Vermont Composting Company, simple genius

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:29 pm

Sandy's post on composting had me search for more on this company. Vermont Composting Company, Montpelier VT

Using chickens to process food waste.

: image.jpg (28.06 KiB) Viewed 3955 times

Pic from farmshow.com
https://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=30940

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:58 pm

My chickens are in the compost pile - they make
A hot mess of it in no time. However they are terribly picky. Maybe I spoil them with readily available feed.

Mind you I will say my legbars are fantastic foragers. They are out all day searching and are seldom at the feeders.

He's got a mean operation!!! Maybe if I get a good balance and it actually works I won't have to feed my dozen layers ...
Pffft as if lol

Shnookie · Post by **Shnookie** » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:51 pm

I wonder how the eggs would taste?

Satellite · Post by **Satellite** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:23 am

I saw this in Harvey Ussery's book. I thought it was such genius I excitedly told my husband. He just looked at me and said 'No--we don't have the room'. It's like he knows me....

I still would love to do this.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 10:03 pm

I think a couple of pigs would work as well. Some local laws are wacky. I saw a set up in las vegas, all the food had to be cooked to eliminate possible pathogens!? The whole point of these birds/pigs is they can digest almost anything and their digestion system destroys pathogens.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:32 am

I think the cooked food thing goes back to the BSE problems (not that the cooking helped), when animal by products were thrown into the food from sick animals.

Dominion Link · Post by **Dominion Link** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:22 pm

I read an article in Rural Heritage magazine years ago about a farmer who had resurrected an old bank barn foundation for a living compost with pigs doing the work. He built a big chicken coop over half the foundation which served as cover for the pigs and the rest was open to the sky. the front of the foundation had been opened up completely, and replaced with heavy gates, to allow a tractor in when it was time to ship the pigs and remove the compost. Mess from the coop and his horse/cattle barn got dumped into the foundation and the pigs would root through it all turning it into compost. The pigs were fed there regular feed as well plus pretty much all the left overs from the garden and kitchen. Looked like a great set up to me.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 10:46 pm

Aye, animals can do a job if you let them. In a mast year (acorns) farmers would let the pigs loose in the forest. The pigs gained more weight loose in the forest than locked in a barnyard and fed corn.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:03 am

We used to live close to the New Forest and some folks still had foresters rights and turned the pigs out in autumn!