Protein in Compost

[msbear]

My chickens are messy eaters and I often wind up with excess crubles mixed in with poo and shavings when I clean the coops. I've been hestitant to toss that on the compost. Too much protein in that feed? What will it hurt?


Thanks!

 

[ducks4you]

I don't think you should worry about it. It's already broken down for their digestion. I'll bet if someone did an experiment on the feed when exposed to the elements, they would discover it breaks down very quickly. Why don't you put a small sample somewhere in the corner of your yard and go back in a month to examine it? I'll bet, by that time, some kind of plant will be growing in it.

 

[patandchickens]

There is nothing wrong (from the compost's standpoint) with protein in your compost pile. (Remember, even vegetable matter has protein in ).

The reasons that it is common to advise people to keep protein (like, meat) out of the compost are just that a) it attracts vermin (rodents, raccoons, loose dogs) and b) there are at least theoretical issues relating to contamination of the compost with food-poisoning type disease propagules.

But protein, be it animal protein or high-protein chicken feed, will *compost* just fine. It is relatively a bit higher in N than some things so it can help heat the pile up. A bit.

However I will warn you that the one time I had problems with rats colonizing my compost pile, and subsequently my chicken bldg too, was when I dumped a big brooder full of shavings that had LOTS of spilled feed amongst 'em. All that feed in the compost pile attracted the rats. I'm just sayin'.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[msbear]

That's exactly what Im talking about. A huge brooder full of feed and shavings... probably more feed than shavings. Im just distgusted about the waste but am working on a better feeder system. On the compost, it goes!

 

[journey11]

No it won't hurt anything. I compost the remains from butchering, whole dead chickens, everything. If you bury that stuff deep enough and it has either long enough or hot enough to cook it will all eventually break down. A little bit of crumbles won't hurt a thing.