newby composting chicken poop

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lizro
Learner Laner
Posts: 21
Joined: 09 Sep 2015, 15:00
Gender: Female

newby composting chicken poop

Post by lizro »

Hi everyone. I am sure this is an old chestnut but I can't find a thread - probably not using the right words to search on so I have given up. Here is my question. Is it safe to put fresh chicken poop in the compost heap with the compostable kitchen scraps? The hens pick this compost heap over and eat quite alot of the scraps - so if I put poop in as well I am worried the hens might end up eating some it if it gets mixed in with everything else. At the moment I am putting most of the poop in a darleck type compost bin which the hens cannot get into, but when we have grass clippings to go on the compost heap we put a small amount of poop under the clippings and then a layer of dry shredded garden waste in the hopes that the hens wont scratch so far down that they get to the poop.
Also is it all right if the hens eat mouldy stuff we put in the compost-like today we had a tin of sweetcorn that had a good layer of mould on the top and we put that on the compost but I bet the hens ate some it.
What does anyone else do?
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jemberelli
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Joined: 17 Dec 2011, 18:42
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Location: North Yorkshire

Re: newby composting chicken poop

Post by jemberelli »

My compost bins were built into the wall of my run so the girls had open access to them. I used the bins as normal - the usual kitchen waste and also the girls bedding (straw & bedding made from chopped up rape stalks), poop & all. The chooks ate what they wanted, turned it all over whilst pooping more and the compost was the best I had ever had!
No girls at the moment but look forward to getting more in the future. Proud mummy to Hector, a Bedlington Terrier x Jack Russell
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