Poultry litter composting apparatus

An apparatus for processing poultry litter for composting, comprising:

• a frame adapted for connection to a prime mover providing movement of said apparatus in a forward direction and operative power, said frame including a generally vertical rear wall;
• a primary beater assembly transversely oriented and rotationally supported on said frame, said beater assembly being positioned for engagement with poultry litter to cause disintegration thereof, said primary beater assembly being operable to convey disintegrated poultry litter rearwardly beneath said primary beater assembly and upwardly along said rear wall;
• an auger mechanism including a screw conveyor operatively associated with a housing extending transversely along said rear wall, said housing having an opening therein facing downwardly along said rear wall to receive disintegrated poultry litter from said primary beater assembly, said screw conveyor including a flighting member having a first portion with a first flighting spacing and a discharge end with a second flighting spacing, said second flighting spacing being smaller than said first flighting spacing, said second flighting spacing extending outboard of said primary beater assembly to enable discharge of said poultry litter from said apparatus;
• and
• cutting blades mounted on said screw conveyor to chop said disintegrated poultry litter upon rotation of said screw conveyor as said disintegrated poultry litter is received within said housing.

An apparatus for processing poultry litter comprising:

• a frame movable in a forward direction of travel, said frame including a rear wall and a discharge end oriented laterally to said forward direction of travel;
• a transverse primary beater assembly rotatably supported on said frame forwardly of said rear wall, said primary beater assembly including a central core having a plurality of radially projecting beater paddles mounted thereon, said primary beater assembly being rotated in an undershot manner to convey poultry litter engaged by said beater paddles beneath said central core and then upwardly along said rear wall, said primary beater assembly including a stub auger mounted at said discharge end;
• a transverse auger mechanism rotatably supported on said frame above and rearwardly of said primary beater assembly, said auger mechanism including a screw conveyor rotatably operable within an elongated transverse housing, said housing having an inlet opening positioned to receive the poultry litter conveyed upwardly along said rear wall by said primary beater assembly, said auger mechanism conveying the poultry litter received thereby to a discharge end of said apparatus to be dropped from said auger mechanism, said stub auger on said primary beater assembly engaging poultry litter discharged from said auger mechanism and depositing said poultry litter into a windrow;
• and
• a drive mechanism for rotating said primary beater assembly and said auger mechanism to engage and disintegrate the poultry litter and to discharge the disintegrated poultry litter into a windrow along the discharge end of said apparatus.