Discover how she feeds over 60 happy and healthy hens for almost no money.
Many people are interested in the chicken composting operation run by the speaker in this video. Specifically, viewers want to know how the speaker sources food scraps from restaurants, whether they are concerned about the quality of the scraps, and whether this system can be scaled up or down. In this article, the speaker provides detailed information about their system, which has been functional for over four years. They emphasize that their system may not be the best for everyone, but it can be adapted to different sites.
The speaker explains that they feed their chickens almost entirely on food scraps and soil life. They have established relationships with local restaurants and catering companies, who provide them with five-gallon buckets filled with leftovers from kit prep and catering jobs. The speaker believes that establishing reliable communication with these businesses is key to preserving these relationships. In addition to food scraps, the speaker discusses the importance of sourcing woody biomass and bulking materials for their composting operation.
Key Takeaways
- Establishing relationships with local restaurants and catering companies is key to sourcing food scraps for chicken composting.
- Woody biomass and bulking materials are important components of a successful composting operation.
- The speaker’s system may not work for everyone, but it can be adapted to different sites.
Sourcing Food Scraps
To source food scraps for their chicken composting operation, the speaker suggests contacting local restaurants, catering companies, colleges, or schools that serve decent quality ingredients. In their case, they live near Ithaca, New York, where there are many restaurants interested in composting. The speaker approached a catering company, and after a year of waiting, they developed a routine where they go to the site twice a week to collect five-gallon buckets filled with leftovers from kit prep and catering jobs.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of establishing a good relationship with the food scrap source by being reliable, washing the buckets, and communicating thoroughly. They believe that if they had two or three restaurants lined up, they could probably feed their chickens without any other supplements beyond food scraps.
The speaker is concerned about the quality of ingredients and avoids coffee grinds and junky cheap GMO-laden or CAFO meat type of food. However, they are not worried about finding lemon rinds and onion peels in the food scraps since the chickens are smart enough to avoid them.
Apart from food scraps, the speaker also uses organic grain milling waste material from a local farm. They trade for installing gardens and bringing produce and eggs. The material soaked in a bucket for a day or two sprouts, adding extra carbohydrate and nutrients to the chickens’ diet.
The speaker also highlights the importance of woody biomass or carbon biomass, which can be completely free depending on where you live. They collect as many leaves and woodchips as they can, which not only helps with the composting process but also provides a high-value food source for the chickens. The speaker suggests talking to local arborists, tree care people, or highway departments to dump chips at your site.
Overall, the speaker’s system seems functional enough after four and a half years, and they believe it can be adapted to other sites.
Quality of Ingredients
The speaker in the video explains that they source food scraps from nearby restaurants and catering companies to feed their chickens. They have established a relationship with a catering company that provides them with five-gallon buckets filled with food scraps twice a week. The food scraps include leftover food from catering jobs such as beans, rice, and noodles, and leafy greens which are great for the chickens.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of establishing a good relationship with the food source and being reliable in picking up the food scraps. They also advise contacting nearby restaurants, colleges, or schools that serve decent quality ingredients to inquire about composting their food scraps.
The speaker mentions being concerned about the quality of ingredients to some extent, and avoiding coffee grinds and junky, cheap, GMO-laden or CAFO meat type of food. They encourage seeking out organic grain and seeking out woodchips and leaves for bulking material, which can be completely free depending on where you live.
Overall, the quality of ingredients plays an important role in the chicken composting operation, and the speaker emphasizes the importance of establishing good relationships with food sources and seeking out quality ingredients.
Grain Aspects
In the video, the speaker briefly discusses the grain aspects of their chicken composting operation. They use galvanized garbage cans to store their grain, which are raised off the ground with wooden bars to prevent moisture damage. The speaker also mentions establishing a relationship with a local organic grain milling operation to obtain waste material from their milling process. This material is carbohydrate dense and organic, which is important to the speaker. They also mention soaking the grain in a bucket for a day or two to sprout it before adding it to the chickens’ diet. The speaker notes that they do occasionally purchase millet and sunflower, but they try to work as much as possible with restaurant food scraps. Additionally, the speaker emphasizes the importance of woody biomass and carbon biomass, such as woodchips and leaves, which can be obtained for free from local sources like arborists and highway departments. These materials provide bulking material for the composting process and can also be a valuable food source for the chickens.
Avoiding Quality Concerns
The speaker in the video emphasizes the importance of sourcing quality food scraps for the chickens. While they are not worried about finding lemon rinds or onion peels in the scraps, they do try to avoid certain materials like coffee grinds which do not mix well with the compost. The speaker also mentions that they try to avoid scraps from businesses that sell low-quality ingredients, as they are concerned about the quality of their chickens’ eggs and meat.
In addition to sourcing quality food scraps, the speaker also mentions the importance of using bulking material like woodchips and leaves. These materials not only help with the composting process but also provide a valuable source of food for the chickens. The speaker recommends reaching out to local arborists or tree care services to obtain woodchips, as well as collecting leaves that are often discarded in the fall.
Overall, the speaker stresses the importance of establishing reliable relationships with local businesses to obtain food scraps, as well as being mindful of the quality of those scraps. By using high-quality scraps and bulking materials, the speaker has been able to successfully operate their chicken composting operation for over four years.
Storage of Food Scraps
The speaker in the video shared their chicken composting operation and how they source food scraps from nearby restaurants. They mentioned that they live near Ithaca, New York, and there are many restaurants in the area that are interested in composting and being environmentally friendly. The speaker approached a catering company directly and asked if they could have access to their food scraps. The catering company agreed, and now the speaker goes to the site twice a week to collect five-gallon buckets filled with the company’s leftovers from kit prep and catering jobs. The speaker emphasized the importance of building and maintaining a good relationship with the catering company to preserve this resource.
The speaker also mentioned the importance of avoiding certain types of food scraps, such as coffee grinds, and seeking out high-quality ingredients. They noted that they try to avoid junky, cheap, GMO-laden, or CAFO meat type of food because they are concerned about the quality of the ingredients that their chickens consume.
In addition to food scraps, the speaker discussed the importance of woody biomass or carbon biomass as bulking material for composting. They suggested that woodchips and leaves can be completely free depending on where you live, and they can be the highest value food you can give to your chickens. The speaker recommended talking to local arborists, tree care people, or Highway Department to ask if they can dump chips at your site. They also mentioned that they use their truck to load up with woodchips if they are going downtown and have an empty truck.
Finally, the speaker talked about storing grain for their chickens. They use galvanized garbage cans with wooden bars on the ground underneath them to keep them off the ground and prevent them from getting wet. They also trade for organic grain waste material from a local organic grain milling operation. This material is carbohydrate dense and can be soaked in a bucket for a day or two to sprout and add extra carbohydrate and nutrient to their system.
Trade Relationships
The chicken composting operation of the channel has been a topic of interest for many viewers. One of the questions that has been asked frequently is how they source food scraps from restaurants and whether they are concerned about the quality. The channel owner explains that they live near Ithaca, New York, where there are many restaurants interested in composting. They simply approached them and asked if they could have access to their food scraps. They were able to establish a routine and get five-gallon buckets filled with leftovers from kit prep and catering jobs twice a week. They communicate thoroughly with the catering company to preserve their relationship.
The channel owner emphasizes that it is possible to get food scraps wherever you live. If there is a restaurant nearby, a catering company, or a college or school that serves decent quality ingredients, one can contact them and ask if they can compost their food scraps. They suggest making it simple for them by picking up the scraps and leaving the buckets with lids.
The quality of the ingredients is a concern for the channel owner, but they are not worried if there are lemon rinds and onion peels in the scraps. The chickens are smart enough to avoid them. However, they try to avoid coffee grinds and junky cheap GMO-laden or CAFO meat type of food.
In addition to food scraps, the channel owner also discusses the grain aspects of their operation. They use galvanized garbage cans with wooden bars underneath to keep them off the ground. They have established a relationship with a local organic grain milling operation and trade for installing gardens and bringing them produce and eggs. They also soak the waste material in a bucket for a day or two to sprout and add it to their system.
Finally, the channel owner highlights the importance of woody biomass or carbon biomass. They collect as many leaves as they can and talk to local arborists or tree care people to dump woodchips at their site. They also use their truck to load up with woodchips periodically. They suggest that piles of woodchips and leaves left for a few weeks or a month start having pill bugs and earthworms and millipedes, which may be the highest value food for chickens.
Importance of Woody Biomass
Woody biomass and carbon biomass are essential resources for chicken composting operations. These resources are often free and can be obtained from local arborists, tree care companies, highway departments, and even from bags of leaves left on the curb during fall.
The bulking material, such as woodchips and leaves, helps with the composting process, and provides air and bulking material to the compost. These piles of woodchips and leaves left for a few weeks or a month start having pill bugs, earthworms, and millipedes, which can be the highest value food for chickens.
Furthermore, these resources can be used to create big warm compost piles that chickens don’t have access to for a few weeks, and then they can be let in to kick them apart. This provides a nutritious and valuable food source for the chickens.
Overall, obtaining woody biomass and carbon biomass is an important aspect of a successful chicken composting operation. It is a cost-effective way to provide nutritious food for chickens while also reducing waste.
Sourcing Woody Biomass
The speaker in the video shared their chicken composting operation and how they source food scraps from restaurants. They mentioned that they live near a city with many restaurants and catering companies, which makes it relatively easy to approach them and ask for food scraps. They emphasized the importance of establishing a reliable relationship with the restaurant or catering company, communicating thoroughly, and returning the buckets on time.
Aside from food scraps, the speaker also talked about the importance of woody biomass or carbon biomass for their composting operation. They highlighted the value of woodchips and leaves as bulking material and a source of soil life. They suggested that people can collect bags of leaves put out on the curb during fall or talk to local arborists and tree care people for woodchips. In addition, they mentioned that they use their truck to load up with woodchips when going downtown with an empty truck.
The speaker also mentioned that they establish relationships with local organic grain milling operations for waste material that comes off their milling operation. This material is carbohydrate and nutrient-dense, and they soak it in a bucket for a day or two to sprout before adding it to their system.
Overall, the speaker emphasized the importance of establishing relationships with local businesses and being resourceful in sourcing food scraps and woody biomass. They suggested that people can call nearby restaurants, catering companies, schools, or colleges and ask for food scraps. They also encouraged people to seek out organic grain and talk to local arborists and tree care people for woodchips.
Additional Food Scrap Sources
The speaker in the video explains how they source food scraps for their chicken composting operation. They primarily get their food scraps from local restaurants and catering companies. They approach these businesses directly and ask if they can have access to their food scraps. They have established a routine with one catering company where they pick up five-gallon buckets filled with food scraps twice a week.
The food scraps they receive include leftovers from catering jobs and kit prep. Some of the food scraps they receive are particularly good for the chickens, such as beans and rice and leafy greens. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the businesses they receive food scraps from.
In addition to restaurant and catering companies, the speaker also mentions organic grain milling operations as a potential source of food scraps. They have established a relationship with a local organic grain milling operation and trade for waste material that comes off of their milling operation.
The speaker also emphasizes the importance of woody biomass or carbon biomass as a key ingredient in their composting operation. They collect woodchips and leaves from local sources, such as arborists and tree care companies, and use them as bulking material in their compost piles. They note that these piles can be a valuable source of food for chickens once they have had time to break down and attract soil life.