Storing bones for char

Saving enough bones for a burn can take a while.
Storing them in a freezer is easy, but that space and energy has other uses.
I have stored them in a bucket of wood pellets but BSF got to them.
I've considered storing them in finished char, in used oils , in sand, in ashes, and in diatomaceous earth.

How do you store your bones?

For years I created disposal pits in my yard, with a skinny open-ended barrel and a weighted cap on top so my dogs (and foxes/coyotes) couldn't get in there. The cap was open enough that carrion beetles and other insects could get in there and process any remaining flesh. The original intent was to simply add rocks on top and bury it since it's harmless. Now  I am thinking about adding bones to char, and I can pull out the "processed" bones when I am ready to burn.

I don't burn biochar in the winter/this time of year, but I do get bones. It's too dark, cold and wet to burn.  Days are extremely short.   Thanksgiving turkey, chicken bones, etc still happen.  

I dry the bones on a flat plate.  It takes a lot longer because the winters here are cool, wet and very humid.  When they are really dry, I put them into a crock in the garage, waiting until the spring when I burn biochar again.  As long as they are really dry, they store fine.

John S
PDX OR

We have four dogs, and we give them beef bones often, nearly daily.  The dogs clean the bones well enough that I don't have to do any extra processing, I just throw them in a cardboard box until I'm ready to do the next batch of charcoal.  I find that bones char much more easily than wood.  I'm still a little surprised by that.  I thought it would be much harder to char bones, but was happily surprised when that wasn't so.

I store my bones in the compost bin. When I need compost, I shovel it out and sift it. The bones go back into the bin except for the ones that are sufficiently softened or very lightweight. These I will tuck int the pots to continue their composting journey and feed the plants. I've never added bones to my charcoal kettle. I might have to try that.

For me the easiest way to store bones is to find an out of the way corner and let mother nature take care of cleaning and storing the bones.

I don't make bio-char so I have lots of bones.  all clean and stored in an out of the way location.

I do a number of things:
a) I store a fair number in my regular compost bins. The rats don't seem to eat them, but they clearly like by compost bins for living in. Rats are endemic to the area. I would love to try building a rat-proof compost, but I suspect that's an oxymoron.

b) I have an old metal garbage can I was given which I drilled many small holes in the bottom and lower 1/4 of the side walls and buried in 1/4 deep in the soil. No animals, including rats were able to break in, so I would let bones sit in there. The downside is that it is very difficult to empty.

c) Sometimes in the winter, I give up on biocharring them and just dry them on top of the woodstove and then burn them in the wood stove by putting them on top of the wood.