ready to try the chicken and grow tomatoes and other greens....

 

[DobieLover]

thank you for the input, was wondering if adding/combing horse manure into the chicken compost pile would be ok and beneficial in the garden, i started a medium sized galvaniized trough garden about 5 months now, have green peppers, red peppers and mint to test the horse compost and so far so good....ready to try the chicken and grow tomatoes and other greens....

It shouldn't be a problem if you get some carbon in the mix and let it compost a while.

I have a steady stream of compost that is certainly out of the recommended ratios of N to C but it sits for 2 years before I use it so it's still awesome compost. I put a fresh layer over my veggie garden beds each spring about 2 weeks before I plant and turn it into the soil. I use it to enrich soil when planting landscape plants and it's rare that I lose any. A rough estimate of the number of permanent plants I've enriched with this compost is 200.

I really don't do any work during the compost period. It is in a bay made from old pallets and sits in semi-shade but does get some sun.