If you raise chickens you likely have some sort of "chicken bucket" adorning your kitchen counter at all times. My kids, visiting friends and family and even the neighborhood kids know that any food scraps hit the chicken bucket instead of the garbage can. I have gone so far has to collect food scraps from my sister's or friend's houses when we are over to add to my chicken bucket! It is painful to see strawberry greens thrown away or stale bread heals tossed.
Many food things that you can feed a chicken also overlaps with what is considered compost. How do you decide what goes where?
I save the very best table scraps, uneaten dinner leftovers, half eaten apples (because kids!), and egg shells for the birds. I avoid uncooked meat, bones, avocado pits, potato peels and onions.
Most everything else goes to compost. Moldy foods, fruit and veggie pits and peels, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, used and shredded paper products, grass and tree clippings, dead & thinned garden and indoor plants and bedding from the coop and brooder. I avoid dog and cat waste, meat products, bones and dairy in my compost, because I want to avoid attracting pests and I want to be sure the dogs stay out of the compost pile.
I keep a plastic bucket on the counter for the chickens. The kids feed the chicken's their scraps daily. I keep the compost bucket under the sink for easy use.
Comments