Rabbit Fertilizer (free) - your expert opinion please

[Louise Woodford]

I have heaps of rabbit manure (mixed with woodchip and some hay) all year round (I run a large rabbit hotel). Would this be of interest to local gardeners / fruit & veg growers? I hear its the best cold fertilizer, doesn't need to rot etc. At the moment I just throw it all away which is a shame if its useful to people. I grow my own herbs, fruit and veg but no where near enough to make use of the tonnes of manure I have! Any opinions would be very much appreciated. Thank you, Louise

[Scarlet]

I always composted rabbit manure! You could put an ad in your local free ads to get rid of it. I'm sure someone would bag it up and take it away for you

[Louise Woodford]

I will try that Scarlet. I have it bagged up on my driveway - a few ton of the stuff! Thanks for your advice.

[polc1410]

Start by adding your location to your profile so that people know where you are.

If you happened to be in Durham I might be interested as I'm about to start a hotbox off and will be looking for some nice fresh poo to get things heating up...

[Louise Woodford]

I've done that now. I'm not in Durham unfortunately, I'm in Brentwood, Essex. I hear that rabbit poo is "cold" though so won't heat up and can therefore go straight on plants without burning them. I'm still learning but this it what I've learned so far. Thanks for your post.

[scarey55]

Hello Louise, and welcome to the Vine. Just to let you know, I have deleted your other post in introduce yourself board because it can get confusing with people answering in two places.

I have used rabbit poo in my compost bin too but I haven't tried putting it directly on the garden.

[Mikey]

Hi Louise and welcome, I'm not sure about others but I'd probably avoid it myself. The poo and the woodchip is fine, but I wouldn't want the hay as it would be adding seeds to the soil if used direct. Its perfectly good fertiliser for the compost bin though.

[Nicos]

We compost our bunny poo mainly because it is mixed in with shavings.

[roitelet]

Mine are kept on straw. When I clean them out the top dry straw is salvaged, the next layer is used as mulch and the wet soggy stuff goes on the compost heap

[Tripmeup]

My rabbit tends to do her business on one side of the hutch with no straw, so when we are moving the hutch (it's on grass), I gather the droppings and apply them directly to beds (mainly my onions- which seem to love it)

[alldigging]

I'd be round if it was closer!

Are there are community composters near you?

[The Cobra]

Does Straw compost down well? My rabbit has more straw than hay in his hutch, and when I clean it out I always think of bagging up the straw to compost, but am never sure if it would work?

[roitelet]

Yes the straw does compost as will all things vegetable. You just need to make sure it is wet and not too thick a layer or it acts as a thatch and stops the water penetrating the lower layers. My heaps get turned once and after that there is no sign of straw. The dry stuff, if you have a lot, can go straight on the garden as a mulch.

[Louise Woodford]

That's interesting, thank you. I can easily separate the chip from the hay so that could still work fine. I appreciate everyone's opinion.

[Louise Woodford]

I'd be round if it was closer!

Are there are community composters near you?

Not that I can find unfortunately. However now I know it is of interest to people I will certainly start asking around.