Chicken Pen Compost

The chicken pen compost is in an outside area that I put leaves, garden refuse, horse manure and old hay where the chickens can scratch to their hearts content.

The compost that is produced after a winter of the chickens turning it over to look for seeds, bugs and any sprouts as well as adding their own special brand of activator is black and rich.

If the chicken pen compost freezes, it will take a bit longer to break down, as the chickens can’t turn it.

Sometimes if you start the compost building early enough in the fall, it will stay unfrozen all winter. The heat that builds up during the composting process will keep it from freezing and you can add more organic matter such as peelings from the kitchen or more damp leaves or hay to the pile if it’s steaming.

The chickens will race to get to it every day when you let them out. Sprinkle grain over it to keep them interested and encourage them to scratch it even more.

A Bantam hen with her chicks will make sure they leave no leaf unturned, finding all kinds of bugs and tiny sprouts.

Once it’s turned over and mixed the original organic components are sometimes still discernible, but it smells leafy and mostly broken down.

At this stage, you can sift it through a large sized sieve, and add the larger bits to another compost bin, and the smaller sized pieces can be put in a pile to rot down further. Keep some to inoculate your new pile that can be started right away to keep the hens happy in their composting system.

Keep in mind that if you add anything with seeds, such as hay or weeds, you can allow these to germinate in the spring before you take the compost out. This way, your birds will find them with their sharp little eyes and eat them before they can be spread on the garden with the finished compost.

Chicken pen compost, like chicken house compost should always be allowed to age a bit anyway, due to the strong fertilizer the chickens add but you don’t want to deal with sprouting seeds.

• Placed around each plant for a boost, or

• Added in a layer to be dug in to a newly made bed.

• Used as a friable mulch when making a lasagna bed.

• Let it heat up a hot bed.

• Add the compost to a bin where you want to plant squash and it will provide lots of nutrients for the plants to use at the same time as it ages.

Once the squash have produced a crop, the compost is ready to use, and will be friable and rich to add to areas where you will grow tomatoes or peppers the following season.

You can also use it to make…

• Compost tea by placing some in a burlap bag in a bucket.

Add enough water to cover the bag, put a lid on it to keep out mosquitoes, and allow it to steep for a few days or longer. Once the tea is dark, dilute it about ten parts water to one part tea and sprinkle the leaves and soil with it. Simply keep topping up the water in the bucket and it will keep steeping to make more tea. Once the bag is completely used up, dump it in (where else?) the compost bin!

I prefer not to get it on the leaves of vegetables as it may not be safe to eat them right away, but you can safely use it around the base of tomatoes, pepper plants and even beans. Onions and garlic thrive if watered several times over the growing season with compost tea.

There are endless uses for the compost you’ll get from the chicken pen – and your garden will be the envy of the neighborhood. Don’t forget to thank your tireless helpers – the chickens.

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