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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Can/Should I use bunny poop as plant fertileizer?

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    • NaluNut
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        So this thought came to me when I was re-potting some herbs on my back lanai and found a little rabbit turd in the mix. Since we have such an ABUNDANT amount of poopies, wouldn’t it be great to put it to some use?

        I am wondering if anyone knows whether or not rabbit droppings would be safe/effective to sprinkle into potted herbs, veggies, flowers, ect.

         thanks!


      • Beka27
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          You can use it as a little boost! I don’t t know how effective it will be versus not using it, you could always do your own science experiment with a bunny poop plant, a regular fertilizer plant, and one with nothing!


        • NaluNut
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            ah ha! That sounds like a fun experiment to try.. Maybe it’s the next big thing. Thanks for the idea


          • Beka27
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              I’ve thrown rabbit poop on tomatoes before! The good thing about it is that it doesn’t need to be composted. Just grab a handful out of the litter box!


            • tobyluv
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                Rabbit poop is a great source of nitrogen for plants.


              • vanessa
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                  I took a cheap outdoor trashcan, drilled hundreds of holes in it, and dumped all my rabbit poop/bedding in it, and composted it. Next year I had plenty of good smelling compost. I’m sure poops can be used strait, but it’s too much of a hassle to separate the poops from the rest of the litter material, so I compost the lot. Including the hay, and the wood pellets.


                • NaluNut
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                    Oh this is great! Who knew rabbits were so eco-friendly


                  • Bam
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                      I do like Vanessa do, I compost my bunny litter. But stray poops go in potted plants indoors =) Rabbit poop won’t burn plants, it’s ready to use as a fertilizer as it comes out. But for the same reasons as Vanessa, I compost the whole contents of the litterboxes. I use wood stove pellets as litter, that too turns to soil.


                    • MoxieMeadows
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                        Rabbit poop is great fertilizer! I had a Aloe plant that was dying (pretty much since day 1) and I mixed some rabbit poop that I crushed up with some sand into the dirt (Aloe plants need well draining soil) and my plant has never been healthier! It even grew another plant so I have 2! Also, my mother is starting a composting worm business and give her some rabbit poop and hay for her worms to eat sometimes.

                        Also, rabbit poop is one of the “safer” fertilizers. Like, you can put it straight onto the plants while others (like Chicken poop I believe) needs to compost for a while before. And plus, rabbit poop isn’t super nasty to handle.


                      • NaluNut
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                          @vanessa

                          How do you use/construct a compost bin? I wanna start one


                        • sunshinesocks
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                            The other bonus for rabbit over other animals is that they completely digest seeds so you don’t get any surprise plants popping up from whatever they’ve been eating.. We’re composting now as we couldn’t find enough immediate uses for 2 half giants worth of poop!


                          • vanessa
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                              @NalaNut – I’ll take pics tomorrow and post them. Get the cheapest 32-gallon outdoor trashcan you can find. Get a drill with the thickest drill bit you can get. I used 7/16 inch drill bit. Then I started from the top of the can and drilled a ring of holes around the can, 2 inches apart each hole. Then a row down – 2 inches down, holes 2 inches apart, untill I got down to the bottom of the can. Then I drilled holes in the same fashion on the bottom of the can.
                              I have used trash cans with wheels, and without. The benefit of wheels, is it makes it easy to move around. But the weight of the compost broke one of the wheels. My can with no wheels – doens’t get moved, but there is nothing to break. I prefer n wheels. The broken wheel can is now lopsided and has to lean up against the fence. The trickiest part is the lid. Find a can with a lid that locks well. You’ll be pouring water in to keep it damp, and rolling it around every 2 weeks. Tip it over, and roll back and forth a few times to mix up and aerate. If you don’t want to roll it you can use a pitch fork and toss the contents. I rolled mine. I prefer not to let it get more than half full. That way I can roll it with ease. Because you have to keep it moist to compost, it gets heavy. 

                              This summer, I used a compost barrel to fill up a raised veggie garden that I used to grow veggies for the bunnies 🙂 and another one to prep the soil in my new flower garden.

                              I saw some examples using a 1/2-inch circular hole drill bit. Here’s the picture I used when I first made mine. It looks like they are putting rubber grommets in each hole. I didn’t do that. 


                            • jerseygirl
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                                Not sure how accurate this is re nitrogen/phosphorus etc, but thought you might be interested.


                              • LBJ10
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                                  Yes, rabbit poop is actually a preferred “manure” for composting. I agree, better to compost it if you’re throwing everything (litter, hay, etc) in there. But you can definitely put bunny poos right into your garden beds or flower pots.


                                • NaluNut
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                                    I am loving this information!! Thanks for all the interesting facts and knowledge! I had an inkling just my intuition it must be good stuff but it’s exciting to know that it can be composted and is actually very good to be! yay

                                    @vanessa thanks for the detail info!! Pictures of what you use would be cool to see, I think I’ll get on making mine right away today and share my pictures when im done!


                                  • vanessa
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                                      Here’s my 2 compost cans. These 2 both have wheels. The one against the fence is leaning because one of the wheels broke off. It’s lid is screw on. The front can has those handles on the lid. The lid is typically a minor pain in the $%^& while you are rolling it on the ground. I have holes drilled on the bottom too.  I like to collect rain water and toss it in each can to keep them wet. I have a rain that I painted. I included on it my cat, 2 border collies, ducks and chickens that I had at the time, bee that my boyfriend has, a bunny with the 3 representative colors that I have had, and bats that I would like to have. 


                                       


                                    • NaluNut
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                                        beautiful!! Such artwork!! Gotta be the best looking compost been around Simply adorable!

                                        I’m still a tad confused by the process and building a composter seems daunting. Is it really just drilling holes into a trash bin? Doesn’t the poop fall out?! What else do you have to do to take care of it and how long until you can use the material as compost??
                                        ah I was so excited but I;m not sure if it’s as simple as I thought?


                                      • Bam
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                                          That is by far the best-looking compost bin I’ve ever seen! Beautiful!

                                          I have 3 ready-made boring plastic compost bins, really ugly but they’re hidden among trees and shrubs. They get the job done, but they sure aren’t pretty.

                                          Nalu, the holes are for ventilation, a compost needs oxygen because the contents are not supposed to rot or go all mouldy, it should break down in the presence of air. You need to water it though since the break-down process generates heat so moisture escapes and dry compost material take longer to break down. The holes underneath are actually to encourage compost worms to get in and start helping with the compost. Those holes can be really small, smaller than the diameter of bunny droppings. To the material you wish to compost you can add a bit of garden soil, because it has bacteria that helps get the process going.

                                          I’d say it takes two seasons for me to get good plant soil in my compost bins, but it kind of depends on the climat where you live, what you put in the compost besides bunny litter and how good you are at remembering to water it.

                                          You can buy compost worms. If you can get horse manure from a stable dung hill, it often has compost worms in it since those worms thrive inside dung hills. They are not nasty worms, they’re like small earthworms. They do the job of turning the compost for you, so they’re very useful.


                                        • vanessa
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                                            Agree with Bam. And it really is that simple. Step 1 – drill holes. Step 2 – fill with bunny poop/litterbox contents. Step 3 – pitch the contents (fluff/turn with a shovel, or roll the bin), every 2 weeks. Step 4 – keep the contents moist with water. Simple as that. Don’t overthink it. If I’m good about watering and rolling, then I can have compost in 1 season. If I ignore it, it takes 2 seasons. The poops don’t fall out. They are too busy doing composting things – to bother falling falling out! By the way – the wood stove pellets that both Bam and I use in the litterbox, also make excellent compost and really add to the texture.
                                            In order to compost the contents need 3 things. Water, air, and warmth. So composting slows down in winter. The black bins help retain heat. You provide air by drilling holes and fluffing/rolling the contents, and check it every now and again for moisture. Just jeep it moist. I toss in a gallon of water if it looks dry.


                                          • NaluNut
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                                              oh so awesome

                                              I have a feeling I’ll have great compost by the sounds of it!! I live in Hawaii so it is always warm and moist! Maybe I’ll even get compost in half a season

                                              Thanks guys!!!


                                            • Niamian
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                                                I feed my plants bunny poop and they seem to like it. But I had no idea about compost till now, so thx. for opening a tread and thx to all who explained how it’s done.


                                              • MK
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                                                  absolutely! I have a little crab-apple tree in my yard that I use bunny poop for, and it’s very healthy Also, I believe I heard that bunny droppings don’t actually need to ferment….I just dump it at the base of the tree with littler and all (I use bio-degradable litter) its very good for insulating the roots as well, and keeping them warm during the winter (if it gets cold where you live)


                                                • NaluNut
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                                                    hooray! so i finally got around to making my compost bin. I put some potting soil, hay, poop, and woodchip litter in with it! Now I’m wondering what other goodies I can throw in there.. like veggie discards and such?


                                                  • Mimsy
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                                                      Yep, veggies that are getting old, peels from fruit and veges, coffee grinds, tea leaves, egg shells, grass from mowing, hair, anything from natural fibers-cotton, sisal ect. Ash if you have a wood stove, tissues and other natural paper. Even like old cardboard. Best to shred it down a bit. branches and twigs-nothing too large though, but like remnants of willow toys and such.

                                                      do not put in cooked food, nuts, preferably no perennial weeds,


                                                    • LBJ10
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                                                        For best results, you want to try to have an even mix of “greens” and “browns”. The hay and wood litter are “browns”. The bunny poop, fresh grass clippings, vegetable matter, etc are “greens”.


                                                      • Lili
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                                                          Thanks for sharing the graphic jerseygirl, I’ve always composted the litter but didn’t know about the ‘bunny tea’ idea.

                                                          If it helps anyone I’ve found that making sure you covering any food scraps added to the pile with a bit of old/soiled hay does a pretty good job a minimizing nasty bugs/flys


                                                        • Winstons-mum!
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                                                            I’m not much of a gardener but I recently used some bunny poops as fertiliser. I had planted some privet hedges and put some bunny poops around the bases. The privets have shot right up but I don’t know if its just a coincidence! I got some funny looks from my partner when I’d go harvesting Winston’s poops in a jar each day!! I also put some in a chili plant that’s growing on my window cill and that’s still alive…. Maybe I’m not too bad at this gardening thing after all!

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                                                        Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Can/Should I use bunny poop as plant fertileizer?