what do you all do for composting bedding??? do you do open air composting or a compost bin... we are trying to figure this out now and I could use some insight as to what you all do with your dirty bedding. thanks
I just throw my bedding in a pile in the trees. Next spring I will move it and till it into my garden area. I also put used bedding on my potato plants to help keep them moist since we are in a drought right now. Oh also I use straw/hay as bedding, just all depends what is available.
Open air composting here ... Chicken, sheep & horse poop & bedding all in one pile turned a few times with the tractor and put on the garden at the end of the season and start all over again.
Is it better to put the compost on the garden at the end of the year rather than in spring? This is my first year with compost so I just figured it went on in the spring when everything got tilled.
One compost for everything - yard, chicken, veggies, etc. At the end of the garden season, we till it all in the ground. The smell is controlled too.
I dont think it Matters if you compost spring or fall. Just dont put raw uncomposted material on in spring. The process of composting can kill veggies.
Open air. I use 4 pallets with eye hooks to make a box with an open top and dumb everything inside. When it's time to use it, just undo the hooks. I put almost everything in it, but I have a smaller one that I use for kitchen waste, mainly cause it's closer to the house. It's just a circle of mesh wire. I periodically put a little bit of chicken wood shavings in it for "brown material."
We have the space so I just started a pile. We throw in straw coop bedding, grass clippings, leaves, kitchen waste (no meat products), egg shells, coffee grounds & filters. We don't turn it often. We've been watering it some because of the drought conditions. We don't have the garden in yet because we just got this place. I'll till it in in the Fall to prep the garden spot for next summer.
