Question about discovered manure

Hardcoir 2/27/2013, 10:39 pm

By happenstance, a rabbit has used the bare spot where we will soon plant one of our new 4x4 squares as its litter box. There must be 50 little pellets of rabbit droppings there.

Can I shovel these fecal pellets up and toss them in my compost, or is this not advisable? I remember reading somewhere that rabbit feces has the highest nitrogen content of any mammal.

plantoid 2/28/2013, 5:12 am

YUP! use it.

You might think of moving your bed a bit, for there will be more than one rabbit .

In the wild they have a tendency to make a Midden ( central toilet place ) , if you cover it with earth they just go ahead and dig it back out till they find the scent as they like it , then carry on a pooping and peeing like there was no tomorrow.

Unless you cage the bed to keep them out or they will wreck it PDQ.

Coelli 2/28/2013, 12:43 pm

plantoid is absolutely right - where there's one rabbit, there are more, and they will be back. You'll need to protect your garden somehow (we use an 18" plastic hardware cloth fence and 2 strands of electric fence wire). Good luck!

P.S. I compost our guinea pig's dirty bedding, and a co-worker sometimes brings me his rabbit's bedding too. Smile

Hardcoir 2/28/2013, 2:18 pm

Thanks for the information. I shoveled up the pellets and tossed them on the compost.

You gave me a wonderful idea. Since the rabbits enter our yard through the woods and my compost pile is at the end of the yard adjacent to the woods, I am going to try to lure them to use the compost for their litter box. Will they eat alfalfa food sold for pet rabbits? If I scatter some alfalfa around the perimeter of the compost pile, will the odor of the fecal pellets already in the pile lure them to poop and pee on my pile once their bellies are full?

As for the soon to be filled new 4x4 square, once Spring arrives, it will be surrounded by rose bush cuttings. I have discovered they will not cross over these to get to my greens. Squirrels and chipmunks stay away too.

CapeCoddess 2/28/2013, 3:10 pm

Hardcoir wrote:
As for the soon to be filled new 4x4 square, once Spring arrives, it will be surrounded by rose bush cuttings. I have discovered they will not cross over these to get to my greens. Squirrels and chipmunks stay away too.

I have rabbits in my perennial beds. What do you mean by rose bush cuttings? Like branches cut from a bush and stuck into the ground? Shocked

CC

plantoid 2/28/2013, 5:18 pm

Most animals will not readily eat food from off the area that has their fresh/ fairly fresh excrement in it , so that idea might be a lead ballon in that respect .

FamilyGardening 2/28/2013, 7:45 pm

we dont have rabbits ...yet...but from what i have read....if we wanted to litter train our rabbits they suggest putting in grass hay into the container as they will eat and poop at the same time... Shocked

....so i say give it a try Laughing

happy gardening
rose

webbee 3/1/2013, 2:56 am

Hardcoir wrote:Will they eat alfalfa food sold for pet rabbits? If I scatter some alfalfa around the perimeter of the compost pile, ...

I've never used the pellets but alfalfa meal is the best additive for the compost pile (heats the pile) or the soil. Worms love it as does the micro-herd. Grows nice lush grass or vegetables if used as fertilizer.

I'm not into rabbit wrangling so I don't know if you can train a wild rabbit to litter box in the compost pile. Good idea though, if you can make it work.

Hardcoir 3/1/2013, 7:22 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:
Hardcoir wrote:
As for the soon to be filled new 4x4 square, once Spring arrives, it will be surrounded by rose bush cuttings. I have discovered they will not cross over these to get to my greens. Squirrels and chipmunks stay away too.

I have rabbits in my perennial beds. What do you mean by rose bush cuttings? Like branches cut from a bush and stuck into the ground?

CC

By rose bush cuttings, I refer to the wood that is pruned. We simply rest the cuttings adjacent to our vegetables, and the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks quickly decide not to walk on the thorns. Of course, if you wear soft shoes like Crocs or Nothinz, a strong thorn could make your day a little miserable. Also, you have to make sure not to set your hand on them to balance around the garden.

As for the other comments, I am going to buy some alfalfa rabbit food and use it in the compost. I also heard from an e-mail to use some Azomite in the compost, and it will supercharge the compost with micronutrients. I will continue to search for the fecal pellets, but I did not see any today.

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