The time a rogue squirrel taught me a better way to clean the coop

I spent months scooping out wet bedding with a pitchfork every weekend, and it took forever. Then this crazy squirrel kept stealing bits of straw from my compost pile, and I noticed the pile was breaking down way faster. So I tried tossing the dirty bedding straight into a separate bin with some grass clippings and letting it sit for 3 weeks. Now I just swap out the bin once a month and the compost is ready by spring. Has anyone else had random animal behavior accidentally fix a chore for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_hayes711d ago

I read something about how squirrels actually help aerate compost piles by digging through them, which is probably why that one was breaking down so fast. My neighbor had a similar thing happen with raccoons getting into her chicken feed storage, and she ended up switching to metal bins that keep them out but also keep the feed drier. I guess sometimes animals know what they're doing even if we don't. That three week bin swap sounds way easier than what you were doing before, maybe I should try that with my own coop this fall.

taylor.paige1d ago

Toss some leaves in that bin too and it'll break down even faster with zero effort.