New chicken composting setup

I've been thinking of trying this for awhile now.  I want to get more useable compost from my chicken run.  They are in a large area, so it doesn't really work well for composting, they just spread everything around and the ground gets hard.  My thinking is that if I confine the compost material to a smaller area for them to work in I can harvest the compost more easily.  I just built it, so it will be a bit before I see how well it works.  I may make more rings nearby so I can occasionally flip the compost into a different ring and refill the first.  The chicken run has a downhill slope so it's easy flipping.

To build this I took a 16' cattle panel 50" tall and cut it the long way down the middle into pieces approx 2' wide.  I made them into a ring with a couple squares overlapping so I could wire them together.  I used weed cloth around the outside of it and wired on to hold the compost in place.  I don't like weed cloth, but I haven't thought of an alternative yet.

After building, I piled in woodchips, added some food scraps, added charcoal, turned it in gently, and then added some scratch grain to heighten interest.

Here are some picture to hopefully clear this up.

You could weave sticks through the cattle panel grid (sort of like hybrid wattle) to replace the plastic. (I'm imagining vertical, but could be either -- probably depending on what feedstock you're using.)

Christopher Weeks wrote:You could weave sticks through the cattle panel grid (sort of like hybrid wattle) to replace the plastic. (I'm imagining vertical, but could be either -- probably depending on what feedstock you're using.)

That is a really excellent idea.  Thank you!  I'll post pictures after I do that.

Get some 1/4" hardware cloth to go around the inside of the cattle panel.It will last for years and while it wont catch all the small bits it will still allow air to get into the pile.

Good idea BTW!

I'm a big fan of Edible Acres and they just put out a video on ideas for chicken composting that I think people might appreciate similar to your system in ways.

Shookeli Riggs wrote:Get some 1/4" hardware cloth to go around the inside of the cattle panel.It will last for years and while it wont catch all the small bits it will still allow air to get into the pile.

Good idea BTW!

I use hardwire cloth for some things, but it's expensive and I want to make at least two more of these.  Trying to save some money if  can.  I love the idea of sewing branches into the panel, I think I'll try that first.  If that doesn't work, hardware cloth will be the way to go.

I wonder if aluminum screen cloth would be durable enough as a liner.
Aluminum flashing would be very durable.
It would cut off some airflow, but also retain more moisture.
A layer of cardboard could do the same.

William Bronson wrote:I wonder if aluminum screen cloth would be durable enough as a liner.
Aluminum flashing would be very durable.
It would cut off some airflow, but also retain more moisture.
A layer of cardboard could do the same.

Cardboard was actually my first thought, but some people say the glues can be a concern.  It's probably less a concern than weed cloth though, so I may have made a bad decision.