Does urine affect garden poo?

[Zee-Man]

I'm wondering and don't even need to know yet, but I intend to keep my buns in tractors, or at least the grow-outs. What do ya'll think about raking up the poo when I move the tractors? Will it be possible to collect it from the grass once they've eaten it down?

I think you will have trouble collecting manure from tractors. Dew and rain will likely get the pellets falling apart. But, try it and let us know what happens.

 

[user8584]

Alllll for it

I don't think urine is much of a difference at all. I've never read or heard you only want to use solids.

If you are worried about urine, compost it. All of my rabbit clean out goes into the garden. Now my garden is big and wide, so all the clean out is side dressing for my plants.
I am a freak when it comes to soil, I want it as natural as possible.
sort of like the soil in the Garden of Eden, so earth worms and rabbits are my go to source for that kind of soil.
there are lots of things I have had to UN learn, but I am only 75, so plenty of time to do it right, lord willing.
right now we are very dry, and so composting my plants very heavy to conserve moisture, with a corn stalk base from the feed lot Piling it up 6 to 8 inches around tomatoes, peppers, squash.

 

[ThunderHill]

I just don't like my rabbits living so close to their poo. It's a double decker breeder hutch, so unless I clean it out daily or even every other day, they are always very near their poo. As opposed to my growout hutch is single deck and the poo drops more 3 or more feet down from them. In the breeder hutch, it's less than a foot away from the bottom of their cages. Personally, I wouldn't want to live like that and the breeder hutch has more orders (way more) than the grow out hutch.

Thanks! So far I have also found that even with frequent dumping of the poo tray and urine bucket, the smell is much worse than the hanging cages where the waste just drops to the dirt barn floor. I generally don't smell that at all unless I am mucking it out. I appreciate your response!

 

[KelleyBee]

Thanks! So far I have also found that even with frequent dumping of the poo tray and urine bucket, the smell is much worse than the hanging cages where the waste just drops to the dirt barn floor. I generally don't smell that at all unless I am mucking it out. I appreciate your response!

This is what I am discovering, too. It was a nice idea, but not practical in execution because the only way to control the smell is thru regular thorough cleaning and I just don't have that kind of time. I cannot wait until I can dismantle it! I'm going to have to update my postings now that I am so many months in with the system.