Noob compost brag.

[catjac1975]

I need to work every angle I can. I'll give it a shot.

Rabbits make fantastic manure and certainly must be a pet.

 

[digitS']

My larger gardens are elsewhere and the garden here at home is kinda narrow.

The very intact, empty chicken coop still stands in the backyard. I had no trouble with neighbors in all the years that I had chickens. If I had suspected that they would be a problem, I might have used a "stealth" coop.

My idea was this: In my narrow garden, 2 beds could be used for a coop and run. The path between would be for me, for access.

The "beds" wouldn't be beds at all, even though they might look like high, raised beds framed with boards. That would be on the exterior. The roofs would be "green" roofs - they might or might not grow useful crops. Stealth, you understand .

A gate to the center path might be a solid board one. A narrow coop might use all or part of one bed. A connection at the opposite end from the gate could allow the chickens access to the other bed, actually, a pen with outside boards and inside wire fencing.

Someone standing close might be able to see into the stealth chicken home. And I say chickens but roosters have not been a part of any of my flocks for decades. A cackling hen might alert neighbors to her presence but I made no effort to conceal my chickens in the past and had one neighbor, with normal hearing , who lived over my back fence for 4 years without knowing that I had a laying flock.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

Would you get fined if you had them or just told to get rid of them? How often do they check properties if at all? I'd say go for it and if you get caught, you get caught.

Mary

See if you can get a couple of neighbors to break rule at sametime. Will show your not some lone trouble maker

 

[catjac1975]

See if you can get a couple of neighbors to break rule at sametime. Will show your not some lone trouble maker

Did you get that advice from your Dad?

 

[so lucky]

I don't know about hens being quiet. Some I have had could be heard a mile away when she was thinking about laying an egg, or had just layed an egg. Or someone else was laying an egg.

 

[catjac1975]

I don't know about hens being quiet. Some I have had could be heard a mile away when she was thinking about laying an egg, or had just layed an egg. Or someone else was laying an egg.

Yea hens do make some noise during the day. Nothing like a rooster crowing at 2AM because the moon is full or the wind turns the motion detector lights on. And well after all the poor girls are practically giving birth everyday. And then the others are coaching her.

 

[ducks4you]

Hehehe. We'll see. I attended a composting class with the extension service, and they spent maybe 20% of the time on vermicomposting, so I feel like I have a solid base of information to try it, but my initial reaction to it was that it doesn't generate enough material for my tastes. (Well, unless I'm willing to spend hundreds of dollars on tons of worms, but a big part of my motivation for composting myself is so I don't *have* to spend hundreds of dollars amending my soil...)

That said, once I get the 1,000-ish square feet of soil I'd like to use in better shape, I might be up for generating smaller amounts for targeted plants. But for now, I've got a large swath of crappy soil to improve.

You will find the way to compost that suits you best. We all have.
Make SURE to NOT put ANY PLANT with seeds in your compost pile!!! Even seeds from plants that you want. Pretty much all plant's seeds love a good compost pile and weeds will regenerate in them and their seeds will grow. Best to throw weeds in a garbage bag and let them be hauled off to control them.
We have differing ideas about tilling. One bad thing about tilling is that ancient (older than us) weed seeds are brought to the surface to grow by tilling.
You do whatEVER you can to remove any weeds from your property bc they will compete with the plants that you want to grow.
Just some FYI...kindly meant despite the caps.

 

[ducks4you]

Re: chickens, go to BYC and join (linked to TEG on the main page). They have articles on how to change the ordinances in your town.
If a 9 yo can do it, so can you.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-town-restores-snowball-fights-after-9-year-olds-plight
Just understand, chicken manure takes 9 months to break down and if used earlier straight it can burn your plants
In the meantime, I suggest that you contact local horse stables. Everybody uses grain/pelleted horse feed that comes in 50 lb plastic bags. Many horses also eat pelleted hay, and the never pass a single seed. The stables have to throw away the bags and dispose of the manure mixed with bedding, both greens and browns. You invest in a roll of duct tape, ask permission to use the bags and fill them (no more than 3/4 full), carefully roll down and tape shut. They will NOT break in your trunk.
Horse manure takes 4 months to break down for garden/plant use and one adult full sized horse produces 40 lbs manure/day.
You could bring home bags and add that to your compost pile. It will grow exponentially.

 

[Ben E Lou]

It's not an ordinance. It's the HOA's rule. Chickens are legal here. I have friends inside Greensboro city limits who have had them for years. The issue--I'm willing to bet--is that I live in a nice suburban area that was just developed 20-25 years ago in a part of town that used to be considered "the country," and is still quite near it. (There are multiple working farms within 2 miles of my house, and on the 8-minute drive to preschool my youngest daughter delighted in counting how many cows and horses she would see at a particular one.) My guess is that the saddity yuppie-fied folks who moved out here originally wanted to establish the area as "suburban" and not "country." Pfft. I grew up in the 'hood and even *I* can handle a few freakin' chickens, people. GET WITH IT!!! @majorcatfish, are you familiar with my area (generally around The Cardinal...in the Fleming/Inman/Pleasant Ridge area,) and if so, am I characterizing it correctly?

 

[Ben E Lou]

Make SURE to NOT put ANY PLANT with seeds in your compost pile!!! Even seeds from plants that you want. Pretty much all plant's seeds love a good compost pile and weeds will regenerate in them and their seeds will grow.

According to everything I've read and the class I took on composting, piles that are 140 or higher for a week or so will kill the seeds. Is that not the case? My piles were all in the 145-160 range for at least a month.