Spiking/innoculating a septic tank...

P

P.Ranks

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Hello y'all,
I am not far off moving into my new house, and am about to christen the toilet facilities within the next couple of weeks. Recently, while talking to an uncle of mine, he suggetsed throwing a dead chicken that had been left out in the sun for a while in the tank to 'get her going', my own father concurred, saying 'tis the only job'. Obviously the thinking behind this is that the introduction of a dead carcass introduces a lot the microbes required for satisfactroy breakdown of the material entering the tank.
Just wondering if anyone else has done this, and what their experiences are. Was thinking of picking up a nice fat badger from the side of the road and killing two birds with the one stone so to speak, by putting him into the tank, and removing the roadkill from peoples sight.
 
Urban myth I'd say, although I do remember seeing a cookery book one time on how to prepare and cook roadkill if you're intent on retrieving a dead badger!
 
From the number of times I've heard this said, there has to be some truth in it, but I've also heard it said that a few buckets from someone else's tank would be a better (if perhaps more unpleasant option). If you do use a carcass, I'd imagine that chicken bones would be less of an issue at the bottom of yer tank than a badger (if you ever have to get it emptied by a vacuum slurry tanker, the farmer/contractor wouldn't be too pleased if heavy bones screwed up the pump?) Just a thought!
 
Well carpenter, I don't know if it could be an urban myth as most septic tanks are in the coutryside, so it'd have to be a rural myth I suppose, but like oops, I've heard a lot of people talk about this.
If you think about it, all the waste going into the tank is from inside the house, and any bacteria in the surrounding soil are going to take a while to migrate into a pretty well sealed up concrete tank. The full decomposition of the material may start earlier because of the introduction and lead to a better performance for the ST.
Perhaps the idea of a badger isn't a good one due to the bones etc., but it's definitely going to be roadkill, but a bird might be the better option alright. Although, having seen up close the pumps that they use, I doubt very much if some 1-2 year old fully immersed in a septic tank badger bones would cause any harm to them, think the contractor sucked up a couple of bricks from my Father in laws tank when he got it emptied last year (for the first time in 30 years!!) Anyway I would feel bad about throwing a good chicken into the tank without it going through me first!!
As for the recipe, I think that could have been Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall, who did a series on how to live on whats around you. Saw a show where some ultra vegan new agers had a roadkill banquet to celebrate one of their numbers 5th anniversary in his treehouse. In another one, he was going to cook some of the pidgeons (or wild rock doves to give them their proper name) from Trafalgar square, but after he realised that they're mingin' little buggers, he decided to go with some snails which he purged with some nice iceberg lettuce before eating, personnally I think rocket would have been the better choice.
 
Good one! I still don't think it's necessary to go throwing anything "special" into your tank though, anaerobic activity will get going in no time with this warm weather anyway. I've heard the "myth" many times myself although the animal usually referred to was a dead cat!
 
Carpenter is correct the anaerobic bacteria will get going in no time but it doesnt hurt the system to fling in a bit of road kill! I have also heard dead cats are the recommended ingredient. Just ensure its a standard septic tank, some new waste treatment systems wouldnt cope with a cats/badgers/chickens ...erm....lumpier bits and pieces. Is an old school idea!
 
Mate of mine swears by the dead cat option. He seems to like to shoot cats that enter his garden though, so may not be doing it for the right reasons.

Isn't faeces 80 or 90% bacteria anyway - why the need for nmore bugs???
 
When we bought our house the guy who owned it said his wife accidently poured bleach down the toilet and killed off the bacteria. Said he threw in a dead cat to get it going again and worked a treat!
 
Its commonly believed (but perhaps a rural myth??) that a majority of dead badgers found on roadsides are TB carriers. Take care...
 
i have heard people swear by dead crows.
Septic plants and sewage treatment plants operate on the basis of bacteria feeding on the sewage. as there are no bacteria in their in the first place, it takes a while for them to grow to operate properly. Seeding treatment plants is common enough, (ie taking bacteria from another plant to 'plant' in the new one). If not the plant / septic tank can cause some pollution for the first while as the bacteria get established.

this is a big problem for holiday homes, (or areas where there are a lot of holiday homes feeding into a public treatment plant). Bacteria starve to death over the winter, and take about six weeks to get established again when the houses are occupied again over the summer, by which time the summer is over and the bacteria starve again, so holiday home treatment plants never work!
 
In the case of a new, empty tank I don't see this problem arising though, as it will take many weeks for the tank to fill and the effluent to reach the discharge pipe for the percolation area. By this time the anaerobic activity will be established; but by all means find a dead badger/ cat/ crow whatever!
 
adding microbes (bugs) to a tank, commonly known as seeding a tank is relatively inexpensive and ensures the septic tank system has a healthy supply of bacteria to make it operate efficiently.puzzles me when people spend a lot of cash on a treatment system and then leave it to chance to innoculate the system.
 
We have three toilets in our house and we have a septic tank. I' ve regularly poured thick bleach down the toilet bowl over the last 15 years. To the best of my knowledge, it hasn't done any harm!
 
A sheeps head is the best. Tried and tested numerous times.

You can pick one up at the local abattoir.
 
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