My Compost Is Finally ALIVE!
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- I can now say that I have HOT compost going at the homestead! So lets take a closer look at how I manage and build my compost pile using a couple secret ingredients including one made right here at the homestead.
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This is my petition for more chicken chasing content. Amazing.
Honestly, I'm surprised you don't use the chickens to turn the compost for you. All you have to do is remove the slats and let the compost spill out onto the floor. The chickens come by and eat the scraps and bugs. While scratching at the compost, they are breaking up the larger chunks and generally aerating the pile. Then they make a contribution of manure, and finally, at the end of the day, you can come by and pile it back up, add some brown material, and open the next bin on the following day. I love what you are doing with you're homestead but you gotta let the homestead do some of the work too.
Also, I'm really curious about how much water you were able to capture with this latest series of showers we've had in So Cal. And if there were any issues you encountered. You are doing great Kevin, all of the Epic Gardening Crew are doing great. Keep it up and I wish you all a bountiful harvest.
Over 7000 gallons!
Good to see you doing a solo video. You and Jacques make a great team, but you're great solo too.
Maybe Gucci just wants you to know that she loves you.
I have noticed that my New Hampshire Red does the same thing. Essentially, she is letting you know what is going on in the garden when you aren't there and wants you to pay attention to her. Her voice will alert the others when there is a problem. Her voice will also let you know that she is bored and wants out for a while.
Essentially, she is talking to you telling you about her day and wants interaction.
My compost bin had a major roach problem so I borrowed my neighbor’s chickens and left them in the bin for a couple hours. They ate hundreds! Didn’t solve my roach problem (discovered they were underground beneath the pile ☹️) but it was so fun to watch them go at it and I extra enjoyed carting them around in my granny cart when I ferried them back and forth.
For egg shells we’ve started placing them in the oven whenever the oven is used. After this grind them down with a pestle and mortar, it’s goes to find powder!
Yup! Except we use a dehydrator and a food processor.
I always feed the egg shells to my chickens, it helps build up their calcium and helps them have stronger shells on their eggs.. that and they love them!
In my experience a good calcium source for chickens is any type of brassica, I give them every day, sometimes it's hard to break the egg.
I was going to suggest the same thing. I gave the shells to my chickens when I still had some. Sadly, I had to move and no longer have a place for chickens.
I think Gucci has made it pretty clear that she's bored and needs more bug hunting adventures!
Put a fence between the composting area and the main garden, and let the chickens have at itevery day. Your compost will never turned over more.
Would love more compost videos! Maybe some experiments? Sources for getting additional cheap/free materials? Other tips and tricks?
Good calls!
That "Hen Chase"workout looked intense! I moved my compost down the line a few days ago and the chickens where like toddlers underfoot but wanting to "help"!! Love your mural btw.
It was longer than it looked!
the chicken chase reminded me how much I miss caring for my own. they’re such characters!
I have tip for wrangling chicks; it's our go-to method when we're done with them free-ranging. Daiso sells a toy red foam baton; you put one in each hand and you have a huge wingspan to herd them with.
A little tip from the rainy side of the PNW - get your moisture levels right and then put tarp over it and bungie it down. Prevents the pile from cooling and prevents nutrients leaching out with the rain.
100% agree - covering the compost would be useful for excess rain and sun, you will have way more control over the process.
I tried using a tarp held down with bricks. Then I noticed that some wood rats were shredding up the tarp and using the fibers for nesting material. 😮
I'm in the East County, and I created two new compost piles of mostly leaves and garden scraps right before the wet winter began. I was sure when I went to turn it last weekend that it would still just be matted leaves, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover the worms have demolished the leaves, and are still working on any stray garden scraps. Maybe it's vermiculture worm castings and not compost? At any rate, there is not an egg shell to be found, and thinking about it, I rarely come across leftover egg shells in my compost (not for lack of input). Maybe I have calcium-hungry worms? No pill bugs this year, but last year they were enormous and abundant.
It’s nice to see a more “organic” 😉 video- I’ve missed these
The chickens seem to quiet down the older they get. When ours were all young they were much more vocal. Now we are 3 years in and they aren’t as noisy. That was my experience
Gucci just has a lot to say! She is probably at the top of the pecking order as well and just making her presence known, she is a queen.
Easier method. Center fill vs lasagna. Insulate surrounding layer with straw and only add into middle.
Heats ups great , easier to maintain moisture levels and will stay hotter longer in my humble opinion.
Would love to see what happens when you compost with "bad browns".
Like, non-shredded leaves or those hay bales from big box stores. Things that we probably shouldnt do... And how to remedy the pile after we've messed it up.
I was taught how to make 'hot compost' by Dick Copeland, a contemporary of Bill Mollison. 3 bays, 2 active, turning the compost over into the next vacant bay, every day for the first couple of weeks, adding additional water if required. In the later stage of growing this compost, I'd add biochar as well as inoculate the compost with beneficial microbes
Gucci wants to be the star of the show 😂 🐓💅
Beautiful chickens! ❤ Really love this format. Informative and funny!
Great content as usual Kevin. Seeing chase your chickens brought me back to the scene in Rocky.
@@peterwong1231 😂
If you haven’t already done so, a video about relocating a composting area if needed. We are in Northern California in the foothills. Water from so much rain this year is seeping steadily from the neighboring park to the area right underneath the bins and to one side of them. The ground is really soggy now since there is a sloped area on the other side of our fence that funnels water to our yard where the bin area is. We had never noticed it before because the rain in prior years has been pretty light. So, relocation time! It’s tricky because of the slope, drainage issues, worries about proximity to the house if we move it closer (how close is too close?). I totally advocate for composting and will not give up on it. But, the goopy ground! Ick! Thanks!
Nice one, Kevin. I get really excited about compost and exploring soil life videos (must be the scientists in me).
Some hens end up crowing like a rooster, especially if one isn't around. There's not much you can do about it either. Might be a similar reason why Gucci is noisy.
As for fitness, running is good, but for guys of our stature (6'2"+) it can be tough on joints and easy to overdo when you get started after a period of minimal exercise. I've been there several times. My suggestion is focussing more on cycling for cardio fitness and then gradually introduce running. Swimming is also a really good low impact workout.
Thanks for all the high quality informative videos!
Running is super hard on the joints for shorter people too! I started running recently and almost immediately gave myself shin splints from not stretching enough hehe. Elipiticals are fantasic for low impact while maintaining a full-body movement to get a better burn. That or dance! I've been really enjoying the community aspect of things like Zumba and whatnot.
I agree, I much prefer cycling to running. We love up north and enjoy mountain biking, but I'm sure the weather in SoCal would be just perfect for it 😁
Nice compost bins, bet it’s easier with the adjustable front
Squawky chickens gonna squawk, some breeds more than others. DON'T get Andalusians! When I had two of them, it sounded like I had a troop of howler monkeys in my backyard. The Lakenvelders were also pretty noisy.
From just north of you in the maritime Pac NW, put a roof of some sort over your pile! Minimum size to stay warm is a cubic yard.
lolol Great video! Gucci just wants your attention! I honestly never pay attention to them in the videos, I may hear them but it's all part of the homestead lol Love that they got the bugs and the "chicken chase" was awesome! lolol
Good video! As for Gucci, did you notice that she became quiet when you started petting her? I don't know this for a fact, but I would almost bet her clucking is to try to gain your attention and get you to interact with her. I know that was the case with my goats.
Good call!
I raised layers for 13 years, I cycled out over a hundred layers during the years, I'm finished now, I have 3 left, I'm not doing this again. I had my fun.
Your channels inspire me so much to go work on the garden and clean up from last year. I'm in NorCal, man the rain has been crazy this year. Keep thinking it may be over then another storm comes in lol.
I’m in NorCal, too. What a swamp it has been. Ugh.
@@christinebottaro9017 seriously, it's been a crazy year. We needed it though. I go out into the woods and there's literally new running creeks everywhere lol.
Just curious, why not give all the scraps to the chickens, have them go through it and then remove the compost/chicken manure and place that into the compost bins to finish and cool down? We’ve been doing this for years and it produces the best compost with minimal effort and feeds the chickens, cutting back on feed costs.
I do if small amounts, if large I throw in compost
I like putting the hen in the pile idea.
Maybe you should cover your compost pile. I covered mine with some old corrugated siding, works well.
You haven’t trained your hens to come when you call them, yet?? I call mine over with a couple shakes of the fly larvae treat bag and they come running every time! Then toss the large into the run and voila…..Chickens wrangled! :) Although, watching the chase scene was quite comical content!
I do!
Seriously Kudos to y'alls editor 🤣🤣
I don't know who is on sound editing, but as usual, they're killing it!
You don't need a gym membership when you've got a three-bin compost system going, but make sure you do a healthy number of planks in between turning the pile. It's a serious core and low back workout.
Came for the compost, stayed to watch Kevin get humiliated by his chickens.
Awesome youre getting back into fitness Kev!! Consistancy is great. Try 2hrs a day of exercise. Swimming, running, walking, rowing, rock climbing, etc. and a good lift 3 days a week. One hr in the morning and one in the afternoon. Add in new exercises or extra time gradually over a few weeks. Dont get too fancy with HIIT, diet, or competitiveness... just focus on enjoyment first.
Did this the yr before the pandemic and lost ~125lbs in 9 months. Gained about 60 back the last couple yrs😅, just started again a couple months ago and already down about 30lbs. Keep us updated and good luck!
I haven't experienced rain cooling down a compost bin... but the opposite! the more rain the more heat! and the more heat the more water you need! my bins cooled down because of lack of water.
Kevin, that straw looks pretty pristine. Please be careful and test each bale for pyralids before you contaminate your whole place. So many people are getting hit and losing everything they've put into their gardens. Yet so many more still don't know it's out there or how to look out for it.
We tested and trust the source!
more homestead tidying videos please!!
Nice channel description lol
@@GLG_YT its better now
@@GLG_YT thats embarrasing
@@muaazelleissy9752 …ok………….
We once had a black hen named chicky nuggy, and she used to literally growl at everyone. She axted like the resident rooster. Watch your rooster(s) though. If they start drawing blood from the others, they have to go.
You really should look at the O2 Forced Air Composting System. It uses blowers on timers to keep constant and consistent oxygen through the pile, so it requires no turning. Because the pile maintains constant oxygen it decomposes/composts way faster than a manually turns pile. It's a really interesting and fascinating new way of composting.
I know about being able to remove the wood and put it back like you have but I never thought of using that idea for compost bins. Thanks for your great video your idea makes it great to be able to build it high as you need it but also very handy for when it is empty and you want to clean the area good before using it again. Me I have ideas but you gave other ideas for where I can use it. Great job good man. You are well worth watching 😅
I also have not found out how to keep the hens quiet, my neighbors really hated the chickens. 5-6am every day they start going insane. I'm glad to see even with automatic opening doors and a huge chicken run, in your property, it seems like they are never satisfied. I wonder if a radio or something that turns on with human voices in the morning works...
a loud hen is usually fixed with a chicken dinner
Wish I had room for that type of composting! Using a tumbler system but not too much compost produced. Thanks for your great vlogs and info!
I can't afford the raised beds that he is selling so I bought some big pots, about 22", and I am using them as compost bins until they are full. I grow flowers, pollinators, for a season and then plant food. I have been doing this for four years and it works. When replanting I layer in leaves like a lasagna thing putting well rotted sticks in the bottom and then layering soil and leaves and compost. It's working quite well.
I have one hen that was the only of three day-old chick that survived last summer, her name is Nugget 😆 She is SO loud! I have to give snacks for quiet while I work in the run.
I had to put a loose zip tie on her ankle so I could tell her apart from the other barred rocks, because I'm a chicken racist🤷♀️😆
Oh! I discovered that when they get down like that, I run my fingers down their back towards their tail on both sides. Stop and scratch at the sides of the tail for a few seconds then let go. They'll walk away fluffing up their feathers. It's hysterical!
Keep chasing chickens, that’s a workout and funny to watch 😂
I'd be interested in seeing a video on Johnson Su bioreactors for composting...
😂😂😂 I love the video edits! It just makes the video thats already entertaining and educational, more entertaining! Which keeps my attention longer and helps me remember the information! ❤
I garden as organically as I can but not perfectly. Either way I am looking forward to having my own large steaming compost piles when I am able. For now, my vivosun compost tumbler is doing fine in my suburban backyard!
Your editor was having fun this video 🤣
Watching you chase the chickens was the highlight of this video for real 😂😂 love the compost info but also so here for the chicken run 😊your girl is a noisy lady
Don't worry about Gucci talking so much - just let her be herself! We had a Dominique - "Darling" - years ago who was a chatterbox, and we loved her. Now we have a rooster, who I think is the son of Darling's sister, Thing (yes, "Thing") - but he's TOTALLY Darling's Son-in-Spirit: he talks and talks and talks! All drama, all the time - but he's a wonderful roo, loves his girls, and takes good care of them.
So enjoy Gucci's chatter - maybe she just wants to have a conversation with you! ;-)
Gucci sounds like she's listened to too many kookaburra documentaries 😂
Maybe they watch @SelfSufficientMe together!
you should definitely use the chickens more to help turn your compost. even letting them out in your yard more during the day when you are home. If you are worried about predators, stay outside with them and relax with them.
I use chicken wire round towers to make compost directly in the chicken pen the when it starts to be to cold I take the round off and let the chickens turn it and then I rebuild it you can also add grains to it and the chickens love finding sprouted grains in the compost
I might do a small compost bin in my kitchen
The chicken chase was so entertaining I had to re-watch it!😄
oh kevin, some of the veggies in your compost look better than what's growing in my garden! i can't believe he needs to add browns. I've got way too many browns in my compost and nowhere near enough greens.
The chicken scene was just hilarious. Thanks for the laughs.😂
I've heard a technique where you sit the chicken on the ground holding it gently and gently push it down to lay on its breast and just give it pets til it calms down. This is meant to show them that even in a sensitive position they're safe around you and dociles them. I haven't tested it myself but I've seen this technique in action and it looks like it works!
Hey, Kevin! Loving the compost episode!
Question: Do you vet your hay sources for persistent herbicides? I've been watching other youtubers that have lost entire plots to compost that got chemicals like Graze-on mixed in through hay and cow manure amendments.
I love compost videos for some reason.
Your chicken is just happy to see you and making happy noises. Was wondering why you don't have lids on your compost bins?
i say put the compost bind underneath the chickenhouse and then have a trap door that drops them into it so they can eat the bugs! lolz.
Running if you want to improve cardio but not for weight loss. Find one routine and stick to it. Bring a note book. Mark what weight you did how it felt make a journal of it. Refer to your prior work out with each next workout to see what worked what didn't and to continue building over time. Change up reps by pause at the end of a rep or altering it in some form to make it more difficult. But most of all make absolutely certain your form is correct and you're tensing the rest of your body before reps. When I first started that was my biggest fault. I'd think I was doing everything perfectly to later find I was slouching my shoulders or not tensing support muscles and it caused me lacks in gain and increased pain in joints. Lastly don't get discouraged. If you're tracking weight loss do it same day every week in the morning and log that over time. Your body goes in a lot of fluctuations over time. If over the progress of a week or two you don't see and reduction and you're still working out, change your diet. You can cut and bulk at the sams time. Just make sure you're eating in deficit and hitting .8-1g of protien/lb of body weight. Best of luck on your fitness journey.
Appreciate this.
@@epichomesteading anytime homie, thanks for all the homesteading tips as always.
Do you have the measurements or instructions on how you built your compost bins with the slats?
So glad to see you composting you have the perfect book for that 😉 Great video Kev.
I think pelleted horse bedding works so much better than straw. It absorbs moisture much better and then breaks apart into smaller pieces(saw dust like).
Have you considered getting a small chipper and mulching your spent berry canes and fruit tree pruning? I just started doing that and adding the chips to my compost. Beautiful stuff. Free and an addition I can have on hand.
You - chasing the chickens - made me giggle! 😊
and garden planning videos please!
I'd love a Chicken Coop clean out Homesteading video!
This is a great video! I’ve been wanting to learn more about composting! Thanks for sharing!
Building hotbed ..composting and starting seeds I loke getting the most out of my work
I consider the clucking hen as an enhancement to the video. She is not interfering with my ability to hear what you are saying. Small stuff. Now, if she grabs the mike, that could be an issue.
My favorite things about composting are the worms.
You need to work on the hen catching technique. If you reach under, palm up and chose around the legs with pinky and thumb, they are much easier to grab
10:00 pill bugs having a real life version of chicken invaders
Love the chicken herding, lol! Thanks Epic Gardening, great content as always.
Your hens are beautiful- and wily!
I’ve avoided using straw due to weed seeds. If we get that “imperfect cook pile”, the heat may not get high enough to destroy them. Thoughts? Anyone had any weed issues arising from adding straw to compost or as mulch? I’d love to use it if it’s a non-issue, particularly as I do no-dig as much as I can.
My pile had a rodent problem last year which led them to the garden. I got super discouraged and disassembled the pile. Would love to hear more troubleshooting tips.
Yep, I have this problem too. We live near a river and have to battle rats, nutria, raccoons and possums whenever we keep open piles, especially with any food scraps. I've taken to using our community greenwaste, all of which is composted, instead. Things that aren't appealing to rodents (typically leaves and prunings) go into a passive pile. It's a gamble.
I particularly enjoyed the reenactment of the Rocky chicken chase scene 😂
Can you cover the bins with cardboard to help keep them from getting waterlogged?
Yes
gee Kevin - you created chicken chaos :D Looked like me on Sunday after my hens dug a hole out and into the garden LOL
Would love a video on tumbler composting. Not awesome videos out there and I make it hard to rectify any issues.
I’m about to give up on composting. I’ve got a tumbler and it’s just too hard to get it right with no more material than I have to work with. Maybe when I retire I can try again.
Our gold laced wyandotte was always super loud. The chattiest, complainer of the flock.
I am interested in learning more about Johnson-Su Bioreactor composting. It seems to be a very little effort way to compost.
no wayyyy i flipped my compost today and for the first time in 3 months it actually started steaming
Yes, grind egg shells
I love the sound of chickens in the neighborhood!😂
Kenv and the Chicken Cha-cha! 😄
Sweet new content !!!❤
Love all your helpful videos! Got a 💩 question here…what about horse manure and composting that. My neighbor has tons of it but I want to be sure it doesn’t affect my garden negatively. Thanks! PS: when are you going to do tours of the homestead??
I have watched Charles Dowding, too, and he had a problem with horse manure about two years ago. When some of his crops began to look sickly, he traced it back to an herbicide that was used by the hay farmer and that passed through the horse to the manure. Pretty concerning when it lasts that long and no one usually notices the effects. Long story short, ask the horse owner what they feed their horses before you accept the manure. If untainted, it makes a great addition to the compost pile, layered in as a brown material. Good luck!
@@christinebottaro9017 awesome info and instructions. thank you so so much.
I have all hens. My head hen "Rocky" used to screech daily for 3 months. In the absence of a rooster, a hen can change her voice to become the "roo".
What do you do for pest management? I have a skunk and a big giant raccoon that has been visiting. I have buckets of scrapes but I am afraid to attract them into my compost.
I think it could benefit your chickens and your compost to create a little run for them to scratch through it. :)
yeah I agree they need a job to keep them active and happy scratching around. They need to escape the pen and enclosure and have free rein in the garden for a couple of hours a day.🐔
Looks like playing chicken chase is going to be a good workout for you 😂