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Waste Management Practices

Mr Fixit

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Mr Fixit submitted a new resource:

Waste Management Practices - An in-depth look at waste management practices among small-scale urban and rural homesteads.

An often overlooked but very important issue facing many small-scale farmers today is the issue of waste that animals produce. Let's face it the issue is kind of gross and many people don't like to mess with it myself included. I have learned through trial and error that some management procedures work better than others.

Generally speaking most animals including livestock are very social, and enjoy the company of other species of animals sometimes breaking the predator-prey boundary. I...

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Beekissed

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Dogs eat the chicken poop because there is undigested sugars to be found there. Chickens are monogastric and cannot digest some grains well, thus much of it is expelled in the feces before the body can utilize the energy to be found there. This is a good source of nutrients to the dogs and they will hoover them right up.

When I switched to fermenting my chicken's feed, their fecal matter came out with less smell and was no longer a dog attractant. It also dissolves in the rain very quickly and doesn't attract flies like it used to do. No smells or flies in the coop, but, sadly, no more doggy snacks to be found.

NOT fermenting the dog's food and the chickens continue to disperse it, looking for and eating the undigested grains to be found there, which have had a first level of mild fermentation in the dog's body, so is pretty much easy to digest by the chickens.
 

greybeard

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You saying dog poop makes good chicken feed?
Probably wouldn't go over well as a selling point to the general public, but most don't realize what all any free range animal will eat either.
Protein is protein..

(I saw lots of pigs raised under peoples houses in SE Asia. Guess where the human poop went when it left the bathroom 'facility'...which often, wasn't more than a hole in the floor? )
 

Mini Horses

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Once visiting a poultry farm -- yep, the houses with thousands -- I noticed a well built compost bin. It was full of litter from the houses, as well as some expired chicken carcasses Viewed it and the big thermometer that was used in the pile, then asked what they did with it -- spread on fields, etc. Nope, a cattle farmer collected it and mixed with the feed he gave the feeders. o_O WOW.

Now there are a few large poultry farms within easy drive and some do spread the litter on their fields in winter/spring and/or sell to other farmers for that. It does stink! But if put out correctly and allowed to age, does grow things nicely. You have to be quite careful of grasses growing in the general vicinity of a poultry house as the nitrogen level can be so high as to poison some grazing animals -- horses for one -- if that is their only grass source. Next to those houses it can be quite concentrated. In fact, a large pile of this litter can kill everything around it...too much can be bad.

Yep, if some people saw what a chicken can/will eat, they'd never eat an egg! :cool:
 

greybeard

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Once visiting a poultry farm -- yep, the houses with thousands -- I noticed a well built compost bin. It was full of litter from the houses, as well as some expired chicken carcasses Viewed it and the big thermometer that was used in the pile, then asked what they did with it -- spread on fields, etc. Nope, a cattle farmer collected it and mixed with the feed he gave the feeders. o_O WOW.
It's called 'natural protein' or NPP-non-plant protein, and many feeds use it.
I don't agree with the feeding of plain old composted chicken crap but it is fairly common in the cattle end of things. It has to be cured, under roof and out of the weather, and from all accounts, takes on what has been described as a 'chocolate odor' once it's cured.

You will find feather meal in all sorts of different feeds and protein tubs..lick tubs. It's hydrolyzed to break it down so the nitrogen levels are pretty consistent and protein more readily available.
 

Fishychix

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I keep my rabbits in their own cages in the chicken run. Kind of like a raken house, but a raken run, I guess. The chickens take care of the rabbit poo.
Its pretty much impossible to keep the dog out of the chicken poo, and in turn I can only imagine they eat the dog’s poo too. When it’s time to clean the coop, I put it in the run. When it’s time to clean that, I put it in the compost pile. Same with the quail poo, except theirs just drops straight down into a collection bin, which, according to the dog, is a dinner bowl 🙄🙄🙄
 

Legamin

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Mr Fixit submitted a new resource:

Waste Management Practices - An in-depth look at waste management practices among small-scale urban and rural homesteads.



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I think I get the direction of what you are trying to say with this. And sharing hard won knowledge is always a positive thing. Though I think the title leads to a summary hypothesis that is not met satisfactorily by the organization of the evidence presented. The solution is unclear. Basically you should 1. Tell us what you are going to tell us. 2. Tell us. 3. Summarize what you just told us. And your information should be organized so that those with the problem you are speaking of can develop an effective plan to deal with the problem by using a tested plan with a repeatable outcome and a clearly defined end goal.
I deal with about 20 tons of poop annually with my sheep, dogs, chickens and until recently, horses. My idea was a tried and tested farm method of putting each year of poop into a pile and letting it sit for three years. At the end of three years I mix up the pile and hire a manure spreader to spray it evenly on my land. So I am constantly dealing with 60 tons of manure, three 20 ton piles and a regular source of natural mulch and nitrogen to enrich my organic pastures for harvest and grazing. This plan presents the problem, the plan and the solution.
Now what I like about your idea is that the chickens can be organized on top of the manure piles and help aerate and enrich the process of breaking down so that there is a faster, more thorough reduction of ‘hot poop’. So your ideas advances my solution of using it as field fertilizer and enhances the result. So you have helped me!
May I suggest that when you write your next article, think beyond a great title. Develop the problem. Articulate a well thought out solution that anyone can follow. Give reasons why you are doing what you are doing along the way to clarify the science of your method and then give a reduction of the whole process into a Summary of your hypothesis. It may take several times through to get it clear and well articulated but it is worth the time! You can go back and edit unclear statements at any time. And we appreciate your help!
Thank you!
 
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