Composting for Chickens, Compost bin made out of Pallets
5-8-2018
Composting for Chickens...
In an earlier post I showed you the compost bin I recently made.
The chickens love it, but only when I add new things to it. I have struggled with the balance of nitrogen and carbon sources. I have a great friend that has been giving me all her bagged grass clippings and left over vegetable scraps. I have been using the clippings rather in the pens and chicken garden to mulch.
You are suppose to put 2 parts green to 1 part brown. The green I have used is pulled weeds from the flower beds and garden. I even went and took all the neighbors weeds she got out of her garden clean up. It condenses down quickly as the green turns brown.
I don't have many options for the brown materials, only some hay or stray from the chicken pens. This will include all their manure to help with the plants next year. I know you should never put it directly on your garden or it may burn your plants.
I have read a lot about how to use chickens for composting. I watched Justin Rhodes (my favorite Youtube channel "Abundant Permaculture") video's and they had me so excited about it!! It seemed to be easy, you throw it in, they till it up, eat on it and poop on it. It hasn't worked that way for me. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Maybe they just like free ranging more. I have tried laying cardboard down on top, but it seems to just dry and blow away, or dry and curl up, doesn't disintegrate fast enough. I try to layer the carbon material and make sure it gets enough air. I water it every so often, probably not enough. I need to do a better job of turning it with a pitch fork, but its so heavy and hard to get it up. The chickens tend to scratch out all the brown materials, and spread it all around the bin. Little mess makers!! I'm constantly raking up all the straw and wood chips to put back in! Lets hope that it becomes a bigger part of my farm and will help me produce a rich compost for my chicken garden next year!!
I am thinking about racking up some of my neighbors brown pine needles from their lawn to add to this bin. Wish me luck...I will keep you updated!
Composting for Chickens...
In an earlier post I showed you the compost bin I recently made.
The chickens love it, but only when I add new things to it. I have struggled with the balance of nitrogen and carbon sources. I have a great friend that has been giving me all her bagged grass clippings and left over vegetable scraps. I have been using the clippings rather in the pens and chicken garden to mulch.
You are suppose to put 2 parts green to 1 part brown. The green I have used is pulled weeds from the flower beds and garden. I even went and took all the neighbors weeds she got out of her garden clean up. It condenses down quickly as the green turns brown.
I don't have many options for the brown materials, only some hay or stray from the chicken pens. This will include all their manure to help with the plants next year. I know you should never put it directly on your garden or it may burn your plants.
I have read a lot about how to use chickens for composting. I watched Justin Rhodes (my favorite Youtube channel "Abundant Permaculture") video's and they had me so excited about it!! It seemed to be easy, you throw it in, they till it up, eat on it and poop on it. It hasn't worked that way for me. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Maybe they just like free ranging more. I have tried laying cardboard down on top, but it seems to just dry and blow away, or dry and curl up, doesn't disintegrate fast enough. I try to layer the carbon material and make sure it gets enough air. I water it every so often, probably not enough. I need to do a better job of turning it with a pitch fork, but its so heavy and hard to get it up. The chickens tend to scratch out all the brown materials, and spread it all around the bin. Little mess makers!! I'm constantly raking up all the straw and wood chips to put back in! Lets hope that it becomes a bigger part of my farm and will help me produce a rich compost for my chicken garden next year!!
I am thinking about racking up some of my neighbors brown pine needles from their lawn to add to this bin. Wish me luck...I will keep you updated!
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