I always have had rabbits as pets and finally I have decided to use the poop as fertilizer. In response to Abe regarding slaughtering crying rabbits. All animals cry when they are slaughtered in a manner that is drawn out made obvious roughly handled like being tied up and almost put into a ritual process that I find is absolutely satanic. The animal should never see or hear another animal being slaughtered even if it is a different species. I have never slaughtered an animal but if anyone plans on slaughtering rabbits please take this into consideration. If the Rabbit is crying scared and fighting at the final moments prior to its life being terminated then the process was a complete failure. I have no proof on this but it is my belief that the meat will not be as good as it could of been because of the rush of negative axiety which releases an adrenaline type hormone chemical through out the rabbits whole body then it is killed before the hormone breaks down or gets flushed out naturally. The best way to kill a Rabbit and its very simple know what your doing, have a solid plan make sure your device or method use is sharp and ready continue to use your superior human intelligence through out the process. The element of surprise tends to work best for small animals like Rabbits. I learned this when I had to give one of my rabbits medicine. Animals tend to be very smart through and we as humans tend to be very stupid. The moment we walk into the room our actions and movements are off and most animals pick up on this immediately. Don't walk into the room with the damn butcher knife like Michael Myers or the other serial horror killer. Next if you cover there eyes or roll them up in a towel. I personally do not believe you have to hold them upside down while you do it. Ok please No crying animals at slaughter. It drives me crazy because its not necessary as we Humans have the highest intelligence and abilities sadly most don't use common sense anymore.; d

The nitrogen content won't be that high if it has been setting out in the rain in an area with high rainfall. If you live in a dry climate then perhaps N could be too high. The only N in compost that is readily avaliable, and therefore could burn, is highly water soluable. With rain that will be leached out as it forms. The Fruitnut

I am also interested in the use of compost-generated heat in the coop. Chickens will tolerate a very low temperature in their coop but I am primarily interested in keeping the nest area warm enough that eggs won't freeze while I am away all day during our Maine winters. I'm building a technologically simple system of circulating a fluid through coiled tubing in the compost pile and then to a short section of baseboard heat under the nest boxes. The compost pile will be outside the coop and will be much larger than the one you envision. Inside, I would be very concerned with the amount of ammonia that you might be introducing into the hen house through active composting of their wastes within the coop. Health warnings for ammonia levels are human related. Animals are much more susceptable to the effects of ammonia then are humans and though you might not notice the odor, or get used to it rather quickly, animals can begin to show adverse reactions after a couple of weeks of exposure. Rabbits are particularly sensitive to levels undetectable by the human nose. Chickens will suffer with weeks at levels half that which humans can easliy acclimatize themselves to. A study looked at the effects of ammonia at varying levels on chickens and other animals. It found chickens to be at risk for pulmonary edema, congestion, and hemorrhage depending on the levels of ammonia exposure and duration. (All levels were within the safe zone for human exposure.) Chickens exposed to high levels (but still within levels safe for humans) were also found to be increasingly susceptible to Newcastles Disease. I'd suggest you try to find a way of filtering the ammonia emmissions from your compost while still retaining the heat. (I included a link to a study since there will invariable be someone who will tell you that their coop stinks to high heaven and their chickens are fine.) Wayne Here is a link that might be useful: For those who like research citations....

We have chickens for the first time too, so we've wondered the same thing. Our bedding is fresh sawdust/wood chips/shavings, which in our climate bind up nitrogen in the soil for a long time. So we're putting the poop/bedding mixture in the leaf bin, to help speed up the leaf breakdown, and will throw some on the ground around shrubs once the soil is frozen. If it were poop alone, or mixed with a less stubborn carbon source like straw, I'd use melonhedd's idea - covered with mulch and given a couple of months for the soil organisms to work it, it should make a great fertilizer.