waste management in cities

[felixferdinand]

Hi, I'm in discussions with my local council regarding changing the bylaw to allow backyard chickens (wish me luck!). One question that has come up is how much waste is generated. My research shows a chicken produces about 1/3 to 1/4 as much waste as a dog over a year, but what about bedding waste? Do most of you compost this, or use it directly as a garden amendment??
Can anyone give me an estimate for yearly amount? Thanks,

Neil
Corbeil, Ontario

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
OMG this is so funny

Oh, but if its a LOT of chickens, never mind. I was just thinking I never have enough poop. But I only had 6 chickens. Now I have 13 bantams, and its just right. As for me and my chicken keeping neighbors, its not even called "waste". Its called "gold".

Yes, its compost. It smells nice when its in the compost bin or heap, like a greenhouse. Its a very live, green fragrance. Its not even close to the waste a dog produces, because it doesn't have that "poo" stink like people's or dogs. Maybe it also depends on what the birds eat, too. Ours eat Purina Layena, and forage for lots of yard greens and yard bugs/flies/worms/mice/toads (so they do have a high protein diet if left to their own devices), but my dog-keeping neighbor used to complain about his dog poo yard, and dog poo smell, and we'd joke that I ought to get an emu, as I was always complaining my compost heap never had enough chicken poop. If we could just convert his dogs into dog sized chickens, I'd have enough................

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I compost all of the litter and chicken poop from the coop.

 

[Chick CJ]

Chicken poop is the BEST for composting! I usually throw all the poop and bedding (wood shavings mostly) into the compost. However, this past winter just began throwing it out into the part of the yard where my chickens free range, which is already covered with redwood. The shavings take a few weeks to break down but I am not planting anything out there so it doesn't matter and the shavings combined with the redwood combined with the big leaves that fall out there add up to a lot of fun for the chickens to scratch in! The compost will be used to fortify my garden. The other poster is right about the smell. It really isn't offensive at all. Dog poop goes into the garbage and that is when you can get people to actually clean up their dog poop!
Cathryn

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have urban chickens and nothing from the chickens makes its way into the city's garbage, it is all composted. I suspect that most people who raise chickens also compost the waste for their gardens, and as 6chickens in St. Charles said, "it's gold"! Good luck with your city council, we're rooting for you!

 

[ginormous chicken]

My chickens create less waste than my 3 Dogs!!!!!! I compost ALL the chicken waste. This includes the manure, pine shavings, and straw. It is great for my compost bin! It adds so carbon to it, to balance out the food scraps. The chicken poo that ends up on the ground is a little more difficult but the forum has introduced me to DE and it has made a difference in the breakdown of poo. I put DE on the ground to help the breakdown and it makes the poo breakdown twice as fast! IMO the poo from 3 dogs is nastier, harder to clean, and smell worse than chicken poo!

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

OK, I just spent an hour chopping poopy ice from outside my coop and run. I found myself disturbed at the amount of poop that can't get into my compost bin, because it melted away with the ice and is just running wantonly into the lawn.

OK, so I know the lawn likes it. If you GoogleEarth my house, you see last summer's green lawn from skyview, surrounded by the chickenless poor lawn areas. But still, ........I want it for myself...........

I know it sounds selfish.

Waste Management isn't really an accurate term for backyard poultry keeping, IMO. Unless, you consider that chickens ARE your waste management system.

Come to think of it, I believe a good many people use their chickens as waste management systems. Kitchen scraps get tossed to the chickens, whatever's leftover from them picking it clean gets scooped up with their poopy run litter and turned right there or dumped into the compost heap. That, in turn, gets turned into the garden beds in spring. That, in turn, becomes tomatoes and beans and flowers. In autumn, that gets snipped to little pieces and turned under the compost heap, etc etc etc.

I have two neighbors whom I hardly ever see anymore, except they come over with an empty coffee can to collect chicken doo for their tomato gardens. Maybe that has to be factored in to "waste management", that people actually want some, and they'll show up asking for it.

 

[ginbart]

I would check your local newspaper and see if you can put in free ads. We can with ours. You'd be surprised at how many people will call you to get chicken poop for their compost bin or heap. Then you wouldn't need to worry about it and tell them it will be picked up for compost.

 

[obaan1]

I agree 100% with everything that's been said. I compost also and there is no waste generated. The only things generated are good vibes. I hope the Corbeil board sees the light.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
How many chickens?

It makes a big difference. Most backyard chicken people are not poultry producers. A small backyard chicken flock is not the same thing as a poultry production facility. Now THAT's a waste management issue, involving ammonia, phosphorous, dead bodies, horrorible noises, stenches, diseases, pollution of groundwater, pain and suffering................

I'm starting to realise that maybe chickens were intended to live in small groups. It goes very well in small groups. Socially, aesthetically, musically, hygeinically, very well indeedy, in small groups.

Not 30,000 per house. More like, ten. Small groups of chickens, quite the nice life.