Ducks!

[bills]

I used to dump a lot of stuff in the chicken run, but because of our lengthy rainy season, I had to limit it. It really began to smell like a compost heap..
Nowadays, after I have tossed in some buckets of weeds for them to feast on for a day or two, I rake up all the left overs up, and compost them out in the woods. I will still throw a handful or two of grass clipping in to them, but the rest goes in the regular compost box.
My kitchen compost contains egg shells, coffee grinds and filters etc, so I never have dumped that in the run. Anything edible, such as lettuce, left over rice, bread crusts, etc., I keep in a separate bag, and give them as treats.

I have a wood floor in my coop, which has a thick layer of wood chips, that I remove and replace completely a couple time a year. I lay chips on my poop board, which make for easy clean up, a couple times a week.

 

[baymule]

This is my hoop run. It's 12'x8' The coop is 8'x7'

 

[baymule]

This is milo, the red grains in hen scratch and some basil. The milo came up in the garden, so I let it grow for the chickens. The basil....I needed that spot for something else. The girls made short work of it.

This is sweet potato vines. The girls ate all they could and composted the rest.

 

[baymule]

Hi-jack!!! I high-jacked my own thread! I guess it's OK, the ducks are in the freezer anyway. @ninnymary these pics don't show all the leaves I dump in the run. I took these shortly after I built the run. Leaves are about a foot deep in there now. They are half composted, still see leaves, but there is also nice crumbly compost.

Yes, Mary if you throw a banana peel in the run and they don't eat it all, it will draw flies. I do have some flies in the back yard. Not really bad, but if you go to zero flies to some flies, then I can see how that might upset you.

I dig it out at least twice a year, more if I need the compost for the garden.