How to Compost Manure

How To Compost Manure

How To Compost Manure

How to compost manure, there are 4 kinds of manure that weHow To Compost Manure

will talk about here. Horse, cow, chicken and rabbit are the most common types used. There are many ways to compost these manures there is the cold compost style, and the hot compost style. You can make the piles right in the open or make compost bins for a nice look on your place.

How To Compost Manure
How To Compost Manure

Part 1. The cold style and how to compost manure.

The cold style of composting has its ups and downs the up side is that there is no turning the manure pile. All you need to do is pile up the manure in an out of the way place and let it sit there for 6 to 12 months and it will compost and break down for you. How to compost manure and making sure that you keep it well water if it dries out it will not break down into compost for you. The drawback is that it will contain weed seeds in it and these will end up in your garden and grow. This method is of course that there is less labor involved.

Part 2. The hot style and how to compost manure.

The horse, rabbit, and chicken manures are consider hot manures while the cow manure is a cold manure. The horse and rabbit manure is great to work with, just make a pile at least 3 feet wide x 3 feet deep x 3 feet tall but a larger pile is better. How to compost manure with a pile about 4 feet wide x 4 feet deep x 4 feet tall will give you a good hot and cooking pile of manure. A pile this size will kill most all weed seeds and speed up the composting at the same time.

Shred the horse manure first and there is no need to shred the rabbit it is small in size. Start with a 6 inch layer of horse manure then add a 3 to 4 inch layer of rabbit manure. Water everything well and keep building the pile up until you are finished. In about 2 to 3 days the pile should be really hot inside and the temperature should get up to 130 to 160 degrees in the middle.

The chicken manure is the hottest of the manures. I would use the chicken and cow manure together, to make a pile size used above. You will need to shred the cow manure first and then start with a 2 inch layer of chicken manure then a 6 inch layer of cow and build the pile up to about 5 feet tall. Make sure to water everything well no small spots, after the pile is built and in about two days it should begin to heat up.

If done right the pile can get as hot as 130 to 160 degrees in the middle, now you will need to turn the pile every 2 to 3 days and water it at the same time. It does take a lot of work to turn it like this but after about 2 to 3 weeks it will begin to cool down at not heat up as much. Let it sit and age for about 6 to 12 months and it will be ready for the garden.

You can mix and match using the kind of manure that you have on hand. If the manure has straw in it hot composting it will help break this down. With some practice you will become a pro at composting manure.

Incoming search terms:

  • how to compost manure
  • howtocompostmanure com
  • how to compost cow manure
  • compost manure
  • cow manure compost
  • how to compost maure
  • shred horse manure compost
  • the manure in an out of