chicken question

andrewf75

In the process of planning a run for chickens. Would it be an issue to have the compost heap within the run as fencing off my composting area would considerably increase the size of the run I could give them?

Presumably they will enjoy picking bugs out of it, but is there anything that they may eat which could harm them? or any other issue I haven't thought of?

Davesnave

Given enough time, they will totally destroy your heap by scratching it up to look for more and more goodies.

You could only make this viable by having a bin/heap that was chicken proof, say by putting a weighted tarpaulin or similar over the top.

I haven't found much that chickens won't eat. I would only be wary of putting notably poisonous plant material in there, like monkshood or laurel leaves. They seem to avoid a few plants. Mine don't touch nettles or thistles, for example.

edwink

andrewf75 wrote: »

In the process of planning a run for chickens. Would it be an issue to have the compost heap within the run as fencing off my composting area would considerably increase the size of the run I could give them?

Presumably they will enjoy picking bugs out of it, but is there anything that they may eat which could harm them? or any other issue I haven't thought of?

Mmmm!!! Hens and a tasty compost heap. The hens would absolutely love it but you won't have the heap for long because as Davesnave has said the hens will destroy it.

Don't let your hens anywhere near potato or tomato plants as they are poisonous for them too. Plus NO salt whatsoever.

We have a hen thread running on MSE if you have any questions etc. Feel free to join in with us. Link is at the bottom of my signature.

Edwink

andrewf75

Thanks both.
The heap is actually an enclosed bin (well 3 bins) so I doubt 3 or 4 hens will be able to destroy it - and I can easily cover if necessary.
I do throw old tomato plants on there though so will have to watch that.

Apodemus

There is a mixed livestock/vegetable system used in some densely populated tropical countries where the house-cow is kept in a small yard and fed in-situ. Sometimes the yard is dug out before use to make a bit of a pit. After a year or two, the ground level has risen, the ground is full of nutrients and the cow is moved to a new location leaving a very good vegetable garden. You could do the same with your chooks, simply throwing your vegetable scraps etc into the chicken run for a season or two, before turning that into next year's vegetable bed.