Pine needles as hen bedding for damp days

Last season I discovered the utility of pine needles (sometimes called pine straw). As you may have noticed, annually in late summer, pine trees shed their oldest needles. Sometimes this is in mass. Just in routine clean-up, I tossed them into the chicken run for bedding. It turned out to be a wet week, but the cool thing was that those needles did not get soggy. Usually I use leaves as bedding. As I described before, I save autumn leaves for my year-round hen bedding. Free and sustainable. The leaves do need attention whenever it rains, which is my cue to rake out the run and compost the works.

The discovery of the needles were a significant help though this spring during the ice thaw. My least favorite time for run maintenance for me is when the snow is melting but the ground is still frozen. Puddling, build-up of frozen bedding plus hen activity is messy. This year, I implemented the pine needles during thaw. What a difference! The thick layer of needles kept the hens up an off any icy mucky puddles underneath. Since pine needles take longer to compost, I elected to bring the pine straw to the yard waste site when the wet period was over.

I now keep an eye out for local pine trees. When the next drop happens, I will be knocking on doors and asking if they would mind if I rake up their needles for them.

The wide range of chicken droppings

I sure wrestled with which picture to post for this entry. I decided to spare the non-chicken keepers the visual of chicken droppings. However, for a very complete and graphic picto-log of the extremes of poo see this page from the UK called Poultry Pages Forum. The range of characteristics that chicken poo that appears from healthy hens is disparate and extreme. This is due to the fact that chicken have two forms of droppings and diet also greatly affects appearance.

Despite this, is still a good idea to pay attention to changes in droppings. They are an early indicator of bird health. For a list of droppings of concern, this forum page has a long list of descriptors and possible causes.

Chicken Feed Quest II

The quest for chicken feed continues here in the Midway. More trials and tribulations have been endured since my last post on the topic.

As I wrote before, the feed I am looking for would be organic, wholesome, pelleted and locally sourced and available.

It is easy to find organic feed near the Twin Cities, but its only available in "mash". Mash is ground up grains, sometimes with other suspicious ingredients that form a near powder. Hens scatter mash in such a way that much of the bag goes to waste (not to mention an invitation to rodents). The scattering issue goes away when using pelleted feed. During processing of pelleted feed, the mash is pressed in to little nuggets that prevent hens from being so selective and when spilled, they are easily pecked up. I have learned that the pelleting equipment are expensive where costs preclude many small feed producers from investing in this machinery. I can order organic pelleted feed from larger outstate sources as Eric commented on a previous post. However, this requires paying the dollar and carbon costs of shipping individual bags. Ideally, I would like my locally sourced feed to also be available in bulk, so that I could bring my own storage bin and fill up. This would eliminate having large quantities of feed hanging around the urban henhouse demanding both space and many rodent proof containers.

Lately, I experimented with using a home-made feed called Ronda's Whole Grain Chicken Feed Recipe. A local chicken keeper, Jake, offered to mix a large batch. It contains 14 individual whole grains, seeds and legumes . It is not cheap, even when buying the grains in 50# bags. The reception by the hens was not particularly surprising and they have needed some encouragement. They tend to pick out their favorite grains and spill the lesser ones. I use a hanging piglet trough feeder for my feed and put a tray under it to catch spills. I can return the spills to the feeder, but not at the bird's delight. Much to my chagrin, I have now managed to train the local squirrels to now go into the henhouse and be rewarded by the unwanted peanuts and corn. I have learned that I can defeat the hen's hunt-n-peck by grinding Ronda's mix in the vitamix. It works, but then I am back straight to the mash mess. I can trick the hens to gobbling more of the feed by mixing the feed with meat drippings. Think suet-what is offered to wild birds in backyard feeders. This solution is a great way to use up meat drippings, however probably should be limited to an periodic treat. Cooking the grains in water also seems to entice them to consume them more completely too. All-in-all, these solutions are more work than a henkeeper needs on a regular basis.

Other Twin City chicken keepers report their hens are eating most of the feed, leaving behind the peas and a few of other grains. They also report that less feed is needed due to the high quality food value. Ronda's webpage says hens may need to transition into the feed. Some users mentioned that hens need to get hungry in order to eat it all up. I will keep trying, but it seems my quest continues. In the meantime, my next batch of feed may again be conventional pelleted feed, obtained after a long drive to the Anoka Ramsey Farm Store.

Hamline SPROUTS and Frances Moore Lappé: Hunger and the Food System

The season of learning has begun now that the gardens are near buttoned up. Reading, attending lectures, conferences, meeting with other folks with good ideas are thankfully re-appearing on the calendar.

This week, a Panel Discussion about Hunger and the Food System was put on by Hamline University's SPROUTS. The conversation was meaty and the panelists from IATP, Gardening Matters, HECUA, and MN Food & Justice did a fine job of connecting climate change, cultural barriers, poor quality food, wasted food, hunger and the need for community based change.

The delivery person spotted my hens and he asked, "Are the worth it?". He meant are the costs of hens and their upkeep really less than store bought eggs? I shared with him that backyard chickens are not just about getting eggs. Just as valuable is their ability to consume most of the food waste our 4-person household creates, and then make significant nutrient contributions to our urban soils via composting. All very true, however, what I did not bring up was that my homegrown eggs do not have any of the hidden costs which industrial food prices ignore. In the case of factory farmed eggs, the hidden costs include environmental, public health and societal hidden costs which never appear into their retail price. For example, how much of the price of factory farmed eggs does the farmer see? The SPROUT panel discussed that in the case of our population in hunger, calories-for-the-sake-of-calories may fill empty stomachs, but the long term chronic disease encouraged by America's cheap diet is certainly wrought with further hidden costs.

SPROUT-ites also heard that food waste reduction is a goal worth obtaining in the efforts to reduce hunger. As Addie Broyles of the Austin American-Statesman reveals, 25-50% of the food produced in this country goes to waste! Food that is produced, transported, and gotten to a market, home refrigerator or restaurant and then wastefully allowed to go bad or tossed because it doesn't meet some standard. There are known interventions to change this. It does not require sophisticated knowledge to implement smart purchasing, gleaning, or local foods initiatives. When the food waste percentage is seriously attacked, our hunger concerns will lessen, and so will greenhouse gases emitted from food buried landfills.

Frances Moore Lappé hit this message well on the Friday evening session of the Wisdom Ways Soul Conference, It's all tied together-- the choices we make in our dinner table ripple into the our food system and directly influence those around us.

Household Organic Waste: The Crib Sheet

This is a table I have been updating for the neighbors near my henhouse who contribute food scraps to our feathered friends. Just for comparison, I added the vermicomposting column too. Together, these 3 food waste options sure take care of almost any organic material from your household- some inedible. As I continue to learn about this topic, I plan re-post the crib sheet when new information has been added.

Organic Waste	Chickens	Compost Bin	Worms
coffee grounds	No	yes, the filters too.	Best place for coffee grounds as worms consider this bedding. Unbleached filter are OK
dried fruit	past their prime is fine, but if the dried fruit is hard and tough, then soften first before serving.	OK	OK
cheese (cream & cottage too)	OK if has a touch of mold. Hard cheeses like Parmesan or dried out cheese edges are great but need to be diced. Yogurt must be soaked up with old cereal or similar. Try to serve these early in the day so that there isn't protein sitting in the chicken run overnight attracting mice/rats.	No, attracts vermin	OK, but very liquid products should be avoided.
grain products: breads, cereal, crackers & other grain -based foods	This is the best place for grain products. Stale bread is perfect for hens, but bread can't be hard and dried out when served to chickens. Soften with leftover milk, soup, sauce. Same for hard crackers and pretzels and hard pizza crust. Best chunk up into nickle size pieces to keep squirrels from stealing it all. Rice, noodles, quinoa, oatmeal, uncooked oats, etc.	No, attracts vermin	All, but only if whole grains (100% white flour products are not good for worms, or for you)
eggs & eggshells	Hens love cooked eggs. Empty hells of hard cooked eggs are great too (no raw eggshells though due to passing bacteria). The trick is that the hens can't know that they are eggs! They will start to eat their own and its very hard to stop that behavior. Crush any shells into tiny bits. Try to serve these early in the day so that there isn't protein sitting in the chicken run overnight attracting mice/rats.Provides good calcium for layers.	Shells are OK even if raw.	Shells are OK even if raw. They provide needed calcium to the livestock.
egg cartons (and packing material made of the same stuff)	No	OK, great source of carbon	super for bedding, would need to be torn up first.
drier lint and kitchen sink gunk	No	OK	OK
meat / stockpot leftovers	Hens will definitely eat meat leftovers. Can't be rotten though, and needs to be diced if its hard or grisly. After stock-making, Hens will love to pick the bones clean (remove bones later in the day). Try to serve these early in the day so that there isn't protein sitting in the chicken run overnight attracting mice/rats.	No	OK
meat drippings	Mixing meat drippings with hen feed, or even cat food until soaked up becomes fine hen food. Think Suet served to wild birds.	no	no
nuts	Most nuts are hard, so really need to be ground up, like a coarse cornmeal consistency. Rancid is just fine. Try to serve these early in the day so that there isn't protein sitting in the chicken run overnight attracting mice/rats.	No, attracts vermin	OK
Fruit: citrus, melon (rinds & seeds too), apple/pear peel & cores (seeds removed), berries, bananas,	Fruit is a real treat! Apples must be diced in order for the hens to take much. Apple seeds are toxic, so I usually cut that part out before dicing. Grapefruit halves are welcomed, even after eating.	All can go in no matter its state	All plus worms will take peels that hens won't
paper towels, napkins and tissues	No	All can go in unless there was a chemical cleaner used on the towels.	unbleached paper products only, no cleaning product on them
take-out and plate scrapings	Generally all good. Pizza should be diced, if crust is very hard best to soften with liquid. Try to serve these early in the day so that there isn't protein sitting in the chicken run overnight attracting mice/rats.	No, attracts vermin	OK
packing material - cornstarch peanuts & egg carton materials	No	OK!	Maybe
tea leaves	hens like the size of loose leaf	OK, with any paper teabag too	OK, with any paper teabag too
pizza boxes (unrecyclable corrugated due to food residue)	No	Yes, the best place for pizza boxes. Take the time to tear up the box, but it is not necessary	No
vegetable scraps:corn lettuce, chard, beet greens, tomato, pepper seeds, cucumbers	Hens will take anything leafy without any prep and OK if they are not particularly fresh. Corn cobs with bits of left overs on them are well loved. Hard veggies should be diced. Root veggie scraps work best if cooked first to soften. I have read that folks suggest to go light on items in the cabbage family as egg flavor can be impacted.	This is the best place for onions, carrots and anything in the cabbage family, & avocados. These items are either toxic to, or not preferred by hens. Otherwise, any vegetable waste in any condition can be put in the bins.	Worms will take it all, but may have to limit onion.

Autumn! The Annual Leaf Harvest

My fellow HMEGer, Peter Hoh and I adapted a piece from the MPCA to get the word out that your autumn leaves are a valuable resource. -- they contain nutrients that your lawn, compost pile, chicken run, or garden needs! You can always take the material to the yard waste compost site, but here are a few eco-smart options that will benefit you for 12 months until the next fall:

• If you have a backyard compost bin, or plan to start one, save your dry leaves to use as a carbon source, or "browns,". "Browns" are essential to non-smelly, active compost and must be added to vegetable scraps (aka "greens") for compost success. You cannot avoid finding a "browns" source, so why not use what falls onto your yard?
  

• Create free and convenient garden mulch from your leaves by collecting your autumn leaves in a hoop of wire or plastic fencing. They will breakdown partly over the winter and come next summer, you will have a valuable mulch to use in your garden beds. Leaf mulch (sometimes called leaf mold) works especially well in vegetable gardens. If these leaves are mowed first they will fit into a smaller hoop, but this step is not necessary.
  

• Use a mower to break leaves into tiny pieces and leave them on your lawn. A leaf layer that is thin enough to still see some grass is fine for lawns.
  

• If you have pets, or backyard chickens, dried leaves are a source of free and sustainable bedding. See this earlier post.

• Whether you compost your own leaves or take them to the county compost site, it's important to make sure that you are not raking up dog waste along with the leaves.

HMEG wants to help you save autumn leaves for your compost bin and garden needs. For a short time, we are offering a length of plastic fencing that can be set-up into a hoop, at cost, along with zip-ties to hold it together. This means that you won't have to buy a large roll of plastic fencing. To get your leaf bin, contact Peter at midwaypete@gmail.com. (Enough fencing for a 3-foot diameter bin will cost $10).


You can also help keep our water and air clean by what you don't do with that pile of leaves:

• Don't throw yard waste in the trash. Mixing yard and tree waste with your trash is illegal in Minnesota.

• Don't rake leaves onto a city street or sidewalk. It washes too many leaves, and therefore nutrients, into the Mississippi River via the stormwater sewers.

• And last, don't burn large piles of leaves. Burning of twigs and yard debris releases large amounts of air pollution in to the atmosphere.

Resources:
More about the HMEG
More about Backyard composting
More about wood smoke pollution
More about Ramsey County compost sites in
More about leaf mold

Hen Bedding

There has been recent discussion at the Twin Cities Chicken's list about bedding material for the chicken coop. Options suggested were straw, wood chips, and dry leaves.

Over here at our Midway henhouse, we are in the dried leaf camp. We use them both in the run bedding and in the henhouse. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is dried leaves are plentiful with our large shade trees. Next, manure+leaves augments our compost pile providing the necessary carbon and nitrogen. And lastly, it feels sustainable using what is here. The alternatives may require hauling them away when soiled and upon return, again transporting the fresh bedding, which we would be paying for.

On the maintenance, a few leaves will blow through the chain link on big wind days and do require a bit of tiding. I do scoop the run regularly (few times a weeks to daily) to remove visible droppings. This is a task that is difficult in long blades of straw, making leaves more manageable. I rake out the whole works once/twice a month, usually timing it to just after a wet period as leaves will get sogged out (and can begin to have odor). I find the rain soaked bedding adds useful moisture to the compost bins. I am also finding that neighbors are beginning to request this material from me for their own compost piles.


Using leaves in this manner for bedding may be a bit more demanding day-to-day than deep bedding of wood chips or straw, but of course that does not account for the time to acquire and then dispose of the bedding.

(Photo caption- chicken walking by my daughter and a friend. Not something done often!)

Hot Humus

The compost piles are steaming! I was pleasantly surprised when I checked under the hood last week. Planting in the Twin Cities is still around the corner, but now is a perfect time to get a jump on your compost duties. If you had a full compost pile waiting through the winter in Minnesota, a thorough turning is now needed as well provides an opportunity to adjust the browns/greens ratio or moisture content.

Getting backyard compost to decompose well can be elusive, especially if kitchen scraps are your main source of organics. Kitchen scraps are considered "greens". Active composting will only happen if the "browns" are in far excess compared to the greens, such as 20:1 ratio. So planning your "brown" supply is the key. In my yard its the dried leaves stored from autumn. The chicken manure that also goes into my compost adds the bit of nitrogen that really makes the compost heat up.

Can't do the "browns" planning and stuck with only "greens"? No matter. Indoor vermicomposting can do the trick.

Organic or conventional chicken feed?

This is a question I did not believe I needed to think about. Organic, of course, as I would prefer my dollars pay for sustainably raised grain. However, after trying a variety of different feeds for my small backyard flock (from 3 different farm stores), I have determined there is a more important feature of chicken feed - whether its in pellets or "mash". Mash is very powder-like. Hens make a mess of mash. A fair percent just ends up on the floor, never to be eaten, which then requires clean-up. In a small urban henhouse, cleanliness is the rule. Chicken feed scattered everywhere is a recipe for rodents. Rodents can even be attracted to the compost bin when spilled feed is added. So pellets it must be. The hens are much less prone to toss pellets into the far corners of the henhouse, and any that do get spilled are easily pecked right back up. Trouble is that I have yet to source an organic feed that comes in pellets.

So for now the hens get conventional feed. This is not a permanent situation though. I actually would prefer to eliminate corn from their diet entirely. Humans have created the corn diet for chickens, just like we have a corn diet for ourselves, cows, pigs and every other domestic and farmed animal. A long-time goal around here is to expand our vermiculture to also feed our hens. We are not the first to try this and we realize will be a while before we have enough worms to feed and compost. In fact, we may have to reclaim additional food waste to actually achieve this goal as the current population of worms and hens is taking care of our trimmings at present. Needing more food waste is a delightful problem to have for those of us who are concerned about organic waste in landfills and the methane it creates.