Comments on: Poultry Manure Vermicomposting

By: Dave Pawson

Dave Pawson — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 13:02:52 +0000

Sorry Paul, EM1? Wozzat please? Anything more generic,
or a household substitute we might use?

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 06:55:33 +0000

Pretty sure that a bacterial culture would take care of the ammonia levels. EM1 for example, or one that you make yourself is used to combat agricultural odors caused by ammonia in livestock urine. Not so sure about the salts. I have had success with using EM1 to remove sewage odors when our drains backed up. It makes it smell like homemade beer.

By: joe

joe — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 06:04:49 +0000

Hey Bentley, I think you are doing a good job. My opinion is bird manure is bird manure. I’ve handled pigeons before, not a problem. The way you are doing this is going to have the same results as chicken manure. You’ll be fine.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 19:37:49 +0000

Oh dear god! Why would you ever willingly subject yourself to pigeon manure!? It’s terrible stuff! But I’m biased because I still have nightmares of my high rise window washing days trying to scrape that stuff off of awnings. Blegh…

In all seriousness though, if it’s dry, it is very harmful to your lungs. Take every precaution especially if you’re working with it indoors. It is some very nasty stuff and a proper respirator should be used if there’s any chance of you breathing it in.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 13:04:47 +0000

The straw will work really well if you can get some of that. But the usual shredded newsprint and/or shredded corrugated cardboard would be great as well. Not sure about UK, but here they offer a lot of boxes at grocery (etc) stores as an alternative to plastic bags, so that`s usually where my cardboard comes from. If you can also mix in some compost-like (`living`) material that would definitely help. Here is a link to that guide, for the benefit of those who don`t know about it:
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/Living-Material.pdf

If you can get enough heaped up to get some good heating (ie composting) going, I would think it could be “ready” in a matter of weeks. All ammonia smells should be gone by time you use – and regardless, start by testing small amounts (as I am in this experiment).

Look forward to your results!
😎

By: Dave Pawson

Dave Pawson — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 12:50:07 +0000

Bedding – assume cardboard etc (where do you get it all from :-))
Ok, I’ll try it and report back.
How long to ‘age’ it? 6 months or a few weeks? Or (I guess)
the longer the better.

Thanks

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 12:43:54 +0000

Will be pretty well the exact same methodology, Dave. Mix with LOTS of bedding, soak/drain really well, age for awhile in separate system, then test in moderation!
But yes I will definitely see about getting some `real` poultry manure – haha!

By: Dave Pawson

Dave Pawson — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 12:17:16 +0000

I’m sure someone will keep hens near you Bentley? You just need
to ask a few more people.
(Really interested, ‘cos I have 8 hens, lots of droppings
and a bit worried about feeding ‘raw’, even old
droppings into the (outside) bins.)

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 11:57:32 +0000

Barb – Interestingly enough, the person who owns the horse stable where I get my aged horse manure (and associated ecosystem – wink, wink) happens to raise carrier pigeons!
—
Dave – that`s a great point. Thanks for bringing it up. The manure was indeed mixed with quite a lot of straw (think it sits on the floor of the pigeon shed and just basically catches the droppings), so that will obviously help.

By: Dave Pawson

Dave Pawson — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 06:37:35 +0000

Fyi, that looks nothing like the manure I get from my chickens?
No straw (or did you mix that in?), almost white,
very solid / heavy.