The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: suziequeue on May 07, 2011, 07:24:22 am
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We got a dog poo wormery a few weeks ago. When it arrived, it was just a plastic bin - no aeration holes, no tap, no means of sperating the worms from the "wee". I put in a load of dog poo and mulch and left them to it. I presumed that they would all die.
In the meantime, we acquired another dog poo wormery with aeration holes, a tap, a raised mesh platform etc etc - a real Hilton hotel of a wormery ;)
So yesterday I was setting it all up (the new one) and I thought I had better check the old one. I expected to find a pile of rotting dog poo and dead worms - after all I had completely ignored them for over a month.
I was pleasantly surprised to find upon opening the lid - there there was no dog poo, no smell (just that lovely hummusy smell) and a thriving bunch of worms. They'd eaten everything and were going strong!!
IMPRESSED!!!
So today I am going to put the old worms in with the new worms. They are BIG dendrobena worms (not the usual Eisenia fetida worms in our kitchen wormery).
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didn't know such a thing was available, now you've got me interested.........investigation time!
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Brilliant. Where did you get it from, Susiequeue?
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Wow, a good use for otherwise problem disposal issue!! What do you do with all the worms? Interested too :)
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you can either release the worms to improve garden soil if they multiply too fast
or find a local fisherman they will pay well for dendrobena, going rate is about £20 a kilo...
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I wonder if there is a way to make your own, rather than buying one?
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Just been googling. This one is £97 http://www.earth-essentials.co.uk/prod_details_dogwormery.htm (http://www.earth-essentials.co.uk/prod_details_dogwormery.htm) Very expensive, so I'm going to make one today out of an old barrel. I've got some worms on the go which were meant to go into my compost bins but I haven't put them in because I'm considering relocating the compost bins. Maybe I should just dedicate one of the compost bins to dog poo? I suppose that like compost you should have one being added to and one 'cooking'?
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I bet it would not be that complex. I had a think about selling to fishermen then tried to think where there was a fishing tackle shop?????
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Hi Suzieque - was it LITERALLY just a plastic bin, and did you have to bury it in the ground, or could one just use a plastic dust bin of some sort.
This sounds really interesting to me as I keep a Great Dane ;D and sometimes two Great Danes ;D ;D
All the best
Sue
7may12.55pm Modified to say I sometimes have two Great Danes, not that I sometimes tow Great Danes ;D I would never do that ;D even if I could ;D
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This is the one we got :
http://www.earth-essentials.co.uk/prod_details_dogwormeryNEWEE.htm (http://www.earth-essentials.co.uk/prod_details_dogwormeryNEWEE.htm)
At £147 it's not cheap but we're not doing it to save money - just the environment ;)..... or at least the landfill!!
Basically it is a standard council wheelie bin with a bit of additional engineering such as some aeration holes in the sides and a "shelf" around the lower part of the inside on which a wire mesh sits (to allow the vericompost to drain).
There's also a porthole towards the bottom so that you can remove the vermicompost from the bottom rather than the top which means you can just keep adding poo at the top and pulling out vermicompost at the bottom without having to disrupt the compost (and the dog poo) by going in at the top.
Lastly there's a small tap so that you can drain off the liquid (worm wee) which can then be used as liquid fertiliser.
Earth essentials are keen to point out that the vermicompost and worm wee from dog poo wormeries should be used on garden plants etc only and not fruit and veg.
It gives me great peace of mind to manage the dog pooin this way so - for me - it's money well spent.
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Hi again - how far is the wire mesh "shelf" from the bottom of the bin, and what size mesh is the wire
many thanks
Sue
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Very interesting, especially the bit about not putting the compost on fruit and veg.
It's a shame it's so expensive, but sounds like a clever product. I'm not sure I'll be able to make something so good, but I'm going to give it a shot!
I had a thought earlier, and that is that in Sainsburys (I think) they have degradable nappy sacks, so in theory you could pick up the dog poo if you were out and about as usual, and fling the lot, bag and all, into the wormery. My next thought is that councils should do this in parks - there's nothing more repulsive than overflowing dog poo bins. One lovely walk near here has the most horrible thing ever - some cretin goes to the trouble of collecting the dog poo in a bag, then hurls it up into the trees. In the winter it's like a dog poo tree. Shudder.
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the degradable poop bags still take a couple of years to break down in sunlight, putting them in bins doesn't work!!!
i get it in normal compost bins where people collect kitchen waste in degradable bags throw the lot in the bin and wonder why it doesn't rot...
the bags also prevent the worms doing there job i.e. eating poop!!!
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You can make a compost bin for dog poo with old tyres which are free!
Put the mesh across the first or second one and build a tower about five high. Put shredded paper inside the tyres before you add them to the tower and it works a treat. Been doing it for years.
Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Ian
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You can make a compost bin for dog poo with old tyres which are free!
Put the mesh across the first or second one and build a tower about five high. Put shredded paper inside the tyres before you add them to the tower and it works a treat. Been doing it for years.
Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Ian
What size mesh do you use, and what do you put in at first to get the worms feeling happy. Many thanks Sue
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You can make a compost bin for dog poo with old tyres which are free!
Put the mesh across the first or second one and build a tower about five high. Put shredded paper inside the tyres before you add them to the tower and it works a treat. Been doing it for years.
Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Ian
What size mesh do you use, and what do you put in at first to get the worms feeling happy. Many thanks Sue
Chicken wire with supports to stop it sagging. We just chuck the poo in. It's almost impossible to keep worms out :)
Ian
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What size mesh do you use, and what do you put in at first to get the worms feeling happy. Many thanks Sue
I put reconstituted coir in but for the first lot I just put in some home made mulch and dampened shredded paper.
They were fine with that.
ou can make a compost bin for dog poo with old tyres which are free!
Put the mesh across the first or second one and build a tower about five high. Put shredded paper inside the tyres before you add them to the tower and it works a treat. Been doing it for years.
Knightquest - DOH!!!!! and slap my forehead. :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:
Such a cheap, simple solution. I love it
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:o :o :o :o
Just moved worms from old dog poo wormery to new one and they were GIGANORMOUS!!!!
I'm not joking - as fat as my little finger (and I'm not small!! - see Ticker below :D :D)
Jeez - and I don't particularly like worms :( (but DH likes them even less) but I do have huge respect for them so....... we manage ;)
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Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Knightquest - what do your dogs eat?? Does that make a difference?
We feed ours Purina chicken and rice adult and the odd gravy pan to lick after sunday lunch.
Please advise - VERY interested.....
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Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Knightquest - what do your dogs eat?? Does that make a difference?
We feed ours Purina chicken and rice adult and the odd gravy pan to lick after sunday lunch.
Please advise - VERY interested.....
We feed raw food. Lamb, chicken, tripe etc and assorted raw bones from chickens, sheep and pigs.
My point was more to do with dogs that scavenge but there are certain brands of food that I wouldn't put near to our food chain. Don't know if I'm allowed to mention the name BAKERS but hey ho, I did it anyway :D
Ian
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Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Knightquest - what do your dogs eat?? Does that make a difference?
We feed ours Purina chicken and rice adult and the odd gravy pan to lick after sunday lunch.
Please advise - VERY interested.....
We feed raw food. Lamb, chicken, tripe etc and assorted raw bones from chickens, sheep and pigs.
My point was more to do with dogs that scavenge but there are certain brands of food that I wouldn't put near to our food chain. Don't know if I'm allowed to mention the name BAKERS but hey ho, I did it anyway :D
Ian
I'll mention it again - so they can sue us both! I wouldn't touch it, and never recommend it to my puppy buyers. Bakers is so full of e numbers it's real name is 'EEEEES'
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Yes - Bakers is disgusting. It stinks.
I expect Purina's not much better but we like it.
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I use Breeder Pack - made by Purina but not advertised. My dogs seem to do well on it. Happy, healthy, shiny coats etcetc
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I've just bought two medium sized kitchen bins for £20. I'm going to have one on the go and one composting. Will drill holes in them and start composting tomorrow! I've never been so excited about the prospect of collecting dog poo.....
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That's great Dizzy.
I feel my expensive worm composter is justified (almost ::)) if it gives other people the enthusiasm to try cheaper alternatives.
Good on yer chick :chook:
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what an excellent thread. positive, uplifting and usefull. and all about doggy doo. great stuff tas'ers
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I totally agree - a great thread, wouldn't be trying it if Susiequeue hadn't thought to mention it - brilliant. :)
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the degradable poop bags still take a couple of years to break down in sunlight, putting them in bins doesn't work!!!
Sainsbury's do some compostable bag liners for their kitchen compost bin would these break down quicker?
If you are looking for worms try these www.willyworms.co.uk (http://www.willyworms.co.uk) they do green ones lol
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Ha - I love the green worms - they look like theyve been fed on pesto sauce for their whole lives ;D ;D ;D
I got dendrobenas for the dog poo wormery and just normal brandling (fetida) worms for he kitchen wormery.
Looks like the ones on the website above are cheaper than the ones I got from Earth Essentials.
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With 3 dogs I am all for giving this a go ;D
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OK - I have an ordinary dustbin with clips for the lid. I have put some brashy hedge trimmings in the bottom and added some dog poo (plenty available from resident Great dane)
Should I drill holes in the bin, and if so where?
Top
Bottom
Sides
All of the above?
Shall I put in a shovel full of mole hill soil to get them started?
Have ordered I kilo (£20 inc p&p) from http://www.wagglerworms.co.uk/ (http://www.wagglerworms.co.uk/)
Feeling quite excited ::) - how sad is that ;D
All the best
Sue
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I've just de-pooped the lawn for mowing, put a huge smelly pile of dog poo into my converted kitchen bin. I've drilled holes in the bottom and sides, put soil with worms in the bottom and chucked the poo on top. I might add some vegetation and maybe some more soil. Susiequeue, how long does it take to break down? I'm going to fill one bin then move onto the second bin while the first composts.
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Once they get going I think they take about six weeks to break it all down but it depends very much on the worms, their environment, temperature, ambience etc etc etc.
But once they get going then a little poo added frequently will probably keep abreast
If you make holes in the bin - make sure that are small enough so the worms don't escape.
You need a mechanism of draining the worm wee and a mechanism for removing the composted poo.
The engineering's quite elegant
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Just been googling. This one is £97 http://www.earth-essentials.co.uk/prod_details_dogwormery.htm (http://www.earth-essentials.co.uk/prod_details_dogwormery.htm) Very expensive, so I'm going to make one today out of an old barrel. I've got some worms on the go which were meant to go into my compost bins but I haven't put them in because I'm considering relocating the compost bins. Maybe I should just dedicate one of the compost bins to dog poo? I suppose that like compost you should have one being added to and one 'cooking'?
For some reasons using composted dog or cat muck as a manure for food crops is not advised ... perhaps it's to do with the pathogens or worms they can pass on to humans .
I have a big Dalek council supplied compost bin 4 foot base by 4 foot high , with about a foot of dog muck ( years worth ) in it and another sunken tip top 600 mm tall pedal bin with the bottom cut out , it is set in the garden ( nice job for the landscape team to sort out in a few days time :D )
I purchased one of the dog muck chemical break down " dog loo " tubs from Aldi a few weeks ago for about £8 .
It uses some bio friendly stuff and every time the pot gets full of lumps add a bucket of water to flush out the juices/soup and add another measure of decomposer to recharge it .
When the landscapers arrive in the next few days one of their first jobs is to set this muck disposal tub in a brick tower to raise it off the floor to a height I can easily work with , then construct in a contained brick wall ( 6 x 10 foot ) an adjacent dog dump / pee area on 300 mm or 400 mm of 10 mm granite chips ( I'll bung up some pictures of everything if I remember .
The washed out fluid/ soup from the tub is supposed to be very much worm friendly so I hope to produce worms in the immediate area of the tub and have them start working their way out from it into the rest of the garden over the next 20 yrs or so.
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Dog poo soup. Mmmmm!
Mine is now up and running, I flung a load of guinea pig poo and manky sawdust in it too, and add the odd handfull of cut grass as I'm concerned about the worms' diet! I'm very pleased that such an unpleasant by-product can be put to good use.
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Mmmmmmmmmmm, I cannot manage any more bags on our walks as otherwise I would also collect horse poo!!!! Dog poo is cirrently being collected in bags as the last lot pluss loads of rain, blocked the toilet in our garage..............not nce!!
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You can make a compost bin for dog poo with old tyres which are free!
Put the mesh across the first or second one and build a tower about five high. Put shredded paper inside the tyres before you add them to the tower and it works a treat. Been doing it for years.
Also, because we know what our dogs eat, we add small amounts to the veg patch too......
Ian
It's not so much you thinking you know what your dogs eat it is the worms eggs in their feces gained from eating fleas , insects , cat muck, fox poop, bird muck etc etc. in your garden or whilst out on walks.
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I know what my dogs eat which is precisely why I wouldn't use the compost on my veggies! Despite being regularly wormed they eat anything and everything. Revolting creatures.
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I know what my dogs eat which is precisely why I wouldn't use the compost on my veggies! Despite being regularly wormed they eat anything and everything. Revolting creatures.
It is also to do with the pathogens likely contained in the dog & cat poop such as toxicara ( sp ) and such things like that are harmful to humans being because it still active when in the soil for many many years , infecting the produce & leaving the gardener open to getting infected via ingress through their skin or injestion of the vegetables or from pathogens under finger nails when bitine their nails . etc. etc.
Apparently the residual content of pet worming medications in the poo will also have a negative effect on the garden creepies & crawlies for quite some time.
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Excellent and interesting advice, Plantoid. My first little bin is full, so I'm going to change over to the second bin. Will need to buy more worms, though. Tsk.
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Prior to getting our garden landscaped and built for me as a disabled gardener , we tried three things to get rid of dog muck from one dog pooping for the UK ( winner since 1999 )
First when I was able , I would dig a hole three foot by three foot by four foot deep using a long handled spade and a vacuum cleaner , each day the hole was " fed ". After seven months or so the hole was within 500 mm of the top and was filled in .. ( it's no fun forgetting where a filled hole is and walking on it when its been raining for a few weeks ) .
As the available area for these holes was filled up I decided on a worm base digester .... got a big swing top kitchen bin cut the botton out with an angle grinder and set it in a get big hole that had 1.2 tonnes of 15 mm clean stone in it .
Result ground water from up the hill runs down and fills the hole as well as drowns all the worms . extra result .. we stopped using it , it turned green and grew a 15 mm thick crop of maggots ..
Third method was to use a big local authority supplied Dalek composter bin above ground on a 150 mm bed of sharp sand ,
It has taken Merle our gangly yoof sheepdog / golden retriever cross 10 months to fill it to a depth of 250 mm ..that a heap of stuff I can tell you.
When the contractors arrived to start the landscaping I got them to roll the Dalek off the mound of supposedly composting poop , shoved the long handled spade in it and couldn't find a worm in sight ..... realised dog worming tablets don't just kill tape and thread worms .
The labourer of the contractor was tasked with removing the sunken swing bin .. On opening it and finding the green slime full of maggots he vomited his toe nails up , then in a daze went and sat down wind to get a second helping and carried on hooping up. ;D ;D
So now instead of any sort of composting bin I have a dog loo which gets washed through every sunday and recharged with 50 ml of activtor ( caravan blue loo turd digester liquid .
Here are a few pictures for any one interested in solving their dog muck prob ..it drains away into a 100 mm preforated land drain so there are no smells and no probs with surface water anymore .
The loo is enclosed in the small engineering brick tower where the green lid is and is well above ground ..it is also very easy for me to access it & clean up the dog muck as there is no bending for me .
In front of the tower is a 1.5 x 2.5 b mtr pit filled with 300 mm of 10 mm clean crushed pink granite chips . ( all the brick work is set on a 300 mm concrete foundation )
Merle has been trained by us to go to his loo for a peep or a poo . If it gets dry and smells of urine we simply hose the chippings down for a minute using a sprayer head on the hose pipe and put half a watering can of two caps of the blue loo digester concentrate and 5 litres of water over it after the hose down ( it smells of cherry wood sawdust )
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee212/misterdavidgould/dogloo.jpg)
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee212/misterdavidgould/gardenandhollyingee016.jpg)
For the nosey ones ...that raised bed to the right is for our asparagus bed , it should run for over 20 years and will hold over 30 crowns if we are lucky ( 14 seeds sown 12 germinated . They are now 7 inches tall and all are desparate for the land scapers to fill the bed with alternative layers of well rotted horse muck , sharp sand and soil , five full layer sets in total .
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could you do that with a cat toilet's content? Not to mention that my cat regularly uses my veg beds >:( - it tounds like a great idea to make use of it! Any experienced cat poo composters? ;D :&>
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I just had a little dig in the first bin which has now been composting for nine weeks, disappointed to find all the poo intact. ???
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I have set up two big bins side by side. Drilled holes in bottom, but little or no worm wee to be seen
First bin is about 2/3 full, so I am hoping something is happening at the bottom, but am not prepared to investigate :-\
I intend to fill one, then start on the other and when full look to see what has happened in the first. I suppose if nothing then at least it is all in one place., and I will get the front end bucket on my little tractor and dump it on the big farmyard "muck tump" :farmer:
How is everyone else progressing. If the only one that is working properly is the "boughten" one, then perhaps it is worth the money.
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I am very interested in getting a wormery but... We have been using a 'green cone' this was an expensive purchase and it says you chuck the poo in and it degrades. Ours hasn't and its in a container that will need to be scooped out :'( :'( :'( I have tried adding the energiser but still no good. Would love to hear any news on disposing of dog mess that is successful and environmentally friendly as possible :wave:
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Quite glad it's not just me, then. I put loads of worms in mine, with some nice soil to get them going, and have added some grass cuttings too. I'm surprised and disappointed that nothing has happened. Not sure what to do now.
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Had a google of the "green cone" after your post - It does say 30 day money back guarantee with free returns - perhaps you could arrange for them to collect it ;D ;D ;D
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Quite glad it's not just me, then. I put loads of worms in mine, with some nice soil to get them going, and have added some grass cuttings too. I'm surprised and disappointed that nothing has happened. Not sure what to do now.
No worms are needed for ours 'The household food waste is converted into water, carbon dioxide and small amount of residue that will only need to be removed every few years in a well operating Green Cone. In a healthy working Cone the food waste will be covered in a blue/grey fur, this is the bacteria doing it's work'.
Well its never worked and its in full sun all day long (in the south) so may be needs to be used in OZ ::)
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Oh Yeh if only ! :)
Had a google of the "green cone" after your post - It does say 30 day money back guarantee with free returns - perhaps you could arrange for them to collect it ;D ;D ;D
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well, a few more months have passed.... has anyone had success with DIY or am I off to buy one? :-\
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Well........ I can't say yet if it is working, but I have one large great dane who eats a couple of lbs of meat a day plus extras. And I have two large dustbins with holes drilled in the bottom.
I can't remember when I first posted but the first bin had a kilo of those big worms and as yet it is not full, and there has been no smell from it, so something must have happened as I am pretty sure she has "done" more than a bin full if you know what I mean
My intention was to fill one, leave it whilst the other was filled then check the situation of bin one, so I can't be certain what is happening yet.
I had the bins already so only cost so far was the worms. I know they were alive in the summer as you could regularly see worm egg sacs on the sides of the bin. At first I though they were some sort of interloper bug of some sort till I suddenly realized what they were (or as least think they were)
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Same as dark brown eggs. Something is happening. No smell but I can't really find any worms if I poke about..... but I don't do that too much!!!!
But it's turning dark and crumbly.
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In April I will be living on my holding with fifteen dogs, sizes ranging from tiny Yorkies up to a Deerhound. I aim to have a separate compost bin for dogg poo + the contents of my composting lav. (or what was once known as a "bucket and chuck it ;D" This will, once sweet smelling will be spread on empty paddocks and left to do it's work.
I worm my dogs using garlic in their diet and very rarely use Drontal or similar.
The old tyre method sounds good, not least because it will be free and I will put a load of my worms from my wormery in plus damp straw, a bit of top-soil and any paper that I come across., in layers. Does this sound about right?
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I remember looking at these a while ago, at that point the consensus I saw was that wormed dog poo would kill your worms ::) And that the bucket/flush it system needed so much extra work - from initial digging to hardcore/gravel base - and didn't often work well.
However, I feel bad having the majority of my landfill bin being little bags of poo :o
With the tyre stacks, how do you remove the "worm wee" and/or compost?
Do you think the products would be safe on e.g. fruit trees/vines (as opposed to say carrots....)?
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I don't worm any of my stock unless I think it neeeds it.
Staring dry coat, eating a lot but still looking thin, glittery bright eyes, and most obvious of all a dog dragging its bum along ground - but normally I will have spotted any problem long before that. My dog probably gets wormed once every couple of years, but hasn't needed it since bin was started, so we will have to see.
Perhaps if I can remember I won't add poo for a few weeks after worming.
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Very interesting, I had to say the title caught my eye and to be honest I've never heard of one of these before. They sound great and I'd be interested in being able to recycle Bruno's large deposits! I'll look into it when I get a spare moment. :dog:
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I've just procured a wheelie bin to try this with, any chance of a picture of the inside or more detailed info as to where the vent holes are and the shelves etc?
Mandy
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Prior to getting our garden landscaped and built for me as a disabled gardener , we tried three things to get rid of dog muck from one dog pooping for the UK ( winner since 1999 )
First when I was able , I would dig a hole three foot by three foot by four foot deep using a long handled spade and a vacuum cleaner , each day the hole was " fed ". After seven months or so the hole was within 500 mm of the top and was filled in .. ( it's no fun forgetting where a filled hole is and walking on it when its been raining for a few weeks ) .
As the available area for these holes was filled up I decided on a worm base digester .... got a big swing top kitchen bin cut the botton out with an angle grinder and set it in a get big hole that had 1.2 tonnes of 15 mm clean stone in it .
Result ground water from up the hill runs down and fills the hole as well as drowns all the worms . extra result .. we stopped using it , it turned green and grew a 15 mm thick crop of maggots ..
Third method was to use a big local authority supplied Dalek composter bin above ground on a 150 mm bed of sharp sand ,
It has taken Merle our gangly yoof sheepdog / golden retriever cross 10 months to fill it to a depth of 250 mm ..that a heap of stuff I can tell you.
When the contractors arrived to start the landscaping I got them to roll the Dalek off the mound of supposedly composting poop , shoved the long handled spade in it and couldn't find a worm in sight ..... realised dog worming tablets don't just kill tape and thread worms .
The labourer of the contractor was tasked with removing the sunken swing bin .. On opening it and finding the green slime full of maggots he vomited his toe nails up , then in a daze went and sat down wind to get a second helping and carried on hooping up. ;D ;D
So now instead of any sort of composting bin I have a dog loo which gets washed through every sunday and recharged with 50 ml of activtor ( caravan blue loo turd digester liquid .
Here are a few pictures for any one interested in solving their dog muck prob ..it drains away into a 100 mm preforated land drain so there are no smells and no probs with surface water anymore .
The loo is enclosed in the small engineering brick tower where the green lid is and is well above ground ..it is also very easy for me to access it & clean up the dog muck as there is no bending for me .
In front of the tower is a 1.5 x 2.5 b mtr pit filled with 300 mm of 10 mm clean crushed pink granite chips . ( all the brick work is set on a 300 mm concrete foundation )
Merle has been trained by us to go to his loo for a peep or a poo . If it gets dry and smells of urine we simply hose the chippings down for a minute using a sprayer head on the hose pipe and put half a watering can of two caps of the blue loo digester concentrate and 5 litres of water over it after the hose down ( it smells of cherry wood sawdust )
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee212/misterdavidgould/dogloo.jpg)
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee212/misterdavidgould/gardenandhollyingee016.jpg)
For the nosey ones ...that raised bed to the right is for our asparagus bed , it should run for over 20 years and will hold over 30 crowns if we are lucky ( 14 seeds sown 12 germinated . They are now 7 inches tall and all are desparate for the land scapers to fill the bed with alternative layers of well rotted horse muck , sharp sand and soil , five full layer sets in total .
Well we have been using the chemical flush out jobby in the tower for six months heres what we have found out.so far.
Merle cound win medals crapping for GB .
After putting two buckets of water through the weks " Soup " the need forn another two is there so we now flush with four buckets of water before adding the new decomposing liquids.
Everytime we add his dumps to the bin we use a bamboo stick to stir the pot to help break down already part activated turds .. don't get hold of the wrong end of the stick . To help stop this I've now put a white plastic handle on the cane .
Every thing works well though we have has a few amusing finds .. at some time he has eaten some baby wipes .. They came out un changed except for colour , hevens where they came from maybe a sneaky snaffle as he pases by peoples Friday bin bags on the daily school trip .
A surgical rubber clove also goes through un altered except for coulut .. kiddies small plastic toys cone through in bit , silver paper is in micro dot form , long grass is interesting & so are occasional socks that he obtains from the sock lady for we haven't discover any orphans so far .
What we have to do before the Sunday flush out is use the stick ( holding the correct end ) and fish through the lumpy soup to see if there are any such unbroken down items inthe pot , remove if any are found then do the four bucket flush and recharge of digester fluid. At the end of every month I use the long handled poop scoop ( made to fit into the botton of the pot ) to lift out any stones we or the dog has put in the pot .
At first my lass balked at stirring the **it to agitate the decomposing turds but now is not bothered as the pot does not smell as much as she thought it would .
We have a hose pipe adjacent to the raised bed digester so crrying water is not an issue nor is filling the bucket at waist height and just simply tipping it in the disester when flushing it out..
We have had lots and lots of rain over the last two months plus a couple of light frosts . there is no evidence of the system backing up due to the insertion of the perforated land drain pipe , which is over 25 mtrs long three six foot down in an 18 inch wide trench on a bed of 300 mm x 20 mm clean crushed stone with a 100 mm covering of 10 mm clean crushed stone .
The stones in the actual dog loo arwa are taking on a nice green algae tinge and are spray washed every day for a few seconds where he's been for a nuber 1 or number 2 .
merle has now been trained to go clean dog on his own and come back to the door , he also seems to prefer going there to be clean without being sent if he is out with us in the garden .. so far he's not cockong his leg at every thing in the garden onor dumping outside his loo area.
When it's not raining we stil take him out the bungalow on a short lead to go to the loo several times a day just to keep the reinforcement inhis head.
How have you all got on with your dog crap disposal ideas ?
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As I said - started mine just over 6 mths ago, and so far bin is not yet full, so I must presume something is happening, as I am certain my Great Dane does more than that in 6 mths. I have another bin to go onto when first is full.
I shall do same as before - few drainage holes in bottom, bit of brashy wood branches, some earth, a kilo of those big worms and lot and lots of dog poo Hopefully by time second one is full first one will be ready to be emptied. I shall put it onto the big barnyard muck tump for further rotting and mixing.
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Well, having pondered this for some time now, I finally went for it and bought a cheapo bin from a DIY shop. Drilled holes in the bottom to let out the liquid (no tap, partly because I'm cheap and partly because I'm not too keen on the idea of watering things with 'poo juice').
Filled the bottom with wodged up chicken wire, then a layer of horticultural fleeca, then a layer of damp cardboard.
On top of that I chucked in the contents of my largely unsuccessful wormery: three giant worms, a lot of worm eggs and some crushed eggshell
On top of that 100 + baby worms from my very successful compost heap, plus a few trowels full of compost to make them feel at home.
On top of that a few freshly laid turds from my obliging Shepherd-like hound.
Watered gently to encourage some worm action at the top, now to see what happens. I'm not sure I should be so keen to go and poke the poo... ::)
Here's to cutting down on all those nasty poo-bombs that get chucked in the bin. Anyone had any success with using degradable poo bags in a poo bin? If so we can even chuck in what he does on a walk as well as any garden poo.
Wish me luck! C x