composting question

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Fuzzyfelt123

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I have 3 compost bins on the go which are nearly all full with chicken waste/hay which is really slow to compost - I do add my veggie peelings etc but the majority is chicken bedding. One bin smells strongly of urine :-)03 does anyone have any suggestions on how to remedy this problem? At this time of year I don't have many greens to balance it out!
 
Compost is slow at this time of year, when its too cold for it to begin to heat up and decompose. When (if ever?) it gets warmer, you will need to make a fourth bin and start turning the accumulated stuff out into this one, layering in green material such as grass clippings or cut nettles ( lots of minerals in nettles). This process will introduce the necessary oxygen and will mix the old stuff with new material that will heat up rapidly and thus spread through the heap. To make good compost as fast as possible, you do need to keep on turning it, so it all gets mixed and aerated, so you need a spare bin for circulating the other bins into. You also need to keep the heap covered, I use the kind of bubble wrap with giant bubbles you can get from garden centres by the metre, held down with a couple of planks. This is better than the old carpet which is sometimes recommended as carpet gets very heavy and horrid when wet, and also grows harmful mould spores which are inhaled when you disturb it. The best sort of bin is large and cubic, not those silly little plastic Dalek things. Get 4 old pallets, tie them together with nylon rope, and line the inside with plastic sheet so stuff doesn't leak out of the sides and it all stays nice and cosy. When the bin is full, just undo the rope and you will have a neat cube of lovely earthy compost all ready to dig out. The bigger the bin, the better it will heat up, and the faster you will get good compost. (Or get 7 pallets and make 2 bins.) chicken muck makes brilliant compost and will get very hot if mixed with the right stuff and allowed to get air all through it. Very satisfying.
I agree about the hay, I think this is pretty useless both in the coop where it gets really messy, and in the compost, where it takes forever to decompose and may have grass seeds in it which germinate unless your heap is really hot. Better to use Aubiose or similar such as Cosibed, which is easy to clean out, warm and cosy, and decomposes easily into lovely compost.
 
Thanks Marigold that's great advice - I have 2 dalek bins and a big old water butt (hole cut out bottom) but i will make one like you suggest. I don't actually use 'pure' hay but bliss - is this ok for composting or should i change to another product?
 
We compost our chicken poo for two years before using it Fuzzyfelt. After that period any wood shavings have composted as well and all the worms have left. It is fairly dry and flakey -pick it up and nothing sticks to your hand. Grown fantastic sweetcorn and peppers with it mixed 1:4 with earth.
 
yes, it can get a bit much, but it also depends on how much material you remove daily from the run and coop. i find with the Aubiose, that it coats the droppings lightly, making them easy to pick up, and thus its very economical because so little of it actually gets taken away each time I clean up. if you put loads of bedding on the heap on a regular basis, of course the mass will be greater. it also depends on how much other stuff you can add to it to speed decomposition, especially in summer.
if you find you do just have too much for your situation, you could try filling large strong plastic bags with it instead of composting it yoyurself, and either give or sell the bags to a friend, or put up a notice at the local allotments, or if all else fails, take the bags to the recycling centre green bin for disposal.
 
Mix in some Sulphate of Ammonia, it will give the mixture a kick start and is cheaper than so called
compost accelerator. You can just ***s on it that works the same :oops:
 
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