What To Do With Chicken Coop Waste
All year long, we use a lot of bedding in our chicken coops. During the summer clean the coops more due to the rainy season and because our chicken population is at its highest. We may accrue a whole lot of chicken coop waste.
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What To Do With Chicken Coop Waste
Though I use deep litter methods during the cooler weather months We clean the coops regularly during the warmer months of the year.
Compost Dirty Coop Litter
Dispose of the chicken poop by putting it in the compost pile. It's full of both the browns (litter like wood shavings) and the greens (poop) you need to build a good compost, so into the compost bin it goes! With the right additions, you'll have black gold in no time.
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Dispose of Coop Litter in the Garbage Can
Be polite, bag it up so the garbage man doesn't get covered. For very small coops or flocks that live in the city, this litter disposal method might be the best option.
Reuse your feed bags to bag up the litter, feed bags are really sturdy and can be really loaded up without ripping.
Sell Old Coop Litter/Chicken Manure
Gardeners will pay for chicken fertilizer even if they have to compost it themselves. Advertise it in local farm groups, on online bulletin boards, or hang signs on bulletin boards at garden centers.
Stick it in empty feed bags and sell it by the bag.
Dump the Coop Litter
We have a dump pile about back in the woods, on our property of course. Make sure there are no eggs or anything else to attract varmints. As the years pass I've noticed the pile does not get bigger though we continue to use it. Nature breaks it down for us.
Now I'm reasonably sure chipmunks and such eat any seeds left behind, but it turns into a beautiful rich compost all on its own back there. Which is the reason why it's so far from the coops, to keep the critters way back there.
Use Coop Litter Straight in the Garden
Admittedly you can only do this after your final harvest in Fall and up to about 3 months before your first planting in Spring. If you use coop bedding in the garden when the chicken poop is too fresh, it could over-fertilize the soil and burn the tender plant roots.
More on Raising Chickens on your Homestead
Common Chicken Keeping Mistakes to Avoid
