[lord flynn]

Hi, what do you all do with your poultry waste? I’ve always stuck it on the pony midden but some contractors won’t take it and am looking to change the whole set up. Is there a market for composted chicken/duck waste? I use long straw as bedding and was thinking of composting in wrapped, smaller builders bags or similar. I don’t garden myself and would just look to cover cost of materials.any ideas welcome.

[chrismahon]

We compost ours for our own use but it takes over two years to break down and has to be 'diluted' considerably with normal garden waste at about 5:1, otherwise it's too strong and kills the plants. I know straw takes a long time to break down as well. I don't think you could make it pay and account for all the effort?


Do you know someone with an allotment?

[lord flynn]

No unfortunately-I was just going to advertise locally. In my experience straw is preferable to shavings as far as breaking down though?

[SallyintNorth]

Shavings need to be well mixed and broken down.  Iirc, they use nitrogen as they break down, so you want them fully rotted before they hit your plant beds. 

Straw will probably have chemical residues unless you are sourcing organic.  Our research suggested that all such chemicals should break down during composting and not be an issue.  (For growers who are organic or wanting to avoid chemicals.)  Shavings would need to be sourced from untreated woods, I guess.  Some mills can provide that, not all can.

[Fleecewife]

How about composting it yourself in a large heap, which gets turned once in its life, then offering it locally on a 'bring your own sack and fork' basis, price per sack. Any residues in the straw should have denatured by the time it has been used as bedding then composted for a couple of years.
That way, you don't have to do anything yourself.  If you site the heap in an easily accessible place near your access point you won't have folk trampling all over your land.  Alternatively, you could bag it yourself and sell it from an honesty box (we do that for eggs and haven't been cheated once in 25 years)
You could put up information saying not to use the compost neat on seedlings and young plants as it's too concentrated, but to dig it into the soil over the winter where it can be worked in by earthworms.
(I would say I would take it, but we have plenty for our own needs)
If you offer it to allotment sites, it's usually a case of dumping a trailer load there and people help themselves, no payment to you.

[lord flynn]

  Hi Fleecewife, hope you’re all well.


My place is long and narrow and I have limited options as to where I can site a big heap. I currently have one in the paddock but we now want to repurpose that for the dogs and are having the old midden removed and some new fencing in. Place is also steep and windswept and would prefer to not be traipsing up the hill in winter.


The ponies are only here intermittently and I’ve found a place hiring skips for horse manure but they won’t take poultry. I’ve seen horse people compost in covered containers/bags and it seems to work well and wanted to see if anyone had done it with poultry/duck manure and whether it might be useful to anyone if I tried it-I just don’t grow anything myself. I’ve posted on some food growing groups so will see.
 It’s not that much this time of year but lock down used up a lot of bedding! I use straw as it’s cheap and I’ve not found anything better for ducks tbh.I was only wondering that if I supply builders bags if I could recoup the price of those, nothing more.


My experience with people coming for horse manure wasn’t a good one on the whole, regular ‘customers’ (I was giving it away) started coming at all hours without warning and one pair even helped themselves to some fencing materials because “they hadn’t moved in a while so we thought you didn’t need it”. I dislike people at the best of times 😉 and so want full control on who does when. I don’t own a tow vehicle or trailer.

[Fleecewife]

<< I dislike people at the best of times  and so want full control on who does when >>

  That's me exactly    Lockdown has been wonderful from that point of view - we can keep them at much more than arm's length 

I see why my idea wouldn't work for you.  However, builders bags, if you mean 1 tonne dumpy bags, can't be used to actually compost in as they photodegrade and rot at the bottom, so when you try to lift one the bottom falls out and the polyprop turns to tiny bits you can't pick up. Also you need a tractor with a front loader to move them. If you mean polythene bags, they would need a few holes in but would work ok, but would take up a lot of area.  If you leave a muck heap long enough, it does just disappear, but it takes up space while it's doing so.  Maybe you could spread it on your paddocks instead of artificial fertiliser once it's composted.
Good luck with ideas anyway 

[lord flynn]

Thanks fleecewife, it’s appreciated! I didn’t realise that about the dumpy bags so I think I will build something and attempt to compost it properly and see what happens. I can mix other garden waste in such as grass clippings too.

[naturelovingfarmer]

I think this video made at Cornell University will be helpful. You could make a 15-18 day hot pile with this instruction and have a very valuable product in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN7awy7dawo

[doganjo]

I think this video made at Cornell University will be helpful. You could make a 15-18 day hot pile with this instruction and have a very valuable product in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN7awy7dawo

What's teh weather like there though?  We are mostly in the UK, and Lord Flynn is on the east side of Scotland, like me.  I find that composting of any kind is hampered by teh lack of heat,

I am about to move.my Hotbin to a warmer area of my plot as at present it is not reaching temperature

[naturelovingfarmer]

I think this video made at Cornell University will be helpful. You could make a 15-18 day hot pile with this instruction and have a very valuable product in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN7awy7dawo

What's teh weather like there though?  We are mostly in the UK, and Lord Flynn is on the east side of Scotland, like me.  I find that composting of any kind is hampered by teh lack of heat,

I am about to move.my Hotbin to a warmer area of my plot as at present it is not reaching temperature

It's in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. It's a bit further south than the UK, but the temperatures and humidity are about the same as Wessex.

[lord flynn]

Was Wessex an autocorrect? Being in the UK, we just don't get the temps and humidity that I've experienced in the US/Canada-we don't have the land mass for it. There's even a very big difference to the extent of the heat and humidity between Southern England where I grew up, and South Lanarkshire-I am in an exceptionally windy, exposed spot too.


Thanks for the info though, seems like quite a lot more trouble than I envisaged-going on what others have said they've done for horse manure. I will maintain my midden better and hope for the best.

[Fleecewife]

acc to Wiki:
Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from 519 until England was unified by Æthelstan in 927. The Anglo-Saxons believed that Wessex was founded by Cerdic and Cynric, but this may be a legend. Wikipedia
Founded: 519 AD
Date dissolved: 927 AD
Today part of: United Kingdom; ∟ Southern England
Currency: Sceat, thrymsa
Common languages: Old English (West Saxon dialect)
Government: Monarchy, Absolute monarchy


Looks like the news takes a while to cross the pond

[naturelovingfarmer]

Couldn't remember what people called the area these days. 

I tend to think of the region in an abstract historical way. Pretty much most of your history between Henry III and James I is a mystery. I did have an ancestor in the late 1500s from the village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire who is famous for publishing expose articles against the lifestyle of James I in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales... He almost lost his head over it. Ended up coming over here and being a founder of Plymouth Colony. He was the chaplain and the 3rd governor of the colony which was later renamed the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and it eventually became the state of Massachusetts. The guy was William Brewster. His life story is interesting to say the least.