Composting Dead Animals in Your Back Yard

[@src3360]

We composted a dead cow in college. We left it 30 days before we turned it. There were bones, and bits of skin left. The skull still had "innards" but we estimated it was over 90% composted with only the bones remaining. In just 30 days!!! It still amazes me 15 years later.

[@manjichromagnon5480]

A deer carcass was buried in fertile soil by a hedge and fully consumed within 6 months.

[@src3360]

@@manjichromagnon5480 The ability of microbes to break down everything is pretty amazing

[@Janibobs]

Educational. Human composting is the way to go for death care too. Fascinating.

[@eaglehill6]

I too lost a dog a couple of years ago and I buried her by my small spruce tree growing area. Now she is helping to grow the trees so all is not lost..

[@jenn7601]

This is so much less wasteful. I love this! I'm learning and loving it.

[@doughill2604]

composted a draft horse a few years ago. Used a tractor to drag him up on a layer of wood chips from Asplund using a piece of plywood as a ramp. then used cattle panels and t-posts to create a cage around her. then filled in the cage with a load of wood chips. worked great. occasionally a little smell easily dealt with by more chips. and I always compost all leftovers from my livestock slaughter; skins, fat, guts, bones (after cooking for stock), not to mention too numerous too count small animal mortalities. some of the bones last a while but just end up in the gardens slow release calcium..

[@phangz8394]

"let me show you how to compost properly."*pulls compost back and there's a plastic cup*LOL!

[@celestialgardener70]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who saw that.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

"we screw things up sometimes, you will too, don't sweat it."

[@DocSouzaReis]

Hello Joe! I'm from Northeastern Brazil (semi-arid climate) and I've been making compost in a similar way for oven 10 years! Almost no-rule composting! Citrus peels, dead animals, chicken feathers and guts, fish scales, bones, and whatever my chickens and ducks don't eat! I think it's a waste to compost more noble ingredients (like grass clippings, straw, hay in good condition, nitrogen fixing trees leaves, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc). All that valuable stuff goes to my chicken coop and helps me to reduce the amount of grains I need to feed the birds. Instead, the chicken coop's bedding goes to the compost pile. More fibrous and coarse materials like coconut and others palms leaves, shreded green coconut husks, shreded cardboard, dry branches, toxic plants clippings, are used in my orchard as mulching.

[@jcjenkins01]

Nice! Keep up the good work!

[@vindaloo49]

I do the same with dead possums (similar size to your racoons) but bury them deeper (2ft or 600mm) just to make sure the smell stays in and the rats stay out. It amazes me just how quickly and completely they break down. Within a couple of months, in an active compost heap, its hard to find even bones. Doing this also really heats up the heap. Another way I use dead possums is to wait a few days for them to become fly blown, then bury them in the soil about a foot down (300mm) in the chicken area. Not long after, the fly maggots make their way to the surface over a period of a week or so and the chooks really enjoy the free, healthy, nutritious, high protein feed.

[@donnagrandevaleur4215]

Do you think that would work with rats?

[@davidschmidt270]

Good idea but Donna's got a point about the rats

[@crpth1]

It work with pretty much anything you throw in there! BTW for the more weary. Time is your compost friend! If any kind of animal remains like fur, teeth or bones disturb you. Just let it seat for longer. Or dump those things into another compost pile and let it do it's thing! ;-) 2 years compost. I couldn't find absolutely nothing from one of my cats! Teeth, bones, etc. Absolutely gone! Oh! And a beautiful compost was the result.

[@fl3082]

We do something similar here for our chickens except we put the mortalities in a bucket (like he's using in the video for a toilet receptacle) with 3/8 inch holes drilled all around on the bottom, and suspended 3 or so feet off the ground (hung up in a tree) The maggots fall down through the holes to the waiting chickens. Of course, I have no neighbors to complain about the smell...

[@rockingtrucker23]

Can you use compost that was a possum? No disease?

[@eog5038]

This was especially helpful to me, because a dead raccoon appeared under my deck a couple of days ago. So, into my Jenkins-style compost bin it went! I dug through the dead leaves layer to the composting level, which was so hot it was releasing steam. I put humanure above and below the raccoon, put the old dead leaves back over it all, and added a new layer of dead leaves.

[@eog5038]

Last year I put a roadkill turtle into compost bin. I'll be interested to see how well the shell composts.

[@kkrollingskkrollings3173]

I compost a noisey nuisance of a neighbor it only took 6 weeks, i then ran the compost through the wood chipper a couple times. That compost was one of the best batches i ever made.

[@scottsmith2971]

Be wary of a mafia hit man with a compost pile.

[@bobnewhart4318]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@heavymetalsteampunks4625]

lol

[@joansmith3492]

Now this gives me something to think about. I've always buried my dead chickens and rabbits under landscape pavers. I use a "doggie septic tank" for the dog poop. My problem is I'm a lazy composter. I clean up under the chicken roost bar every day (only have 2 chickens) and throw that in the compost, I throw kitchen scares in every few days. I bury the food scrapes in the pile. I use a big hard plastic bin for the "new stuff". I add bags of leaves (picked up from neighbors on trash day) when I need them. I stir the pile from time to time with a metal fence post. I chop and drop most of my own yard waste. My main compost bin intermittently gets warm (100-130). Right now it's full of compost worms so you know it's not very hot. When that bin fills up I transfer it to the next bin (one of those old green rubbermaid composters that they don't make anymore). I leave it there a minimum of three months to make sure all the chicken poop is cycled. So I have new compost about every 6 months. I think I will start adding a few chicken bones in the middle of the first pile and see if they do ok. I just don't have enough stuff at one time to compost a whole animal. So, did you turn that pile with the raccoon in it? Or do you just let him cycle as is? What do you think about dog worm and heart worm medicine. I started giving my dogs Trifexis and now I don't see black soldier flies in the dog septic tank. I'm wondering if the Trifexis is going through the dog and is still active in the poop. I'm going to go back to the old stuff (Heartguard) and see if the black soldier flies come back. I'm going to have to read your book

[@jcjenkins01]

+Joan Smith Yes, read the book (humanurehandbook.com/downloads/Humanure_Handbook_all.pdf). Compost doesn't need to be turned. You're working too hard!

[@danielmocsny5066]

Turning is more work, but with a turned pile you probably wouldn't end up with any recognizable remains like animal fur. I've found that materials such as straw, oak leaves, etc. can form large matted clumps in a static pile that resist decay for six months or longer. Stirring the material to mix brown crumbly material between the layers of leaves causes the material to break down quickly, becoming unrecognizable in a few weeks. I collect large amounts of yard waste from my neighbors and I have limited space, so I need my compost to finish sooner.

[@ArtOfHealth]

@@danielmocsny5066 Did you read Joe's book Humanure?

[@elvaquero5554]

Joel Salatin composts cattle. Whole. As for me, I put a decent size compost pile together with multiple materials and multiple manures. My buddy shot an oryx, and while we left the gut pile out there, I helped butcher it and put all of the cure, tendons I cut out, blood shot, etc... into the pile last time I turned it. I would have put the bones in too, but I would have had to made the pile bigger and I'm going to want the compost in 2-3 weeks instead of 6-8 weeks. I see no reason to waste that, and it either goes to the dogs or to the soil.

[@michaelmartinek7408]

2:55 is no one gonna mention the red solo cup in the compost pile?

[@jcjenkins01]

Mentioned 7 years ago by Randy Armstrong.

[@dobe762]

Thanks Joe, don't know why I thought it wouldn't work? I normally put my small dead animals and birds in a maggot bucket, but it does smell! I'll probably try composting the next casualty, now I've seen it works.

[@31mcml]

I am new to humanure composting and came to your composting method by others using composting toilets in tiny houses and someone mentioned your name and book. I am surprised at the small number of viewers of this video considering the high number of composting toilets used in the tiny house community and people using the same composting ideas due to their ecological ideas. I also am surprised you can compost an animal within a year and create humanure even if you're not a vegetarian. I definitely will be getting your book. By the way, I live fairly close by in the Erie area.

[@johnsaia9739]

+Monique Liddle If you have pets you can also compost their manure this way. I have two Brittany Spaniels and compost all of their waste in our piles with no odors and it completely disappears when the process is finished.

[@anitamarskamp1866]

I am surprised by the number of views also!

[@juliejones9101]

I think this is a very humane way to let a creature return to the earth. Thanks for this, I’ve been wondering how to dispose of some unfortunate bunnies that hopped into a basement window sill and died.

[@kenyonbissett3512]

My grandfather was a farmer, 1870s-1956. During the depression and WW2, he would sit in a rocking chair on the back porch and shoot (marksman) raccoons, possums, groundhogs and rabbits eating his crops. His dog would go fetch what ever he shot and my grandmother would cook it. He grew tobacco as his cash crop and corn for his moonshine. He figured it was a win win. The corn attracted dinner and the corn supplied the drink. It’s legal to make liquor for your own consumption. Rolling my eyes 👀. My dad said his mom was excellent with game meats. No doubt.

[@ImASurvivorNThriver]

AWESOME!

[@evegrowing7749]

I've been composting with red wigglers in six gallon buckets with amazing results. The EVE composting bin is about pinpoint composting. Nothing gets in, nothing gets out except air, total internal aeration within the container, and absolutely no smell. Great for those urban dwellers who can't have composting bins. These red wigglers will eat most anything from dogmanure to humanure and the end result is worm casting and many more worms to be added to the next EVE bin accelerating the process. The more worms added the faster the process works. The squires, birds other small animals that are added to the bin vanish into rich soil within two maybe three months. I'll be doing more videos as I open source this method! Keep up the great work Joe! Not sure I could have my beloved dogs scull and fur laying around my garden bed🤔

[@evegrowing7749]

WOW six years since I posted my how time flies when you compost EVERYTHING 😂 Well I have to eat my words wouldn’t have my dog spread over our garden, but I would put her in a grow bucket 😝 kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3elh6l3iqaVaNUsi=nOFm7ZDFBf-bjkCS

[@nelsonolivera8059]

I want my body to be composted! In Washington State it is ok and next will be California. I compost roadkill like coyotes but save the skull for art work. Also, add water and worms. The worms clean the skull. Thanks for your video. Do you use the compost from humanure in the veggie garden?

[@jcjenkins01]

Yes, all the compost is used in the veggie garden and has been for 40 years.

[@manjichromagnon5480]

Hey Joe. Thanks for reaching. Its good stuff. Have you tried eating the raccoons? If you cut the scent glands out it's much like hare meat.

[@manjichromagnon5480]

*teaching

[@Tysto]

That fur will end up in bird nests.

[@horiama]

It was very satisfying that he found the cup :)

[@gungho1284]

Wasn't it discovered in ancient days that old battleground plots were very fertile because of all the bones underground?

[@HalfKaztBoy]

Yeah I remember watching a documentary that the farmers reported bumper crops for years on the battle grounds.

[@thomasreto2997]

Thank you again for sharing the info...it may become a reality for us soon...

[@johnsaia9739]

We compost all the dead animals we find on the property, they literally disappear completely in about 6 months. We compost crabshells and fish scraps too and they also break down nicely in our compost piles.

[@rubygray7749]

+John Saia I have composted dead sheep and some of the neighbour's dead calves under a thick layer of stable manure covered by about a foot of scythed rushes and weeds, beneath fruit trees. Nothing to see a few months later except the occasional bone scratched up by chooks. And the trees had their best year ever, didn't need watering in a summer drought.

[@johnsaia9739]

Ruby Gray That is excellent and composting and compost are great FREE resources that yield great results.

[@rubygray7749]

Yes! Trouble is, I just never do have enough raw materials. Plenty of rushes to scythe, but they have a very low soil nutrient value, although they do make a wonderful long-lasting mulch that protects the soil and greatly increases the soil life. The Chinese had a great idea; they built the nicest little loo they could, set it on the road beside their field, and solicited contributions.

[@randyarmstrong1339]

Did I see a red Solo cup in there? Composting a keg party?

[@jcjenkins01]

+Randy Armstrong You did. Picnic compost from our lake house. Someone threw a plastic cup in there and it got dumped into the pile. I took it out.

[@anitamarskamp1866]

Joe, I have a question. You make a hole in the middle, put the animal in there en cover it with humanure. Ok. But when I want to add a bucket with stuff the next day... I cannot again dig a hole without "disturbing"the dead animal. How to deal with it?

[@jcjenkins01]

Anita Marskamp dig beside it. You'll be surprised how fast the carcass dissolves.

[@anitamarskamp1866]

Thx again Joe! I love to see all these video's and ordered the Humanure handbook!

[@blessed7927]

Can the gas and vermin inside the raccoon or dead animal contaminate groundwater underneath your compost pile and or surrounding air?

[@jcjenkins01]

Those things don't escape the compost pile.

[@Las_cacas]

20 seconds in and I like you already... subbed

[@timorang1117]

is a lid/ cover necessary if there's a lot of rain

[@jcjenkins01]

Tim Orang if you're having monsoons throw a tarp or something over it. Otherwise increase the top layer of cover material to protect from heavy rains.

[@dergluckliche4973]

Now I know what to do when grandma dies!

[@slukky]

Why not skin it first? Just curious.

[@nero_palmire]

Just to be sure - humanure is a human manure, right?

[@jcjenkins01]

Yes

[@fl3082]

@2:55 red Solo cup?

[@drbanana4993]

I cant wait to compost my grandpa.

[@Las_cacas]

Chi wong ahhhhhhhhh lol

[@Begining2013]

I'm sorry to hear about your Collie 😥 I love humanure but admit I'm too squeamish to be as pragmatic as you are about finding the bones and fur of my old dog in the compost. I know that's irrational, I just get too emotional about my dogs 🙂

[@cantrell0817]

You must not have grandkids visiting the garden. They'd get freaked out by the fur and bones! Lol

[@jcjenkins01]

I have grandkids constantly visiting my garden. They don't care at all. It interests them.

[@mhosneddineify]

Would it release bad smells???

[@jcjenkins01]

It will stink like hell if you don't cover it adequately. No smell at all if you cover it correctly.

[@MasterKenfucius]

It's not that people say you "can't compost" meats. It's that it can get bad if you don't do it correctly. And you know how people are... they put it into one of those tumblers and keep turning it daily. That's a sure way to stink up the entire neighborhood and get infested with maggots and breed flies as a result. I just bury mine under a tree and wait for the tree to suck all those nutrients and turn them into leaves.

[@NowAndThenEH89JW]

That's great. Does meat and other food waste attract rats and other vermin and is that a problem?

[@johnsaia9739]

NowAndThen_EH89JW Not in our active piles as the heat breaks them down fairly quickly and the smell is covered up by the layers of plant material that is a biological filter.

[@danielmocsny5066]

You just have to dig a hole in the pile and bury the food waste in the hot/warm pile interior. It becomes unappetizing to large animals quickly. I also chop my food scraps by spearing them with a shovel 20 or so times. That drives them further into the hole in the compost pile and makes them unrecognizable in just a few days. That is a fast way to get rid of large items such as whole pumpkins, watermelon rinds, corn cobs, etc.

[@johnsaia9739]

I have never had a problem with meat, fish or dog manure when it is put into the middle of a hot compost pile. Animal mortalities also disappear except for a few bones if composted in a similar fashion.

[@loveisreal7766]

I compost dead birds that died from heat shock and also baby birds that didn't survive

[@oceanluv88]

sorry for your loss, dogs are family.

[@stillhear6878]

Anybody do this with a dead iguana?

[@jcjenkins01]

Nobody has ever asked me that. Congratulations. You're the first

[@stillhear6878]

@@jcjenkins01 Here they're an invasive species and plentiful everywhere. Too many ignuanas + a good air gun = huge amounts of free compost?

[@jcjenkins01]

@@stillhear6878 I understand that they're good eating. Of course you can compost them.

[@kulnitsky]

Awesome!

[@lisakukla459]

Yeah! Give those raccoons the what for! I'm sorry about your chickens.

[@samanthanicholson9015]

can you compost dog or cat poop?

[@jcjenkins01]

yes

[@SuperImmunologist]

theoretically anything organic, but you need to compensate for smell and pest

[@samanthanicholson9015]

Thank you

[@ArtOfHealth]

@@SuperImmunologist give it adequate cover straw and stuff.

[@heavymetalsteampunks4625]

Oh my..those mounds in the woods....that are human size...we are compost to the beings of the forest

[@JohnDoe12515]

I catch mice in my shed every night and bury it. My raspberries are growing decently

[@paulsoutbackgardenaustrali7674]

Arnt Racoons Protected 🤔🤔🤔

[@ArtOfHealth]

Not if they invade your farm and kill your chickens and eat your produce.

[@davidschmidt270]

I really like running my hands through the soil...I love making nutrient rich dark compost....I really like gardening and enjoy the heck out of these things but man...this guy takes it too a whole nother level....I bet his front gate warns that trespassers will be composted....just joking Joe....well kinda anyways 🤭🤭🤭🤫🤫🤫🤫🤐

[@cajuncalvin865]

Dog gone

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

Sorry to hear about the chickens. Raccoon looked cute, but if it's eating your chickens it's gotta go. t. a transsexual, but not the one who got you bumped from Stern

[@FalconfromRF]

Oh, but the fur looks so good.

[@Universal.G]

Nothing wrong with this really. Exactly what would happen in nature (minus the turds on a carcass) My only issue would be if it gets used for vegetable gardens.

[@HomesteadAtLast]

What is your issue with that? If it composts long enough it all degrades down into molecules

[@pk-pj4sz]

Just bury the animal in your garden where you need it no need to make it into compost that you fitle around with your fingers

[@CMVasquez8812]

U killed a poor racoon looking for food???😭😭😭😭😠

[@Chironimo100]

We had to euthanize one of our dogs this summer. Cremation was too expensive for us and disposal was out of the question. so he was buried in our own forest. Somehow I would find it better if we composted it after seeing this video, but I do not think my parents would. Greetings from Germany

[@ArtOfHealth]

If you live in the country and see crows and vultures, just lay the animal out in the property away from you and the neighbors. 3/5 days later, bugs start eating and then the birds. It's a beautiful sight. I dig 3 feet holes and place animal in there. Say a prayer if it was family and cover it up. Reflect on times past with smiles.

[@John-pk8lr]

I know this is old but in case anybody new sees this. If an animal has been put down by a vet via means of the shot do not compost it for a vegetable garden. And do not lay it out to be scavenged by other animals. Secondary poisoning will not be good for you or the critters.

[@Luna-jk9de]

Dang I would have turned thst into a stuffed doll and given it to my kid and then threw the meat in the compost 😩

[@domenicozagari2443]

Best to bury them next to the plant.

[@jcjenkins01]

Too much work. Much easier to compost them.

[@justinwaddy4285]

Most questionable composting video ive ever seen

[@CMVasquez8812]

He didn't kill your chickens on purpose.He wanted food.They r lovely critters.. .and can be trained.Please don't kill animals.....😞🙏

[@FalconfromRF]

If you compost an animal you find dead, it's ok. But, killing wildlife without using at least fur looks so disrespectful.

[@GardenNHS]

You shouldn't kill animals.