Dog Poo Composting

[Willem]

Picking up the poo in bags and throwing the bags in the garbage bin was just a mess and very smelly, hence I started with a dog poo composter. We already have a normal compost bin and one of these worm farms - works well for all the kitchen scraps (worm farm) and garden waste (normal compost).

For the dog poo I use one of these 60 l (?) willow bins (we have a few of them - I think we got them from Bunnings?)... didn't bother to drill holes in the bottom and / or buried it half in the ground as recommended somewhere else. I just put some old compost as a starter in it and make sure that the lid is on all the time so it can't dry out or get flooded if there is a heavy rain. I was skeptical whether the worms would thrive in this conditions, but they actually doing very well. If there is a lot of poo I just cover it with a little bit finished compost from the normal compost bin. That accelerates breaking down the poo and also contains the smell from the fresh poo - if the lid is on I can't smell any poo even if I stay beside the bin (I have a very sensitive nose); I'm surprised how good this cheap setup works.

The advantage with the willow bin is that once it's full I can move it in a corner where I leave it for a few month till everything is broken down and digested, and just start with another bin.

I'm aware that I shouldn't use the finish compost for the veggie bed due to potential health risks caused by parasites that might be still alive in the compost, but there are other places in the garden that will benefit from this manure....and no smelly garbage bin anymore ! The poo 1-2 days after the dog gets a deworming tablet still goes into the normal garbage bin to keep the worms in the dog poo composter happy and alive, but that's manageable.

Overall composting the dog poo seems to be a very good solution for smaller gardens respectively gardens that require to pick up the dog poo; if you thought about it, but concerns about potential odor and mess held you back: go for it - IMO it is actually much more hygienic than throwing poo bags in the garbage bin where they get pierced causing server odor issues.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Willem

[Rascalmyshadow]

Sounds like a good set up, we pick up the dog and chook poo and put in the green bin along with wood shavings from the chicken house and hay from the rabbits. The bin never really smells and it gets emptied fortnightly.

[Willem]

...I guess the wood shavings do the trick here and prevents the odor ...

I tried to find more 'scientific data' about the impact of deworming drugs on compost worms, but it looks like there is not much information out there; here some interesting reading: My link. I guess a lot depends on the specific deworming chemical - we started now using interceptor (milbemycin oxime and praziquantel) and after the dog was fed with the tablet I started to add the poo to the composter after discharging 3-4 poos to the normal waste bin. I couldn't recognize any negative impact on the worm activity, but the period might be too short.... might be time for some serious tests to see how the worms cope with dog poo fresh from a dewormed dog :D .

Edited October 6, 2015 by Willem

[Scottsmum]

...I guess the wood shavings do the trick here and prevents the odor ...

I tried to find more 'scientific data' about the impact of deworming drugs on compost worms, but it looks like there is not much information out there; here some interesting reading: My link. I guess a lot depends on the specific deworming chemical - we started now using interceptor (milbemycin oxime and praziquantel) and after the dog was fed with the tablet I started to add the poo to the composter after discharging 3-4 poos to the normal waste bin. I couldn't recognize any negative impact on the worm activity, but the period might be too short.... might be time for some serious tests to see how the worms cope with dog poo fresh from a dewormed dog :D .

My understanding is that earth worms and intestinal worms are very different and it would be OK but there is a chemical load you need to consider, which I imagine it would be low.

I do know, from previous work (my background is waste education) that there tends to be a trend to say "don't do ...x" because it's easier to put a blanket no on something. Give people an inch and they'll take a mile kind of attitude to waste management (and other things).

That said - I do know dog poo compost on edible plants is a genuine NO - as the compost from a home system doesn't tend to get hot enough to kill pathogens and it has a high meat content. (Yes - I realise you said you don't put it on edible plants - I'm just saying)

[sheena]

I have just bought a worm farm & in the instruction book it says

"Be careful of what you feed your worms particularly if you are unaware of the source. Manure from horses, cattle or dogs often carry vermicides intended to kill parasitic worms in the animal. These vermicides can kill all your worms in one day "

I know we have to be careful when we worm the cattle as it will also kill the dung beetles.

[Willem]

I have just bought a worm farm & in the instruction book it says

"Be careful of what you feed your worms particularly if you are unaware of the source. Manure from horses, cattle or dogs often carry vermicides intended to kill parasitic worms in the animal. These vermicides can kill all your worms in one day "

I know we have to be careful when we worm the cattle as it will also kill the dung beetles.

we have one of the round worm farms with 3 trays - only the kitchen waste goes in this one. I recall reading this warning too when we got it - not sure whether the vendors of those worm farms also warn of the negative health side effects if you ad dog / cat manure to the worm farm and would use the final compost / manure on your veggie bed?

our normal compost bin takes all the garden waste, but it is also based on worms and is not thermophilic - the grass clippings on top might cause some time a thermophilic digestion, but it won't heat up the whole compost bin to kill all the pathogens - I guess the worms will just move to lower and cooler layers and will come back when the thermophilic reaction is finished. I also read that red worms actually also reduce pathogens. Based on my 'compost experience' I can say that as long as the worms are happy and thriving there is never an odor issue - the problem really starts if something kills them....that's why it would be good to have more data about the impact of all the deworming drugs on compost worms, but all the information I found so far are more or less general warnings.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Willem

[Little Gifts]

So what do you all do with your worms? I used to get so many of them from just my normal compost that I never got a farm. We watched this show about people living off the land a while back and one couple used to catch guppies from their ponds as a protein source for their chooks and they also had this plastic bucket with holes in it that they would put road kill or leftovers from fresh meat butcherings in, which would get infested with maggots and the maggots would drop from the holey bucket, again to be fed to the chooks as a protein source. If I ever get chooks again I'm going to try those ideas.

[Willem]

So what do you all do with your worms? ....

you can't have too many... :) ....if they don't get enough food ("too many worms"), some of them die and the other feed on them..., and yes, they are good for freshwater fishing too.

[denali]

So what do you all do with your worms? I used to get so many of them from just my normal compost that I never got a farm. We watched this show about people living off the land a while back and one couple used to catch guppies from their ponds as a protein source for their chooks and they also had this plastic bucket with holes in it that they would put road kill or leftovers from fresh meat butcherings in, which would get infested with maggots and the maggots would drop from the holey bucket, again to be fed to the chooks as a protein source. If I ever get chooks again I'm going to try those ideas.

I could not do that. I hate maggots, and they always seem to accompany a stench.

Never pretty haha

[Kirislin]

So what do you all do with your worms? I used to get so many of them from just my normal compost that I never got a farm. We watched this show about people living off the land a while back and one couple used to catch guppies from their ponds as a protein source for their chooks and they also had this plastic bucket with holes in it that they would put road kill or leftovers from fresh meat butcherings in, which would get infested with maggots and the maggots would drop from the holey bucket, again to be fed to the chooks as a protein source. If I ever get chooks again I'm going to try those ideas.

That would have been one smelly and unpleasant job to fill (and empty) the road kill bucket

[Little Gifts]

I didn't think about the smell! I guess that bucket would need to be a loooooong way from the house!

[sheena]

I didn't think about the smell! I guess that bucket would need to be a loooooong way from the house!

Not to mention the flys & crows it would attract

[Two Best Dogs!]

I thought that sounded like a great trick until reminded of the smell. I don't have the stomach for long rotting meat.

But for excess worms I've been moving my compost buckets around and placing over dirt I need broken down. Ie areas with excess clay. I find moving already established compost and letting the worms go nuts breaks it down into more useable dirt instead of dry hard almost cement.

I've not been putting dog poop in there though. I usually just bury that in the yard.

[Willem]

...some updates:

3 days ago it was time for the monthly interceptor (milbemcycin oxime plus praziquantel) chew; I collected the first poos, after administering the chew, in a bucket and mixed it with some compost from the worm farm (red wigglers / tiger worms) to see how the medicine effects the worms.

The last time / chew I waited 1-2 days till putting the poo into the dedicated poo composter, however, later I found a few dead worms (which could also have been killed by heat as the poo composter was on a spot that got full afternoon sun. I moved the poo composter in the meanwhile to a better spot and the worm population recovered.

This time I wanted to make sure that there won't be any negative impacts on the worm population due to the interceptor chew. So far the results: zilch, nothing...no impact at all...all the red wigglers are thriving...?...so it seems that the praziquantel has no impact at all on the red wigglers / tiger worms (might be different for other garden worms).

I noticed that other dewormers contain - beside praziquantel - also pyrantel and oxantel embonate (e.g. Canex) so the results might not be valid for these chemicals.

I also got a bag of eucalyptus bark (Bunnings and the like) and sprinkle it - from time to time - over the 'poo layer' in the poo composter - absorbs all the potential smell and gives a better 'look' :D .

[Seita]

I have a similar system except I cut the bottom out of my bin and buried it in the garden. I just toss the poo in there and every now and then I add some soil as well. The earthworms from the garden do the rest, this system just feeds the garden (no edibles in this area) but it works pretty well.

[flame ryder]

I think what you feed your dogs would have a lot to do with it(ie the speed that it breaks down). I have found that dogs fed only dry kibble type foods their poo takes much longer to break down.

We just toss all our excess dog poo into the garden beds and hope the dung beetles take care of it...which is ok until one decides to do some weeding in a garden ones spouse just threw all the dog poop into

[alpha bet]

We have been composting dog poo in our boarding kennel for 20 years..... we have a large mound of dirt and we place the poo on the top... let it dry in the sun and then it doesn't have any smell and breaks down very quickly. Once the poo is mostly dried we just mix it into the dirt....we just keep placing the fresh poo on a different area of the mound.....Usually poo dries within a week to 10 days, depending on how sunny etc.

If you let the poo dry out before mixing into any compost it will also have little problem with worms etc.

I agree with 'flame ryder' what you feed your dogs makes a difference... our own dogs are fed raw diet their poo is smaller and dries quicker. Whereas many in the kennels come in on a mix of dry food, can food etc... there poo is often light brown, squishy and large.

We also use kitty litter that is recycled paper and can just be thrown on the compost heap and at times we add some old hay, straw or grass clippings.

We then use the compost for garden beds around the kennels where we have planted trees... sometimes just spread some extra compost around the trees and haven't found any issue with smells.

Works for us in the boarding kennel so a smaller version would also work for back yard dogs.