Composting with... not your garden variety chicken poop

last month

last modified: last month

I know there are lots of instructions on the Web for composting with chicken poop, but they all assume that the poop comes in little wet blobs, or in smears on soiled straw bedding. That's how it works if you have chickens because you like to watch them acting like chickens, or you like the noises they make, or you like growing eggs.

But I have chickens because my wife liked all of those things, but she got sick, and then she died. And... I like the chickens, and I like the pretty blue and brown eggs that I can trade to the neighbors for other nice things, but basically I have them because my wife made a commitment to care for them and then couldn't keep it. And between caring for her, and dealing with all of her possessions after she died, and everything else that has been happening in my life, it's been a long time since my priorities stretched far enough to cover periodically cleaning the chicken run.

But I've been working on it the past week or so, and I've found that for a limited time -- another month or so, until the rains start -- I can peel the chicken poop off the patio pavement in chunks that are an inch or more thick, with a consistency similar to particle board.

I've thought about grinding it up to make compost, and decided that isn't practical. If you can imagine grinding up two or three 4x8 foot sheets of particle board, you've got the idea.

I've thought about chopping it into little pieces, which would be less work, but still a lot. I'm not sure how little pieces of this stuff would mix with other compost ingredients. Maybe really well, once they absorb some water. Maybe not.

I've thought about just dumping the chunks in a corner, mixed with a bunch of leaves and soiled bedding, and letting nature take its course. I don't mind waiting a year or two to get compost from my chicken poop, if that would work.

I welcome comments from people who have done more composting than I have, and have a feel for how this would play out.

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central_valley
Original Author

last month

last modified: last month

Thank you for everyone's advice and good wishes.

Today I bit the... bullet, and cleaned out about a quarter of my chicken-run space. I pried up the big sheets of poop by hand, then scraped up the remaining solid matter with a flat-edged shovel, then swept the debris into a pile and onto the shovel. It was a lot easier than I expected, and it made the chickens only a little nervous.

I dumped the stuff onto my second compost pile, the one I didn't talk about before. It's a what-to-do-with-all-these-leaves pile, not a this-is-going-to-be-a-gorgeous compost pile. Once the rains start and the poop turns back into mush, that pile's nitrogen content is going to go through the roof. (Except that compost piles don't have roofs.)

I expect I can clean out most of the remaining space just as easily over the next few weeks. The only challenge will be a second coop that's too small to climb into. I'll have to remove the chickens (two) and tilt the coop onto its side to clean it. The chickens aren't used to being handled, so will be... interesting.

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Comments (7)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last month
No idea. But given the really rough time you've had I'd just do the easiest thing. Dump it in a corner with leaves and walk away. It'll work given sufficient moisture.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last month
There is a saying......compost happens. It is a natural process that requires NO human intervention. Us going through the layering, balancing greens and browns and turning, etc. are only intended to speed up the process but not a requirement for it happening.

Like floral says, just pile the chicken poo and anything else you can get your hands on in a corner and wait.

Compost happens
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Sherry8aNorthAL
last month
Just throwing it in a pile and waiting over the winter is the only way I have ever composted. I have not had chickens, they are not allowed on my size lot, but the chicken stuff would work like anything else.
klem1
last month
I agree with others in doing it the easy way and may you find peace and comfort with tending your late wife's flock.
tete_a_tete
last month
What a wonderful post, central_valley.

I've certainly dealt with that sort of thing - not chicken poo(p), but sheep poo(p). I used to swap some plants with a man who managed a local sheep station (now, sadly, houses and streets instead of paddocks and sheep - the good things in life. Used to love going there and scraping out his sheep yard on the few occasions I went there.

Anyhow, I can't remember what I did with my trailer loads of the stuff - it's too long ago, but if i were dealing with your chicken's scrapings I'd take the easy road because it's less dusty. I think I'd just make yet another heap with it, cover with autumn leaves, and let the stuff all rot down over time. Eventually the rain will wet what needs to be wetted.
annpat
last month
You can lay it down now as a nourishing mulch under a shrub or plant you like---in sheets or chunks. Don't pile it too thickly as it's probably rain impenetrable at this dense stage. I'm assuming this hard pack manure is somewhat aged.

Central_Valley, I'm sorry for your loss. That was a sweet tribute to read. I can well imagine how overwhelmed you have become.

I have owned chickens and I compost. For a long time, I cleaned out my houses and either layered the manure in a compost pile or piled it aside for later compost pile additions. I later heard about a method of litter management that I embraced. That's a method called Deep Litter Henhouse management. You'd need to have at least five or six chickens to make it work well. You're basically moving your compost operation into your henhouse and cleaning ithe house out semi-annually instead of twice monthly. I'd tell you more if the method would work for you.

You can take your new trailer to your local leaf dump and get some lovely bedding for your chickens.