New to composting.... sort of

[baymule]

Call me weird but I like shoveling snow.

Ok, You are weird!

 

[baymule]

Nice winter garden Major. In Livingston I could raise brassicas and greens all winter. I have some plants in the ground here, kale, collards, cabbage and broccoli. After our 20* weather last week, I notice they are looking rather sad. So I guess I need to make them some blankets for the cold nights like you have. But after that freezing weather, it is back in the 60's and on Christmas day it is supposed to be in the mid 70's. Call me weird, but I like non-freezing winters!

 

[Beekissed]

Here's some pics of temps in the coop at mid morning today....it was a balmy, breezy 45* outside the coop and this at roost height inside the coop....

And two different readings of the biomass of DL directly under the roosts at that time....keep in mind this mass hasn't had any moisture added except from the feces, the materials, the humidity in the soil and air. Also keep in mind that this thermometer probe can only go 5 in. deep, so it's likely hotter a little deeper in....

At the most shallow depth under there, it read a mere 85*.

This is a very open air coop with large areas of ventilation at all levels, even right next to this mass. Those stay open all night long too.

Will take readings when the temps drop to single digits and subzero and are sustained to see how much heat is generated if the mass goes dormant from the cold. Not likely to happen any time soon as we are experiencing spring like temps right now.

A lot of folks over on BYC say you can't truly do any composting in a coop, say you have to have more moisture than you can get in there to get "true composting"...I'd like them to shove a hand in the DL under my roosts and tell me what, exactly, is going on under there if it isn't composting.

Today, for the first time since doing DL and after taking these readings, I added some water to that DL under the roosts(2 gal. bucket's worth), just to see how much hotter it cooks with more moisture...should be interesting to see how the temps go up by tomorrow.

 

[henless]

How's the DL doing now Bee? My DL never composts like yours does. I guess it's more of a deep bedding since it doesn't compost? It breaks down and the poo disappears with no smell, but I have no composting going on. Maybe if I add water to it, but I don't do that in the winter. I will spray it down in the summer to help keep the dust down a bit.

 

[Beekissed]

How's the DL doing now Bee? My DL never composts like yours does. I guess it's more of a deep bedding since it doesn't compost? It breaks down and the poo disappears with no smell, but I have no composting going on. Maybe if I add water to it, but I don't do that in the winter. I will spray it down in the summer to help keep the dust down a bit.

I'd call that composting! It's just a cool compost rather than a hot one. If it breaks down and the manure disappears, then you are achieving the goal, it would seem. It's likely if you are not stirring it up too much and are capping off the moist litter with dry, you have enough moisture trapped under there for good composting.

You'd not believe it, but after I added more moisture, that compost cooled right down! I'll not be doing that any time soon again. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

@Beekissed do you mean like this?
View attachment 17888

12/23 tonight they are calling for rain so decided to uncover everyone so they get a fresh breath of air, of course a drink of rain water. the next 5 days is suppose to be in the low 40's at night, might leave them uncover...

It kind of took my breath away to see green instead of white everywhere. I forgot what the ground looks like. Lol

 

[henless]

I'd call that composting! It's just a cool compost rather than a hot one. If it breaks down and the manure disappears, then you are achieving the goal, it would seem. It's likely if you are not stirring it up too much and are capping off the moist litter with dry, you have enough moisture trapped under there for good composting.

You'd not believe it, but after I added more moisture, that compost cooled right down! I'll not be doing that any time soon again. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That's too bad! I figured with you adding water it would make it heat up that much more.

I have hardly any moisture in my DL. I don't stir or cover it up at all. The only thing I do is kick it back away from the door so that I can shut it. The chickens dig through it all the time. I usually just throw it all out in the runs come spring and let it finish out there. Works good for me.

This year, I may just pile it up out in the yard somewhere and let it sit there and hot compost. Then if I need any for my garden THIS spring, I will have some to use. So glad to be able to say THIS spring instead of NEXT spring!!

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, I tried doing what you do but it didn't seem to work for me. Perhaps it was because the coop floor had originally about 8 bags of sand? The hens would eat the kitchen scraps and the leaves seemed to get packed. It was also very dry. I was also afraid that with my rat problem it would just attract them. But the coop is covered with 1 inch hardware cloth and there is no where where any animal can dig in. So I could be wrong in them being able to get in. I gotten different answers about whether rats can go through a 1 inch opening. I was so hoping it would work. I wanted to give the hens something to do instead of being bored.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I tried doing what you do but it didn't seem to work for me. Perhaps it was because the coop floor had originally about 8 bags of sand? The hens would eat the kitchen scraps and the leaves seemed to get packed. It was also very dry. I was also afraid that with my rat problem it would just attract them. But the coop is covered with 1 inch hardware cloth and there is no where where any animal can dig in. So I could be wrong in them being able to get in. I gotten different answers about whether rats can go through a 1 inch opening. I was so hoping it would work. I wanted to give the hens something to do instead of being bored.

Mary

Were you trying to do this all over your coop or just under the roosts? I concentrate most of my efforts where most of the poop is deposited. I don't worry about the rest of the coop because slowly but surely the bedding there gets added to the bedding under the roosts as I cap the manure with dry leaves, etc. I WANT it to get packed down there so the chickens can't disturb my cooker, letting out the moisture I want to keep there.

If it gets too dry, add water, then cap it to preserve the moisture. Even on sand, this material should do a slow decomposition if you give it enough moisture, air pockets and time.

JustOneBite is a really good way to get rid of rats. Works quick and they crawl outdoors when they die...most likely looking for water, there to be picked up and disposed of.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Last Wednesday I emptied my coop onto the garden for the first time in three years. I have a dirt floor and use wood shavings.

I got nothing like Bee's rich black compost. Mine stays really dry, it does not have enough moisture for those composting bugs to work. What I took out was basically sawdust from the chickens scratching the wood shavings and dried powdery poop. I could not tell that it had broken down at all, it was just too dry. I use droppings boards to reduce the poop load inside and my chickens spend practically all day every day out of the coop, so the poop wasn't that thick in it, but it was there.

My winters are wet enough and I'll have enough warm days between now and May when I plant that part of the garden it will have broken down. I'm not worried about that at all. And I will not have to add compost to that part of the garden. By composting that pure chicken poop I take out along with a lot of other stuff, I have about 9 chicken feed bags of compost ready for spring in the other parts of the garden.