In this video I show you my simple backyard chicken composting system that produces a huge amount of compost throughout the year. Whilst backyard chicken composting systems can get very intricate with many parts, here is the minimum layout you need for an effective system which you can then build upon. If you have a few chickens, you can create a load of compost for your vegetable garden! #compost #chickens #gardeningtips
29 Comments
Are they ex layers?
We have 6 from the British Hen Welfare Trust – a really great charity for rehoming the ladies.
I once saw a chicken kick a mouse to death and eat it. Really changed my whole opinion of them.
A sash weight from an old window and a pulley, and your gate will close itself.
Thank you for sharing your great tips for chicken composting and foraging capabilities. Nice system. Blessings Kiddo! 🙏💚🌿
Thank you Huw. Now I have only 3 chicken. The others were killed by external dogs. I will begin again but in a more protective home for them. Then, I will addapt your idea to my real life in the farm in the very south of Chile 😅
That door that You're putting stuff through, looks like a catflap, for foxes.
Thanks Huw, that's just what I was hoping for. The fencing will be the biggest job.
Ok. Thanks. I had been wondering how I could do this.
I have geese which makes great compost in with the chickens compost. Goose poop is a kin to fermented grass and it rather heavy in moisture.
All my chicken waste, except for the shavings from the co-op when we do a total clean out of the coop, goes in the compost with the kitchen waste
Thank you for your video, Huw! I am using pretty much the same system and I had doubts about it. Now I know I am on the right path!😊
Having a regular UK back garden, we do the deep litter method over winter. We find it easier during the avian flu season when they have to stay in their enclosure. We did our big spring clean out last week and the manure is now continuing breaking down in one of our Dalek compost bins. For foraging we need to grow on trays and in our front garden as natural forage runs out quickly in the space that we have. Great video. I will definitely do this instead if we get more space.
Nooo don't compost the chickens.
Glad that set-up works for you….I'm just too old for all that shoveling & sifting hard labor! 🤣 My 10 hens are free-range hoodlums (safely locked up at night). I also have rabbits that produce “cold manure” which means it can safely be added immediately to all gardens. What I do is rake up the timothy hay & rabbit droppings into a big ol’ Hen Play Pile. The hens mix everything up by scratching through looking for bugs. This allows me to avoid shoveling and sifting. If I keep that pile moist enough, it’s ready for garden beds in about 3 weeks. Plants respond beautifully. I’m all for this “closed system” of creating your own compost. Thank you for showing this side of gardening, Huw. Oh, what could be accomplished if I had some strapping young & strong men with garden tools!
Really inspiring!! I Feed my chickens grass, herbs, greens from grown plants… I cut it all in inchlong bits and throw in a bucket a day to my 11 hens.
What breeds do you have?
Huw, I have no idea what you're on about in this video – I think you needed to spend a bit more time providing the tela basic context for the complete idiots among us 😅😂
Will the compost used unmixed with other compost or soil not be too strong for the plants?
I had an even smaller and simpler process for our garden…with between 2 to 8 rescue Guinea pigs. All their hutch clearings out…inc food, newspaper, hay + poo & pee of course…went onto our compost heap. Kitchen scraps, teabags and coffee grounds & weeds added regularly. Within 6 weeks we had usable compost…tho to be safe we usually turned it into the next bay and we’re using it after 3 months. Lovely stuff😀😀😀
Wife and I are interested in chickens in our garden to keep the ticks at bay.
I just put the shit on the compost
My setup is two parts:
– to reduce nutrient runoff i have comfrey around the places where the chickens set up camp with the portable coup and electrified enclosure. Its like camping spots that i return to, not to wear out the soil and vegetation.
– the poop in the coup i just mix into the compost as an activator
Beautiful mate, good job what a pleasant place you have there, greetings from New Zealand 👍
So simple, and yet so clever. Thank you. This system is what I will go with, starting next spring.
Do you throw any weeds in? I'm worried I might give them something that might be poisonous
That's great. You may want to hatch the chickens. I really love to see little chicks
Love it 💚
Is a composting book in the works? That would be cool ☺️
That is some setup 🌿🐔🐓🥚👍
So good! I was just thinking about how to use the chickens to make compost, great timing! With adding lawn cuttings, is there some general principles around how often to leave the grass on the lawn to add fertility back into the lawn and then how often it's fine to take it off the lawn and use somewhere else, like the chickens? You obviously have a lot of lawn/grass to mow 😂 but I've just got about 500m2 of lawn. How do I do both? 😂