I have a friend here in town who has a little chicken coop, made by her
husband--just a good frame with chicken wire fencing around it, and a little
door for her to open to get eggs. I do feel sorry for the chickens, in a way,
for being so confined, but maybe the good food and safety make up for lack of
freedom. She gets eggs--some--would not be enough for me--but they are good,
and eat her kitchen scraps. She also has a fancy worm container she bought, a
black thing of 3 layers.
Speaking of worm beds, haven't you all heard of Mary Appelhof and her very
famous book? She certainly must know all the ins and outs.
I still prefer to put the garbage in the special blender jar and whiz it up,
then pour the resulting liquid on the ground. It goes in, no ants, not rats,
no smell.
Martha Wells wrote:
> I wanted to comment on the composter thread that is involving worm bins. I
> have two cheap rubbermaid bins and did NOT drill holes, give any other air
> circulation other than what comes in through the (not air/water tight) snap
> connection between lids and boxes. I started out with one bin and when they
> seemed too crowded, divided them into another one. I use shredded newspaper
> for their bedding, and add kitchen scraps mostly. If you put the scraps in
> one corner at a time, and cover with the bedding, there is no smell.
> Occasionally they get a 'pick me up' of 1/4 cup of cornmeal or goat chow,
> but this actually seems to act as a reproductive stimulant for some reason.
> These live underneath my kitchen table, so I'd be aware of any bacterial
> changes if they did smell. BUT, they are not for large scale composting.
> They may take 2 weeks to decompose coffeegrounds, and months to take away
> an eggshell. If you have a lot of kitchen scraps, you'll need an outside
> compost system (pallets work for me) as well.
> We have chickens that take the bulk of any kitchen wastes and only choice
> morsels go to the earthworm bins, and almost no leftovers for the compost
> bins. Those rely on the spent straw and manure and garden weeding with the
> occasional old milk tossed in.
> I agree, innercity living would be nice if hens were allowed. A lot of
> wasted stuff could go to them, and you'd get a lot more benefit (in my
> opinion) via healthy meat and eggs in return, than the benefits earthworms
> can provide. I lived in Houston very innercity, and several neighbors had
> chickens, but would butcher the roosters early so very little crowing to
> announce their presence. Rabbits can also be raised in small spaces and are
> a lot quieter. (But eat less variety of kitchen scraps).
> martha
>
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