Composting eggs

[sandyullom]

We are currently worming our chickens and I have two questions regarding composting with this. First, we must discard 14 days worth of eggs. Are raw eggs safe for the compost pile. Second, we plan to clean out the coop after 14 days as well. Is it safe to put the bedding/poo from the coop in the compost after worming?

 

[Greensage45]

Hi,

On the level of composting, eggshells are good, but the increased 'protein' product is typically avoided in the Compost pile.

I believe this has to do with the Fats involved and those fats becoming suspended and forming bad bacteria that can be harmful. It can also make for a stinky mess. Some say this sort of composting attracts unwanted critters.

However, we all bury animals and other carcasses (you know spouses and bad neighbors). So it is not like the soil cannot contend with such things.

I think if you did this equally across a large area that you would not be causing a concentrated "rot", so no bad smell, no critter attracting, no oil deposits (fats).

So your question really remains with the Product you are not wanting to introduce, and that is the Parasite Medication or Wormer. I have no clue what it is you are using and what the proper disposal would be. I would think that if you did an internet search on your product you might find those answers.

It would be awful to kill off good bacteria and worms. Lots of good insects in the soil eating compost. Lots of good things happening in there. It would awful if 'whatever' product is in there should suspend and possibly enter the water source surrounding you. That would be bad.

So, have you considered asking this question on BYC? The link is below this page at the bottom. You might find quite a few knowledgeable folks that know your product you used. I wouldn't doubt if half of them don't just eat the eggs, or use them on their dogs! (sorry BYC... I am profiling, but hey, I have heard rumors). LOL

Goodluck on your search,

Ron :bouquet

 

[patandchickens]

I chuck eggs in the compost all the time, I do not see it as a big deal. If you break them and mix them with other stuff, it is not like there are big chunks of Animal Protein sittin' around trollin' up vermin or whatever. That, plus generalized prissiness about germs and lack of trust in the ability of soil bacteria to overwhelm pathogenic foodborne bacteria given a few months' worth of time, are the only reasons I know of to even *contemplate* avoiding composting eggs. As I say, I do it - I do break them first though.

The wormer thing is a more difficult question. First, it depends how (if at all) organic you are wanting to be. If you are serious about organic, you don't want to be using manure from wormed animals during the withdrawal period. If you are not all hung up on organic, just don't want to be screwing up your compost pile, I do not know of actual studies of this on chickens, but I would suggest that the first few days' worth of poo be put somewhere separate, not in your favorite compost pile. Reason being, when you worm horses and cattle with ivermectin, for the first few days afterwards their manure does not break down normally because the normal manure-colonizing insect (etc) community can't survive in it. So you get poo piles sitting untouched in the pasture, sort of mummifying I do not know for a fact that this happens with chickens but I should think so, and thus would not put coop cleanings from a *recent* worming into the main compost pile. (A little bit of it mixed in with another 5 months' worth of stuff, all cleaned from the coop at once, is probably fine, I would guess).

JMHO,

Pat

 

[vfem]

I agree... and its only for 14 days on top of it, it will end up being so minimal in the end compared to what you normal compost isn't it?! no biggie!

 

[sandyullom]

Thanks for the input. We'll cook up the eggs and feed them back to the chickens (thanks to some input from BYC friends) and go ahead and compost the bedding as we normally do. Hopefully my garden will love it in the spring

 

[19Dawn76]

Hi . I worm my chickens with Apple Cider Vinager.