Chicken Composting: Reasons to Save your Chicken Poop
If you have chickens, or if you are thinking about starting your own chicken coop this year, there's one aspect you might have overlooked, and that's the value of chickens and organic refuse. Chickens are one of the best natural composters you can own, and it's not only easy, but better for your chickens if you can harness this composting power.
All you need to do is switch up your chicken run game, aka lay down a bale of straw (which is a high carbon base) over which you pile your old broccoli, your salad scraps, trimmings from your garden and etc. The chickens will mix this with the sand from your coop.
Do you know the hidden uses of chickens?
Nitrogen and Chicken Poop: Garden Food
The best part of this equation? Chicken poop is high-nitrogen. So not only are the chickens turning over the organic matter and mixing it with the high-carbon straw, they are also continually helping to break down the matter with nitrogen feces.
So, with a good base of straw, a balanced diet and local river sand you will insure your chickens have the energy they need to grow and thrive. This all equates to healthy chickens and prime compost for your garden or back yard. It should also take some of the sting out of cleaning the coop.
Sell Chicken Poop to Gardeners for Composting
Don't garden yourself? Even better. You can sell your natural, chicken-made fertilizer for a great profit if you pitch it right, someone will probably even come to collect it for you!
Money, and never having to clean your coop again all from one article brought to you by North 40 Outfitters.
Who would have thought?
Interested in seeing the best chicken coops in the northwest US? Then you'll want to watch this film.
NOTE: Some foods are toxic to chickens if you are unsure of what you are feeding, contact your local Ag extension office for a complete list of chick-approved fodder.
Four Steps to Using your Chicken Poop as Compost
- Line your run with a straw bedding this is a high carbon base and interacts chemically with high-nitrogen chicken poop.
- Use a good-quality course and sharp, local river sand in the chicken coop itself. This will aid digestion, keep feathers bright and feet healthy.
- Throw all scrap food and leafy trimmings into the coop's run.
- Wait. Your chickens will do all the work combing and turning compost while delivering high nitrogen "packages" to break down your refuse into prime gardening material.
