Winter compost

Aaahhhhh.....winter thaw.

It is one of those days where I can close my eyes and imagine that it is March. Yesterday and today were in the high 40's, the snow is melting, there is the drip, drip, dripping of water rolling off of the roof and I can crack the windows and let the cool air blow out some of the winter stuffiness.

On days like this there is work to be done in the chicken coop. During the warm months it is a snap to keep the coop clean, I just shovel under the roosts every couple of weeks or so. In the winter I have to wait until we thaw out. It is impossible to shovel frozen manure, so in December and January the droppings under the roosts just keep accumulating and freezing over and over again. When we get a break in the weather it is a chance to get things shoveled out(especially when you know that you have visitors coming and they will want to see the chickens and the last thing you want to show them is a stinky, smelly coop).

I only shovel under the roosts where it is mostly pure manure with a little straw mixed in. The rest of the coop really stays amazingly clean. The chickens spend the majority of their time outside, and even when the snow is too deep for them to go out they still seem to make the majority of their messes on the roosts and not in the straw on the floor of the coop. I only completely clean out the coop twice a year, and really that is all it needs.



I got a wheelbarrow full today, and lugged it outside where it will sit until tomorrow or the day after when hopefully the snow will melt enough for me to be able to see my garden again. I will dump this mess in a nice pile in my garden. Manure piles make the best garden patches. I grew the most delicious, juicy pickling cucumbers in a nice manure patch last year. I don't have enough manure to cover my entire garden, but it does help. In the summer I dump the manure into my compost pile, but in the winter it goes directly into garden. It has time to break down before anything gets planted and the straw helps with weed control when my garden explodes with weeds in early spring.

Here's my winter compost pile.



No manure in there yet, mostly fruits and veggie scraps, but I throw in eggshells, coffe grounds and tea as well. In the summer manure goes in. I am a lazy, lazy composter. I rarely turn the pile and I don't think about ratios of green to brown or anything like that. I just throw in our scraps and then a couple times in the summer I'll stir it up and come fall the stuff on the bottom is ready to spread.

My chickens have been a money pit in many ways, but that is becuase I am not a farmer and egg production isn't my top priority. The beauty and diversity they give to our yard, the rich compost they provide our garden, the delicious eggs and nutritious meat that nourish my family, that is where the real value lies.