chickens and compost pile

Can someone tell me if I should be happy my neighbors chickens are in my compost pile every day? They are turning it for me and adding chicken poo but they are eating all my big, fat, happy worms too. Do the two positives (3 actually with all the other bugs they are eating over here) outweigh the one negative of eating my worms?

I think that if the goal of the compost pile is to get 'hot' the chickens may be slowing down that process. I think maybe covering it to keep them out for a few days might be a good idea. Then let them in once a week?

Hi Gardenza. Thanks for the response.
I didn't even think about that aspect. I think they are slowly working their way towards the middle of it and this one hasn't been turned in a couple of months and it's huge. It's kind of my "long term" one and I only focus on turning the one that is horse manure and leaves in an area that will be a bed that I was hoping to have ready this fall. They get in that one too but not as much as the big one.

My chickens get into my big pile all the time and I think like they are at the movies and are having fun. Give the chickens names and enjoy their pleasure of watching and following you through the garden. I can't see them getting enough worms to hurt the millions the pile is creating.

Thanks Soferdig. They've now also discovered my new garden bed which has compost layered on top of it and are scattering it all over my lawn every day and exposing the roots of my plants I just planted. I was going to post this to the chicken forum and see if they had any hints on keeping them out of my beds but since I already have this thread going I may as well ask here. Any hints on keeping them out of my beds?

popcorn.

um, can you explain?

Popcorn: "My chickens get into my big pile all the time and I think like they are at the movies and are having fun"...

This message was edited May 2, 2009 8:26 AM

Hey DD,
No idea about what you can do to save your plants. I had the same problem when I had chickens too. Have you tried the chicken forum yet?
Good luck

Roast chicken, chicken pot pie, chicken salad, chicken gravy, chicken wings and on and on. So what's the big problem. Eat 'em'. Bring them back late summer through winter when they are likely to hurt nothing.

This is also my problem. One, chickens love recently excavated soil and must dig and eat their popcorn and JuJu beans. So I when I plant I pack the soil tightly around the plant and over cover a little. Then I have removed my deep mulch and chipped it up small and made it thin. I am assuming that they will quickly get to the movie's plot and settle in, so they travel with out digging excessivly. I have the compost pile, waiting to cook, moist and easily accessable with lots of nitrogen added to attract worms to the surface. I think if I can feed the girls good movies (in the compost) they won't need to watch the ones in my beds. They rarely dig in areas that are dry and prefer the moist areas so I provide that to them in the compost. (Worms love the moist) And lastly I have limited them to only 3 to 5 hours a day in the garden. You don't have that choice. My girls are so bad that they have learned when I take a shovel to anywhere they run to me and follow to allow a snack of "Bon Bons".

Doc, you sound like my 8 year old daughter! "chicken in a pot mom!". I can't kill my neighbor's chickens and remain on good terms :-) They've offered to lock them up, but I don't mind them being down here eating all the ticks and other nasties.
I haven't posted to the chicken forum yet but I will. It sounded like many people here had experience so I figured I'd ask since I had the thread open already.
My husband asked why don't I just put tomato cages around my plants until they are established so they stop digging them up. For a nongardener, he's a genius sometimes.