Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Turning your birds' coop waste into compost is a great side benefit of keeping chickens.
You just need to be careful in how you use it. Since chicken manure is considered “hot,”
meaning very potent in nitrogen, it needs to be used sparingly in its fresh form or com-
posted down over the course of a year before it can be turned over in your garden as a
humus booster.
I use the deep-bed method for my coop. This means instead of cleaning out the old bed-
ding and replacing it every time I freshen the coop, I pour fresh straw or pine shavings
on top of the old stuff instead. This creates the necessary alchemy for the waste below
to heat and compost underneath the feet of my birds. And when I clean out that coop in
the spring, I have a power house of nutrients for my garden.
Since most people line their coops with a bedding of wood shavings or straw, you
already have the carbon ingredient ready to go, and by adding your birds' old waste and
bedding into your compost turner or onto your compost pile, you are not only recycling,
you're creating topsoil that will make the onions for your omelets sing for joy.
Chick Diary
We keep our birds confined to their coop unless we are out in the yard with them,
sincealotofourneighborslettheirdogsrunfree.Adrawbacktoconfinementina
smallerspaceisthatthemoretheygrow,themoretheydevastatethelawnbeneath
thembyeatingasmuchgreenastheycanandscratchingawaywhattheycan't.We
