Dried Manure vs not dried?

[Mini Lop Fan]

Hi everyone! I am starting to sell my rabbit manure and wondered what the difference between dried verses non-dried? How do you dry it? Is it just sun dried? Also, how much more do you charge for dried?

Sorry for all these Qs! I am not much of a garden person myself and I really don't know the differences.

Thanks!

 

[ladysown]

dried is letting the urine drain away.
and packing it away when it is less wet.

 

[HighPockets]

Hi everyone! I am starting to sell my rabbit manure and wondered what the difference between dried verses non-dried? How do you dry it? Is it just sun dried? Also, how much more do you charge for dried?

Sorry for all these Qs! I am not much of a garden person myself and I really don't know the differences.

Thanks!

Im doing the same any info you get would be appreciated

 

[Zee-Man]

Dried vs wet in terms of gardening makes little difference (more later). Dried will store easier for you the seller and may be more attractive to a buyer since it will less smell and not mold while waiting to be used. Dry it on a screen with a clear plastic tent for the speediest time (aside from using your dehydrator - ick!) Air circulation plus heat.

In gardening I use it in a third form, liquid. I put it to soak in a 5 qal bucket for a couple days, then whiz it up with a paint mixer. The resultant liquor is easy to feed plants. Faster results than working it into the soil and waiting for the rain to disperse it. For marketing, imagine selling milk jugs full of rabbit berry liquor. Having a qualitative difference I would market the liquor 2 to 3 times that of the the same volume of manure. That would result in better ROI since only 25% is needed to make a good liquor.

Personally, I can't get a surplus of rabbit manure. If I remember this thread I'll post pictures of my manure collector once I install it.

 

[HighPockets]

Dried vs wet in terms of gardening makes little difference (more later). Dried will store easier for you the seller and may be more attractive to a buyer since it will less smell and not mold while waiting to be used. Dry it on a screen with a clear plastic tent for the speediest time (aside from using your dehydrator - ick!) Air circulation plus heat.

In gardening I use it in a third form, liquid. I put it to soak in a 5 qal bucket for a couple days, then whiz it up with a paint mixer. The resultant liquor is easy to feed plants. Faster results than working it into the soil and waiting for the rain to disperse it. For marketing, imagine selling milk jugs full of rabbit berry liquor. Having a qualitative difference I would market the liquor 2 to 3 times that of the the same volume of manure. That would result in better ROI since only 25% is needed to make a good liquor.

Personally, I can't get a surplus of rabbit manure. If I remember this thread I'll post pictures of my manure collector once I install it.

Great Info!! Thanks

 

[frankiecrabs]

Thank you for the information. Could you please give an example of what you said? "Having a qualitative difference I would market the liquor 2 to 3 times that of the the same volume of manure. That would result in better ROI since only 25% is needed to make a good liquor."

Dried vs wet in terms of gardening makes little difference (more later). Dried will store easier for you the seller and may be more attractive to a buyer since it will less smell and not mold while waiting to be used. Dry it on a screen with a clear plastic tent for the speediest time (aside from using your dehydrator - ick!) Air circulation plus heat.

In gardening I use it in a third form, liquid. I put it to soak in a 5 qal bucket for a couple days, then whiz it up with a paint mixer. The resultant liquor is easy to feed plants. Faster results than working it into the soil and waiting for the rain to disperse it. For marketing, imagine selling milk jugs full of rabbit berry liquor. Having a qualitative difference I would market the liquor 2 to 3 times that of the the same volume of manure. That would result in better ROI since only 25% is needed to make a good liquor.

Personally, I can't get a surplus of rabbit manure. If I remember this thread I'll post pictures of my manure collector once I install it.

 

[Zee-Man]

The qualitative difference is the easier and speedy dispersal of the manure. You will see this in Amish country (if not smell it!) then they clean the barns out they liquefy the manure and then spread it onto the fields. I fill a 5 gal bucket about 25% full and fill the rest of it with water. Let it sit about an hour to hydrate well, then spin it up with a paint mixer.

One can just mix rabbit manure directly into bedding soil and wait for multiple rains to do the same thing. But liquefaction makes it more readily available for fresh plantings. It also makes it available for established planting since tilling would disturb the layer of roots close to the surface. Since those are the roots that collect most of the water, they also will get the manure nutrients.

 

[Zee-Man]

This is pretty simple to use. Urine goes straight through, berries roll on the 1/4" screen to the bucket. They are already pretty dry, so no extra effort is really needed.



PS, If you are into alternative energy, the urine could also be collected for electrolysis production of hydrogen gas. The spent fluid is then super rich in nitrogen for the garden!

 

[hotzcatz]

What would you use the hydrogen gas for? The stuff is pretty explosive, isn't it? The Hindenberg comes to mind ....

The liquid fertilizer is a brilliant idea! Adding water would make a much larger volume of fertilizer to sell. Wonder if it could be sold to folks who brought their own jugs? Although, it'd probably need stirring before dispensing and folks would have to remember to bring a jug. Hmm.

I'd guess the easy way to sell bunny berries is to scoop the dried and semi-composted ones out from under the hutches and put them in old feed bags? Not sure if that's quite elegant enough to get top dollar, though.

 

[witsendfarm]

We use a wheelbarrow and place a large sheet of hardware cloth over the top. We shovel and sift to remove as much of the hay as possible. We then allow the straight manure to dry in the sun in "compost heap" for a few weeks. Then, we just shovel the drier manure into bags or buckets. Whichever we're using at the time for whatever buyers we're gathering for. We charge roughly 20-25 for a 3/4 full 50lb feed bag. They sell like hotcakes to all of the local gardening clubs. We have done pre-made grow buckets before as well. We buy the pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs and fill them full of manure fully packed. Include a small seed packet and an instruction page that basically reads... fill with 2 large pitchers of water to wet manure then add seeds. Premade and ready to go garden veggie planters. They sell at the local farmers market for 12-15 and we always sold out.

 

[Zee-Man]

Hypothetically you could use hydrogen gas for anything you would use methane or propane for. The trick with hydrogen is containing it. Since the molecule is literally one atom it gets through seals that would hold other gasses. Hence, for long periods of time it is stored within a solid. I couldn't say for any veracity, but I would think stored in a bottle like LP it would be usable for some shorter period. Stored with no oxygen in the mix it is not terribly explosive, like most flammable gasses.

Now, what nozzle and air aperture you would use to convert an appliance to burn hydrogen I have no idea. But, this was only a flight of fancy to inspire someone who might like to experiment. Since urea electrolysis happens with much greater efficiency than water and hydrogen yields so much energy you get a net increase.