Chicken Poop

[Ridgerunner]

I decided to open up my grow-out coop

this morning by taking the closure off the bottom front. It has a hardware cloth wire floor and the poop drops through.

Ive had it closed off for draft protection but figure my 9 week old chicks

can handle the warmer temperatures. They might even appreciate a breeze when it warms up some more.

The poop falls through the wire until they get maybe 12 to 14 weeks old, then it is big enough to get stuck on the wire. I had not cleaned it out underneath since my last group last fall so Im not sure how much of this pure poop

is from the new group.

Anyway, It would up on the storage side of my compost heap.

When that far side finishes Ill start a new batch.

 

[catjac1975]

Our chicken manure is mixed with wood chips. My husband spreads it on the garden in the winter and early spring and then tills it in in April or may. He then plants the corn where the chicken manure was in late May. Have never had a burning problem.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, I cleaned my main coop out last November and put that directly in the garden, then tilled it in. I've already got stuff growing in that. As long as it has time to work, that's a great system. But I don't put the poop directly in the garden while stuff is growing. That can burn stuff. I've made that mistake before.

Besides, that pure poop is a great "Green" to go with all the "Browns" I have in my compost.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i've always had luck with throwing it on in winter and tilling it in the early spring. if i have to do a clean out in the middle of summer i just find a new location i want to use for growing and till it in there for any fall planting. no issues yet with burning plants.

 

[Smart Red]

I tossed all my coop cleanings in one fallow raised bed last summer. Got a huge, hot pile more than three times the height of the bed's sides. This spring I have a low pile of beautiful compost - and no weeds made it through that pile - that I intend to spread out amongst the raised beds. I'll save the winter's rabbit manure for side dressings later in the summer.

 

[bj taylor]

really impressive.

 

[baymule]

It's time to clean out my coop and run, but have had a lot of rain lately. Wet heavy poop is no fun to shovel. I'll wait until it dries out a little. I throw stuff in the coop and run all year. Grass clippings, leaves, corn shucks, pea hulls, sweet potato vines, just about anything and everything. What the girls don't eat, they poop on and scratch apart. I made a new wire bin for the compost. It is 4' horse wire, 4"x2", heavy and sturdy. I made a welded wire bin last year, and Parker my dog tore it up the first night and scattered compost all over the yard. he sure was proud of himself!

As I used the compost from last year's coop clean out, I found big fat grub worms. I tossed them to the chickens and they loved them!

 

[897tgigvib]

I think I'm getting tired, but can anyone else see the humor here?

...yea...i'm just tired. time for me to hit the hay