Poo for You? 23 February 2013

Today I learned some interesting things about rabbit manure, all from the comfort of my bedroom.

And lest that sound like a disturbing statement, I should first clarify that today's learning is a result of Google searching, not hands-on experience.  (I got too much hands-on experience this week already, dealing with a very dirty rabbit's fuzzy backside.)  Although, I suppose the fact that I googled "rabbit manure" at all is pretty weird.

Oh well.

Turns out there is quite an enthusiastic culture of people who rave about the benefits of rabbit droppings.  This culture has affectionately nicknamed the droppings "bunny balls," "bunny berries," and "cocoa puffs."  (Uh, eew.)  On their blogs and gardening articles, they describe how to make a fertilizing "bunny brew," which is a "tea" made from steeping manure with water for a few days and then pouring around plants.  One article outlined using a burlap bag as an actual tea bag, filled with the droppings and dunked into a bucket.  Biscuits, anyone?

Furthermore, there are those who have felt compelled to photograph the stuff; naturally, I was unable to resist a Bing image search and now am compelled to show a photo to you.

This photograph is entirely for your benefit.  I see enough of the stuff every day.  You're welcome.

Some have written articles about how to raise red worms using the poo (a phenomenon I discovered by accident through making my compost pile).  And apparently the cannabis community is also all for using the "berries."

Aside from all of this very interesting information, I did discover two very important, practical facts.  Firstly, rabbit manure is high in nitrogen, which means that I can compost the stuff mixed with their straw litter, and not have to add extra nitrogen to break down the straw.

Secondly--and most importantly to me--these droppings are considered "cold" manure.  Rather like the classification of breakfast cereals, animal manure is classified as cold or hot.  "Hot" means that it has to age/rot/dry for a while or it will burn the plants it's meant to fertilize.  "Cold" manure on the other hand can go straight into the garden or around the plants.

Why is this such good news, you might ask?  Because it means I don't have to have piles of "cocoa puffs" littered around my yard, taking their sweet time to dry/age/rot.

This is also good news for my two bunnies.  They were *this* close to being put up for adoption, when I decided a month ago that I'm tired of feeding the little critters.  But now that I'm armed with this useful information, I think they might get to stay around a little longer.

Plus, now I have the satisfaction of making you think twice next time you walk down the breakfast foods aisle at the grocery store.  You're welcome!