Chickens and Grubs

Don and I are avid composters; Don probably more than I am. He reminds me of that old nursery rhyme about "snakes and snails and puppy-dog tails." Sometimes the more disgusting a project is, the more he seems to enjoy it. He likes to take care of and feed our kitchen composting worms, for example.

Actually, a properly-managed compost pile is far from disgusting. When well managed, compost piles do not smell unpleasant at all. But they do harbor a variety of bugs, microorganisms, and other things that I am not enough of a scientist to explain. Don seems to revel in this, particularly in the grubs.

Honestly, I think he revels in the grubs for their own sake ("snakes and snails..."). But he also likes to spoil our pets, and our four laying hens love nothing better than insects, particularly goodies from the compost pile, and especially grubs.

We are lucky that our climate is in "Zone 7" on the climate maps, which means that we are in the northernmost range of the Black Soldier Fly. These flies are voracious at eating up kitchen scraps to the point of being scary in a B horror-movie sort of way. And they make fantastic nutrition for the chickens, converting the kitchen scraps to fat, protein, and calories, which our dear hens then convert to eggs for us and fertilizer for our compost piles and garden.

Then the garden waste and kitchen scraps go into the compost pile, which then grows new larvae right up until the weather gets too cold for the soldier flies in the fall. Don has discovered that if he puts a big pile of "green" type kitchen scraps in the compost bin when the weather is warm, then covers that with a good layer of sawdust so it doesn't smell, then puts some chunks of fresh pineapple with the moist side down on top of the pile and the hard shell of the pineapple up toward the sky, then he can harvest black soldier flies by the handful (I shudder) to feed to our "girls," as folks in the U.S. call their chooks (a British or Australian name for backyard hens).

Black Soldier Fly Larvae Wriggle in the Remains of a Pineapple

I jokingly call Don their "rooster," because he brings them the choicest (to them) morsels and tries to make sure all the girls get their fair share, despite their jockeying and pecking order. And, believe me, they watch him closely and follow him around the yard, especially during composting season.

The Hens Watch Don Carefully During Composting Season

Don Makes Sure All the Chickens Get Their Fair Share

 Disclaimer: There is some risk of botulism, or "Limberneck," to chickens that eat fly larvae, especially if the grubs have grown in anaerobic conditions, such as in carcasses. For more information in general on raising Black Soldier Fly Larvae, check out this blog.

Horse Manure

“You can’t chemical your way out of soil infertility” 

– Joel Salatin

We finally found a source of horse manure that is definitely free of a chemical that causes toxic compost. The owners of the property keep bees, so they never spray any chemicals, and they said they don't feed hay. We found them through our local Freecycle List. Actually, we found two sources, I mean horses:

Annie the Escape Artist

It seems strange to me that property owners are willing to give up compostable manure. In my eyes, manure is valuable, and getting rid of it, the loss of a great opportunity. If I had a couple of horses, I would be eagerly harvesting their manure and mixing it with sources of carbon. The carbon both decreases the smell and helps lock in the manure's valuable nitrogen. When the compost pile cooled off, I would use it for vermicomposting. I'd sell the red wrigglers or feed them as a source of protein to my chickens . I'd compost the chicken manure, too.

Then I would use the composted manure and the worms' castings to improve the soil in my lawn and gardens. Heck, if I had more compost than I could handle, I suppose I'd sell that, too.

All this guy wants is for us to leave the gate open...

...Back to reality. Of course, I do not have horses nor am I even allowed chickens without changes to the zoning laws in Chesapeake, Virginia. So Don and I headed off yesterday evening to a local farm. We gathered the hopefully-nontoxic manure, and then we collapsed with exhaustion. Don always seems to pick the hottest days of the year (or the muddiest) to go get horse manure.

Don working in the heat

This morning I loaded about half the manure into our ComposTumbler.  I added some weeds, some yard waste from my garden, some scraps from my kitchen, some hay and shavings mixed with manure from a local guinea-pig and rabbit rescue, and some clean, non-toxic sawdust we collected from a local woodworker, again through Freecycle. Tomorrow I will start to load up one of our other composters with the rest of the horse manure combined with more sawdust. I like the tumbler better because it composts faster. The compost is so easy to turn and aerate!

On the other hand, a regular compost pile is nice, too. It is pleasant to just compile the ingredients and then let the compost slowly break down while we go about our daily lives.

The farm also has peacocks, dogs, and a mini-pig

Composting is generally a pretty easy and forgiving process. Just put the ingredients together in an appropriate bin and let mother nature take its course. There are many composters available on the market, or you can build yourself an inexpensive 4x4x4' bin out of scrap wood and chicken wire or welded fencing.

If you are new to composting, my advice is to read up a little bit, so you know what to avoid composting, and then just start. If you want to garden but don't want to turn compost or even dig a bed, make the compost right in the garden bed using the no-till lasagna layering method. Just be sure to plan at least a season ahead. It is a great feeling to keep waste out of the landfill. It also feels great to take other people's garbage-- or sanitation problem, in the case of the horses-- and turn it into something useful and good, like flowers or vegetables. For more on toxic compost, check out this article at Mother Earth News.

Mother Nature is creative; sometimes we just need to help her along!

**Update: For an overview of different composting methods, check out this website from the University of Illinois.

Update: Hens are now legal in my backyard in Chesapeake, VA, with certain restrictions.