Composting question

[SandraMort]

I have a raised bed planter (2 or 3' tall) that we're putting the compost into. I'll turn it over the winter and in the spring, top off with a foot of soil and plant in that. Then in the fall, after it's all nicely rotted, we can turn the potting soil into the compost for the following year.

Yesterday, my husband helpfully stuck a small chick into the compost. I was planning to use these planters to grow food. Is there any problem with that?

 

[katz]

Hello, You are saying your husband buried a chick in your raised bed . If it's warm where you live ,things decay with heat and the hotter the weather the faster the material is composted . I live in the south heat and I compost whole dead fish and other raw meats with fur,skin or scales right out in my bottomless raised bed garden , however a small chick will be fine in a raised bed your size. Don't turn the soil but you can put some fertilizer and some water to moisten and heat up the soil ,You may want to add more soil to cover the smell and keep animals from digging the chick up. The chick will improve your soil for spring planting and all should be absorbed .

 

[patandchickens]

I agree. I wouldn't compost carcasses on purpose in stuff intended for veggies, especially if you're not going to make sure it gets to 150-160F... but I can't see any harm done in this case, because of the small size of the chick and the time that will elapse before you do anything with the compost.

A hazel sapling that I buried a chick under this spring is doing tremendously well.

Pat

 

[poppycat]

Honestly a chick is really no big deal in the compost. Birds die in the wild all the time and they decompose. I'm not sure I would compost, say, a possum. That might be better buried.

As for innovative soil amendments, just the other night a friend of mine told me she buried the placenta from each of her children under a special tree she planted for each of them in the yard. Now why didn't I think of that?

 

[LlamaBeans]

I am pretty sure but the chick was dead right? He didn't bury it alive now did he!?!