With the backyard coop comes a lot of poop
Free-range chickens have little regard for where they do their ‘business’ in yard
Restaurant critic Amy Pataki and her family decided to rent chickens this summer. This is the fifth in an occasional series on backyard livestock. Eggs aren’t the only thing our backyard chickens make. They also poop. A lot. The average chicken produces one pound of manure a week. We have three. In the beginning, I thought we had the poop problem under control.
Our family of five takes turns cleaning the coop each day, removing the feces and soiled pine shavings with a cat litter scoop bought specifically for the pur- pose. (Our 20-year-old cat, Rudi, has his own.)
I counselled everyone to flick the natural compost straight into the closest garden bed. The ferns are flourishing. The trouble stems from letting “the Girls” out to range freely.
This is a daily necessity for them and a pleasure for us. The chickens roam the backyard, eating worms and dandelions and getting exercise. Staying cooped isn’t an option.
That said, the chickens leave their mark everywhere. One even left a deposit right outside the back door in the way of human traffic.
Going barefoot in the backyard, one of summer’s great pleasures, is no longer an option for our family. Janos, my husband, bought cheap plastic clogs for us and for visitors.
I’m also finding it a challenge to prevent us tracking chicken feces into the house. Heavy-duty door mats help. Free-range feces leads to other problems.
Flies are a new constant; a buzzing cloud lifts whenever we step onto the patio.
The smell seems to keep squirrels away, thus depriving us of their antics. (This may be a positive for some.)
And it’s getting whiffy. Chicken manure smells like an unholy mix of sulphur, ammonia and Beezelbub’s hockey bag.
I understand now why an entire neigh- bourhood will turn on those who use it as fertilizer. There are solutions. One is chicken diapers. Yes, they are a thing. But no, I am not changing poultry Pull-Ups.
A power washer is another. Janos got one to blast the patio. He loves it. The dirty water is sluiced into the garden.
Me, I scoop the poop for the composter, following gardening expert Mark Cullen’s advice. And the kids? They could well be the generation that uses cleantech to turn chicken manure into electricity.