FREE Rabbit Manure! SCORE

A local 4H family brought me 7 garbage bags (about 1/2 full each because of the weight) of rabbit manure!! WOW! some is old, some is new as it was just sitting under their cages. Should I just spread it over my existing garden since it's already planted? Add to my compost pile? It has some shavings (not much, mostly straight manure). Pepper, if you're out there, I know you used it a while back and had AWESOME results. How did you do yours? These people also raise chickens, turkeys and a cow too Maybe I can get some of that too??? Blessed ME!!

 and I'm very jealous.

btw.... where is pepper????? Have not seen a post from him in a while and he has the coolest garden in my parts.

I know...where are you Pepper? I sent him a PM to see if he's around

Ive been adding ours straight to the garden with no shavings.  

An old trick to separate the manure from the shavings, place a piece of plywood or cardboard at about a 45 degree angle and pour the manure and shavings on the board.  Manure rolls downhill     
leaving the shavings, hay, or straw behind.

RoOsTeR wrote:Ive been adding ours straight to the garden with no shavings.  

An old trick to separate the manure from the shavings, place a piece of plywood or cardboard at about a 45 degree angle and pour the manure and shavings on the board.  Manure rolls downhill     
leaving the shavings, hay, or straw behind.

thank you Rooster. I have a feeling these are kind of old and "clumpy" if that makes sense? I'll open the bags later and investigate. I just saw the manure when it was under the cages. They had about 5 cages and the piles were fairly deep. They're sitting in black bags in the hot sun right now! i can't lift them, so waiting for hubby...I know he'll be thrilled haha!!

What a SCORE!!!

Jealous GG!

southern gardener wrote:

RoOsTeR wrote:Ive been adding ours straight to the garden with no shavings.  

An old trick to separate the manure from the shavings, place a piece of plywood or cardboard at about a 45 degree angle and pour the manure and shavings on the board.  Manure rolls downhill     
leaving the shavings, hay, or straw behind.

thank you Rooster. I have a feeling these are kind of old and "clumpy" if that makes sense? I'll open the bags later and investigate. I just saw the manure when it was under the cages. They had about 5 cages and the piles were fairly deep. They're sitting in black bags in the hot sun right now! i can't lift them, so waiting for hubby...I know he'll be thrilled haha!!

It does make sense   If the poop is mixed with shavings that makes it to difficult to separate, I would just add the bags to your compost piles. I would try to avoid adding shavings to your beds if possible.
I would separate what you can if it doesn't require a bunch of effort. Rabbit manure is good stuff!

Congratulations you hit the motherload. 

I would defer to RoOsTeR's  suggestion to separate. The stuff I got did not have 'bedding' mixed in. I did find a few clumps of straw which with the amount of poop I had I just tilled it in. Yea I know I just broke 2 conventions but I was reconditioning wrongly made beds as they were originally mixed.

As to my lack of postings: have some "issues" around here not the least was depression from all the rain that ruined most all my 'maters. The PM eat my sack lunch, my 'taters and 'maters got the blight. The beans did real good this year but are now playing out.  The biggest trouble was a renovation inside the house took up more time than expected.....LONG story.  

welp...glad you're back pepper!! did you just lay the manure over your garden? till it in? add to compost? I remember your pics!!

Good to see a post from you pepper and thanks for giving him a wake up poke sg  

I really need to get on the stick and round me up some rabbit manure. I know there is plenty around me, just need to finish up some other things I am already in the middle of first.

SG the manure I got was from a commercial breeder it was not recognizable as pellets.  I screened each bed then added about 3 wheel barrow loads(not heaping full). Remember I have 12 inch deep beds. Then tilled it in when the beds were about 3/4 full then added the remainder of the mix and tilled again.

Pepper wrote:SG the manure I got was from a commercial breeder it was not recognizable as pellets.  I screened each bed then added about 3 wheel barrow loads(not heaping full). Remember I have 12 inch deep beds. Then tilled it in when the beds were about 3/4 full then added the remainder of the mix and tilled again.

When you say you screen each bed, you mean the MM? Was the 3 wheel barrow loads for all of your beds? I'm guessing not 3 wheel barrow loads per bed? How many beds do you have? Sorry so many questions!!

I have 6 ea. beds that are 4 ft. by 8 ft. by 12 in. deep( that is 32 cubic feet, each shrank/compressed about 1/3). When I screened it was through a 1/4 by 1/4 in hardware cloth 'screen'; and yes the MM is what I screened. I only had one bed that was pure MM the other three were the store bought "Natures Mix" (crap) that was loaded down with pine bark. It had settled a lot over the first year, the rabbit poo was to amend it's quality to approaching MM after removing the bark.
I finished filling my MM bed with the poo; tilling also; when 'fluffed' it was to the top.
I then Made two new beds using the poo as a component of the MM. 

I really had high hopes this year till the rains came and came and kept coming. I never had a dry time to ward of the critters and PM. The majority of the maters split open before getting tennis ball size; they were the softball sized plants. My cherry maters even split before ripening. The pole beans did 'ok' but not as well as I expected the leaf hoppers got a hold two separate times during the rain season so...

Squash and 'cukes busted due to PM and pickle worm/SVB. We may have got 6 squash and that many cukes. I had issues with lack of pollinators this whole season.  Incomplete fertilization killed most starts and most of the cukes were dwarfed and not filled out.

here is my screen



I don't mind the questions SG that is how we learn. The only bad question is the one you had but did NOT ask!

thank you Pepper. BOY, you've had a rough season, I'm sorry   Hope stuff dries out for you, and you can get something going soon.

We have had terrible PM too. It's even spread to some of the beans. My non SFG seems to be doing well overall, and very little PM, so I don't know why?? We will get to the rabbit manure soon, and see what we have. It sounds like such good stuff!! I was looking at how much NPK etc it has compared to other manures, it's crazy! HOWEVER, nothing is growing as well as my "pig manure" garden! LOL. Thank you again for all your help!

Pepper,  Nifty looking screen set-up.

thanks sanderson I have used it plenty.  I looked for the thread I did on how to make but can't find it. The inner screen is 1/4 in. (the one standing up) it 'nests' in the one on the frame which is 1/2 in..

Plantoid calls rabbit poo supped up rocket fuel:lol:   

I have to find the time to post my potato harvest bust. The pine straw did not help as a "hilling" agent.

Pepper, I remember your photos but I can't find the topic. In fact, I had my husband build a girl-sized one using your design.

Pepper and Sanderson, here you go How big a screen for sifting compost

THANK YOU TxGramma

       

Pepper wrote:
I have to find the time to post my potato harvest bust. The pine straw did not help as a "hilling" agent.

 
When you post your harvest bust, I will chime in with mine.

Your Welcome Pepper!