Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Chicken Coop Composter

My chicken/duck coop is essentially a giant composter, that is how I use it anyway. Each year almost all of my raised beds are filled with soil made in the coop.Here is what I do. During the summer months I use straw bedding in the coop, in the winter I use wood shavings for the extra moisture of the birds being inside the coop more during the colder days. I simple turn the bedding every day or so to keep it breaking down more evenly. Some refer to this method as the "deep litter method" (for googling purposes).The finished product is added to the top of my raised beds each year before winter sets in, and by the time spring comes around and it's been turned a few times, it's top notch soil. I use it for my vegetables, and add any left over bedding into my row of blackberries. I've been tweaking this system for the last 3 years, I believe the soil is very fertile from the broken down chicken and duck shit, I hope to someday have it tested in some manner. The sole problem I have not yet to solve is the heating up of the matter, it never really goes through a full heat like a traditional compost pile, thus allowing seeds to sprout throughout the vegetable season.  I plan to solve this problem by going heavy on the beds when I dump the new soil on top, and cover with black plastic with holes for rain to enter throughout the winter months. This should help trap and attract heat to get the compost to a temperature capable of "cooking" new seeds. Like most everything, it's a work in progress that gets incrementally better each year.

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