Guinea Pig Waste as Compost

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Aug 11, 2021 2:07 am


As many of you know, I bought a mini farm in Southern Missouri. I have a 4.5 acre pasture and a lot of ideas on what to do with it. I generate a lot of guinea pig waste. Since I use fleece bedding on 5 of the 6 cages, there's mostly the uneaten hay and lots of droppings. I was thinking about composting it on the pasture and using the resulting compost as fertilizer for the greehouses. There's also lots of other food scraps and other organic waste we generate that all had to be thrown in the trash when we lived in the city which we're going to compost, but I don't know about the guinea pig's waste. Do any of you know?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Aug 11, 2021 9:09 am


Poop is poop is poop. I'd use it for fertilizer.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Aug 11, 2021 10:11 am


Absolutely! I am guessing it could actually be even put directly in the area you wanted to use it in (though you may want to set up some kind of composting system). Not stinky, great for the soil.

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mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Wed Aug 11, 2021 11:35 am


It's great! Lots of nitrogen. Like manure from a herd of 1kg/2 lb horses.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Aug 11, 2021 11:25 pm


I thought so. The manure from pretty much any animal that eats primarily hay and grasses should make good compost.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Fri Aug 13, 2021 11:31 pm


I use fleece as well and I was shaking out the bedding in my flower beds over the winter months. I only have one guinea pig, but I figured the flowers could use some nutrients.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sat Aug 14, 2021 8:06 am


The one thing I learned about shaking out fleece is to do it very carefully! Fleece seems to hold an amazing amount of pee.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sat Aug 14, 2021 4:22 pm


I generate a lot of guinea pig waste. I'm not going to be able to compost all of it but I can do about half. Doing that will reduce the amount of garbage that needs to be picked up every week.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sat Aug 14, 2021 9:20 pm


I think you could actually just find a place to dump it and let it decompose on its own. I have a giant pile of wood chips from a neighbor. Over the years I have just left wood chips decompose. And leaves. It doesn't have to be scientific.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Sun Aug 15, 2021 12:41 am


I agree with both of your posts, Lynx. I take the fleece to the back part of the yard and just get the hay and waste out and leave it in a pile with the rest of the yard waste. Then I go to the corner of the house. I stand on one side of the house and hold the fleece around the corner on the other side and give it a good shake. Shaking out fleece is a dangerous task.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:34 am


I remember when I first learned of the danger!

I learned well!!!

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Aug 18, 2021 2:51 pm


I have a nice spot where I've already started a guinea pig compost pile. I also have a composter for household food waste.

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