Where do I start?

[Crazy4Chicks]

I want to start a compost pile- but have no idea where to start and with what - I dont want to get one of those fancy compost turners ( like you see the pros use on home and garden shows ) I just want a small compost pile that I can manage on my own and be able to use the litter from the chicken coop.
any advice will be great thanks.

Julie

 

[Blisschick]

You can take a square area, fence it in on three sides with chicken wire, and use that as a compost heap. You need to turn it with a shovel or pitchfork every day or two to keep the process going.

My MIL used to get the city to dump mulched Christmas trees in a spot at the beginning of the year, and by late summer it had decomposed enough in the middle to start using it. I would go and dig and turn it over for the good stuff, so it was just self-perpetuating.

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

If I start the heap this spring with the old litter from the coop and yard clippings- how long will I have to wait till I can use it?
Also do they smell? and can you use dog poop in them ? I know table scraps work well but with 16 hens 1 rooster 3 ducks 4 dogs there are no such thing as table scraps around here LOL

should I put this heap in a very sunny spot to get it going really well?


Julie

 

[2468Gardeningisgr8]

Yes i would keep it in a sunny location it will "cook" faster.
When we lived in the city and composted I was told not to put kitty litter.dog doo,meats in the composter.Because most composters did not reach the desired heat to kill "germs" Because they're too small and the compost is used up faster unless you had a couple going at the same time...or they didnt want to attract critters....
Now that I am in the country I have a couple composters going and my dearest hubby is making me one huge composter out of skids with chicken wire wrapped inside....three and a quarter walls. ..I will use that one for the chicken coop litter(Which is a new thing for me) and garden stuff . I still dont put kitty litter etc in them....because of the critters ......but we have dug one big hole way in the back with a digger and I dump the buckets of dog doo and kitty litter in the hole and then throw a couple shovels of dirt over top for smell.We have a cedar rail fence around the hole and I leave a shovel there .Have to dig another one in the spring.You can start your composting heap anytime .
If you place a black thick liner (or even black thick plastic)over top of the composting heap it will attract more heat.and if you add a little water and turn it alot it will break down faster.Well I hope I have helped you .I was always told "jump in and try it ! I am still learning myself ...something new around the corner ....such as Ckicken litter ?.....

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

Thank you for the great advice - I think I know the perfect place to locate my compost pile I was out kinda looking around the yard today - than I got cold and had to come in LOL
I think I will make plans to start on it when I clean out the chicken coop once the weather gets warmer.
Sounds crazy but I am looking forward to making a heap of compost this spring LOL

thank you all for the great advice I know my new flowers will thank you also.

Julie

 

[Buff Shallots]

I have two black plastic composters that I got from our local cooperative extension service.

I've put my coop shavings & chicken poo and mixed it up every other week since June, but to be honest, the shavings are not being very cooperative about decomposing! The poo probably decomposed already, but the shavings are still intact.

Since I'm new to chickens, I don't know if it will be "black gold" come springtime when I'm ready to use it. Just wanted to share that with you. (I'm sort of disappointed myself, since I've had such fantastic luck with kitchen scrap composting into black gold within a few months.)

 

[patandchickens]

I've put my coop shavings & chicken poo and mixed it up every other week since June, but to be honest, the shavings are not being very cooperative about decomposing! The poo probably decomposed already, but the shavings are still intact.
Since I'm new to chickens, I don't know if it will be "black gold" come springtime when I'm ready to use it. Just wanted to share that with you. (I'm sort of disappointed myself, since I've had such fantastic luck with kitchen scrap composting into black gold within a few months.)

I can tell you that with horse stall cleanings that contain a lot of shavings, the shavings often compost poorly and glacially slowly. The solution is a) add nitrogen, b) turn the pile frequently, and when you turn it c) make sure it is always moist enough [but not soggy]. For nitrogen, urine works well for a small pile if you have a cooperative husband who likes to take a whizz 'al fresca'; or if not, things like your neighbor's untreated grass clippings (or, better and faster, some high-nitrogen fertilizer, although this almost has to be synthetic unless you want to drop a significant chunk o' change) will get things going. (For a stable-cleanings pile, another solution is to add manure picked from fields, which is hi-N low-C, but I dunno that is much help if you're dealing with chickens).

If it works for horse cleanings it ought to work for chicken cleanings too.


Pat

 

[Buff Shallots]

Patandchickens, thank you for the advice. I didn't think that stall shavings would have the same problem decomposing.

I will think of nitrogen sources I can add at this time of year. Would Espoma granular fertilizer with high nitrogen content work?

 

[patandchickens]

I would think so. Dunno, at farms where I have worked they just added 'some' of the hi-N agricultural fertilizer used for fields, or hi-N lawn fertilizer. Here at home I use field manure.

Good luck,

Pat