Topic: Compost (chicken muck)

[bullseye]

Hi, my name is Stuart, I'm 33 and today have put my name down for an allotment. I have just started to keep hens in my garden I have 3 Brown warrens. I am using wood shavings as litter in their house. Any ideas on the best way to start using the litter to make compost at home until I have my allotment. Cheers.

[gayle]

hi, i know woodshavings take a very long time to break down on the compost, but chicken poo is great. ;D

[Palustris]

Mix it all up with your grass cuttings and the carbon in the wood will help the grass rot down without turning into a slimy mess. That way the shavings rot quickly too.

[northener]

Heyup Stuart, i try to seperate the wood shavings best i can, as Gayle says it takes longer to break down. I put the poo into a 30 gallon container topped up with water and use it on my Toms etc. Stinks a bit but its good gear.

[sandersj89]

I agree with Eric and also keep hens bedded on wood shavings. It makes very good strong compost and 12 months should see it ready for use on the ground. I collect mine in a bag and on a weekly basis take it to the allotment where I have large compost bins made from pallets. I only add the chicken waste to one but mix it with green material.

I also remove the droppings everynow and then and collect them seperately to add to my other bins to act as an accelerator.

Jerry

[philcooper]

Heyup Stuart, i try to seperate the wood shavings best i can, as Gayle says it takes longer to break down. I put the poo into a 30 gallon container topped up with water and use it on my Toms etc. Stinks a bit but its good gear.

Northener,

As the chicken droppings are high in nitrogen, they are not ideal for Toms - they will help produce lots of top but not fruit

The mix of high nitrogen in the droppings with the high carbon in the wood shavings makes it an ideal mix, mixing with grass will "waste" the nitrogen - mix it with other general waste and make sure it is kept moist (the chicken don't produce liquid urine)

Phil

I anyone suggesting separating out the elements in animal compst should try it and then report back, after washing their hands !  ;)

[Trenchboy]

The wood shavings are the element you need to address.

Adding green material is important, but adding urine will speed up the whole process.

I suppose you could collect your own..  but just adding some horse manure will do the trick.

[northener]

Cheeers for that Phil, your right the leaves on the plants are really bushy. I'll go back to the Tomorite. What do you suggest i could use the Poowater on?[ i hope you say nothing i hate taking the lid off that tub]

[pixelated]

I get big bags of shavings from a local joinery company. The bags are filled using extraction tubes from every machine in the shop. Only problem is when they cut, plane or use the spindle moulder on hardwoods and you obviously get a brown ring of hardwood in the bag and its the hardwood which will not rot as quickly as softwood. But its cheaper than the bails you get from the pet shop especially when you have 21 chickens like i have and need to be cleaned out every week.

[flowerlady]

Sadly there are too many feral foxes for me to try keeping chooks.

So as there is no available local source of chicken 'produce' nearby, could anyone suggest a good brand of pelleted variety that I could buy, locally?

At least it won't import grass seed like uncomposted horse poo! :D

[philcooper]

Northener,

Any leafy plant, lettuce, brassicas, leeks .....

Phil

[bullseye]

Thanks everyone for all the good advice. I wonder if straw would be better than shavings. Today is a happy day picked up the key to the allotments, hope the heavy rain stops I cant wait to get dirty and start clearing my plot. ;D

[wardy]

I think straw's supposed to be best - faster to rot down.  Good luck with your plot clearing.

I've shown a newbie at my lotties to his plot today.  He came through the gate while I was picking spuds and introduced himself to me and asked me to show him to his plot.  We'd cleared it a few weeks ago ready for lotty open day hoping that if it was cleared it would look less daunting.  It worked!!  He got stuck in straight away and within minutes he'd dug a potato.  I noticed he was wearing Jesus sandals  :o

[jaggythistle]

   Do you think jesus knows wardy ... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[wardy]

Laughs like Muttley  ;D ;D ;D ;D             I imagined him last night (the new plottie - not Jesus) rubbing his stinged feet with dock leaves

Or should that be stung?  ;D