Could use help on ideas for composting rabbit litter

I could use some feedback here so feel free to critique my thoughts, ideas or plans or offer your own.

My daughter’s rabbit has produced quite a volume of used litter in two years.  At the moment one bed 8’x16’ is getting close to completely covered in piles of used litter that stand about 12” tall.

The litter is based on a softwood that is safe for the rabbit (aspen maybe?).  By the time it makes its way outside it is pretty urine-soaked, has many pellets of rabbit manure and a few Timothy seeds from what the rabbit drags in but does not eat.

I am thinking that the used litter may be too hot to use for direct planting and I am not certain what effect all that urine will have on the Wine Caps that live in the wood chips that make up my garden bedding beneath the piles of litter.

So my thoughts at present are something like this:

Option #1. Spread chips and plant.  This would be easiest but gives me the most pause for all the reasons I already mentioned.

Option #2.  Pile chips up into an unused corner of the garden and see if it will self-compost.  I am leaning towards this option but it probably involves the most work and I really like passive systems.  But if I can get high quality compost it will be worth it.

So what do you think?  Do you have a better idea or see a major problem with either of my options?

Thanks in advance,

Eric

I put rabbit poo directly on my garden. My wife won't let me harvest rabbits for food, but we do have a colony pen of 5 females outside. I clean the pen and place it directly on my hugel bed. The raised beds that I don't have anything in at the end of the season get the chicken poo and deep litter from their yard that has accumulated through the summer.

Maybe combine option 2 with a worm bed.  The urine can be rough until it breaks down but the earthworms will go to wherever it is good for them.  I'm not sure how letting it compost is work but let the worms do the aeration and just put new material to the side of what is already broken down.
Edit.. I read it again and see what you were saying about more work but that would still be my suggestion, since it seems like you need a place to continue putting used bedding.

Bill,

Do you envision a pile like this needing to be turned?  I do believe that earthworms will make their way into a pile like this.

Eric

I have two buns and lots of litter.
Until recently the food hay was also used for catching pee and poop.
That made for a lot of carbon to a small bit of nitrogen.
Id top dressed anything with that stuff.
Now I'm using hardwood pellets and its more efficient but heavier on the nitrogen.
I've been feeding my hardy kiwi with it, I heard they can't get enough nitrogen.
There is still a decent ration of carbon,but the composting process hasn't even begun.
I say put it anyplace you would pee.
If top dressing seems like it might burn a plant, maybe dig a hole a few inches away.
I've been putting composting beds up next to my fruit trees as a way to feed them without smothering the roots .
Maybe put up a compost ring or bottomless bucket in the middle of a bed, fill it up, move on to a new one.
By the time you get back to the first the soil life will have done a number on it.

Some ideas came to mind:
1 Black soldier fly larvae are reputed to eat manure. Your outputs would be a very hot compost and protein for birds for fish.
2 Find a culinary mushroom optimal for manure and turn your bins into mushroom machines.
3 Yeast and Hot Water might speed things up.
4 If you see potential to sell tree seedlings the acidic and hot nature of the mix might be great for wearing off the seed coatings of difficult to sprout tree seeds. They might really pop.
5 Find a recipe, Mix with your native soil and try making some ceramic blocks of some kind, always useful on the farmstead.

Best,  M

Michael,

Thanks for the information.  Actually I love growing Wine Caps and have thought about inoculating the piles with Wine Cap spawn for some fast decomposition and some mushrooms as well.

Eric

Dont mention it...good luck....love mushrooms...M

William Bronson wrote:I have two buns and lots of litter.......

This is exactly my situation except instead of pellets it's mostly just hay, some shredded paper, poop, reject food, and some pee-soaked sawdust (not a lot, but some).
I top dress everything, after letting the stuff sit for a few weeks in a barrel (i sift it out, and throw the hay on the garden directly). By that time it's a bit mellower and nothing gets burned.
The only thing is, I don't work with mushrooms and am not sure how much they can take.