What do you know about composting?! - Page 2

Make sure whatever bin you make/use that it has good ventilation.  That's the key to getting it to heat up and break down quickly.  Ideally all compost utilizing animal manure should be "hot".  They have thermometers that you can use but I just judge it by feel.

Before I started composting last year, I went to the local library.... there are tons of great gardening books on the subject.  I like the info in Elliot Colleman's book(s).  I do have to say though that some people make this process very complicated.... I just have a loose pile, I water it in when its dry, and I turn it when it "shrinks".  It should not have a bad odor at all, maybe a "musty" smell but it should never smell bad.

As for shavings not being good for veggies that is completely dependant on the type of tree.  Shavings in general are not bad.  However, things like black walnuts (which sadly I have a TON of) have a compound in their branches/roots/leaves/etc. called jugalone which will kill garden anuals (peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes).  It is eventually broken down during the composting process.  Another good book on composting is by Gene Logsdon.  It is called 'Holy ****:  Managing Manure to Save Mankind'.  As for breaking down the bacteria, that is more a funciton of the heat of the pile than a definite set time for the compost.  The longer the pile stays at 140F-160F the faster the bacteria is killed. 

I have both the compost barrel and a new 'bin' that I bought at Big Lots.  The 'bin' isn't very sturdy but since I was mostly after it to just keep a relative size it will work.

Building a 'bin' out of pallets would absoutely work.  I might leave it open on at least half of one side to make turning easier.

Just my 2 cents.

~Mellisa

I use a three bin system, located directly behind my coop.

I fill one bin with kitchen waste, lawn clippings, and coop sweepings(both poop and pine shavings), then allow it 'cook' down for a year while I fill the next one. The following year I harvest while the second bin cooks and I fill the third. You would not believe the rich, dark, worm filled soil I harvest every year.

If you add animal waste like chicken poop, you really should allow it to cook for a year before putting on your garden, just to be safe about bacterial contamination.

Pine shavings from the coop are a great source of Carbon, which is necessary for an active Nitrogen cycle. In fact, the more Carbon you can add, the 'hotter' your compost pile will be, and the quicker it will break down. Keep in mind that pine shavings will increase the acidity of your compost. This is fine for acid loving plants like tomatoes and strawberries.

Pallet compost bins work wonderfully well, mostly because they allow a great deal of air to get into the sides of the bin.

Tumble composters, in my opinion, don't work well because they can't handle a very large volume of compost. Four chickens will produce copious quantities of poop, and combined with pine shavings, you will quickly overwhelm a tumble composter.

And finally, a properly cared for compost bin won't stink. If it ever begins to stink, that is a sign you have the wrong kind of bacteria growing. It's probably too wet, you need to turn it, adding in a shovel full of sawdust or pine shavings periodically.

We have horses as well as chickens so, as you can imagine, we have lots of manure and sawdust to compost.  Because of that, we typically have one huge pile cooking and a secondary pile finishing off.  These large piles heat up quite nicely, we have finished compost usually within 3-4 months and the piles hold heat even in winter. And they never smell.  We do use the tractor to stir the piles every so often and we do use the compost on our garden (usually a large application in the fall that overwinters before planting as well as smaller applications around plants and as mulch) as well as around other plantings - it definitely helps improve the soil texture and the plants seem to love it.

We just completed a compost area from railroad ties. We used pallets as a divider between the "cooking" side and "ready-to-go" side. Just the ground on the bottom.  I don't see why pallets wouldn't work but if you don't cover the walls they will probably break down pretty quick.

Hubby dumps the grass clippings. I dump the kitchen scraps and chicken poo (we use sand in the coop). We keep a shovel out there to turn in the kitchen scraps when we toss them otherwise the dogs will be digging in it but it does the job of keeping things aerated. So far so good. It has been over 80 degrees already and no smell even on the warmer days. Giant worms already but haven't noticed any more bugs around than usual.
 

My brilliant idea for kitchen scrap collecting. Picked up large plastic plate and bowl from Target, they are with the summer stuff. Plates and bowl were $1.99 each. Screwed a drawer/cabinet handle on one of the plates and use it as a lid on the bowl. Sits on the kitchen counter collecting coffee grounds, peels, and egg shells and whatever else. The lid keeps the smell away so I only have to dump it once a day. Plus rinses easy and if it gets gross it was so cheap I just toss it and get another (I bought a couple bowls and plates for that reason).

I compost. I built a block structure 8x4 ft 3ft. high. I put all vegetable waste in there, including grass clippings and small branches. I also put all the chicken litter in there when I clean the coop. The trick is to keep it moist and covered, and turn it often with a pitch fork. Keep it moist but not dripping wet. Kind of like a rung out sponge. It will get HOT. steaming hot. This will kill bugs and seeds. I use this compost as a source of some of the best potting soil you can get. I start all my vegetables and flowers in my greenhouse in Feb. using this stuff. What I don't use there I make compost tea for a foliar feed or side-dress my rows in the veggie garden. Good Stuff!

I have horses, so we have lots of composting.  We have 3 piles going, one that is in the 'black gold' stage, it's ready.  The 2nd is about 1/2 way there and the 3rd is the newest that we're building up now.  We toss the bedding and manure from the horses and chickens into a pile about 25 ft long and 4 ft high by 5 ft wide.  I go along about every 2 or 3 months and poke a hole with a rebar about every 3 feet and pour in some Pepsi or Coke, regular for the sugar not diet, and that helps to heat things up nicely.  It takes from a year to 2 years depending on how much we get packed down for each pile to 'cure' completely.  The only water the piles get is from rain, however much and whenever it does.  It seems to work really well. 

I have two bins. One was made from pallets last year, filled with chicken poop shavings and kitchen and garden scraps, and is now wonderful rich compost.  The other was compost last year and was emptied out (it's old lumber that is crumbling in places but still contains the composting materials).  This week I cleaned out the barn from the deep litter (took it back to floor) and filled up the empty bin.  This summer I'll throw the weeds and the kitchen scraps on it.  It'll get rained on and occasionally watered if I think about it.  The chickens won't be able to scratch through it because both bins are in the garden and once it gets planted there are no chickens allowed, but chickens can turn a compost bin like nobody's business.  So this year's bin will be added to, occasionally turned, but basically ignored.  The winter snows will cover it and come spring, it will be compost.  It's a wonderful thing.

Oh, and my DH turned a black barrel into a bin.  It got stinky due to bad mixing, but I altered it and have been pushing it around a bit and it's got a bunch of compost in it now as well.  He cut vents in the ends and fashioned a door.  It works pretty well, but can be difficult for me to push around as it gets heavy and weighted towards the bottom.  It would be better if it was up on a frame.  So that works too. 

During the summer, we have used shavings directly from the coop as a side dressing, and places where we did that last year are greener and lusher already than the places we didn't.  The shavings also work as mulch.  We also use grass clippings as instant fertilizer instead of composting them - just put them around the plants and they break down really fast.  

Really enjoying this thread.  I 'm just getting started and time, energy, space are a concern right now.  I use shavings in the coop-I would like to use sand, but maybe later this summer when I can make the time.  I am just raking the poop/shavings out into an area outside the run and turning the chickens loose on it.  I don't have many kitchen scraps and no lawn to make clippings.  The chickens seem to eat the scraps I put in the "bin", and all the worms, bugs that they can find.  Entertaining them is important to me, but I'd like to also learn more about composting, too.  I raked a neighbor's yard last fall and because they wanted to charge me to dump the leaves, I gave them to the chickens to "play"in.  I will probably get some pallets for either 2 or 3 sides to help keep it manageable.  I don't have any little flying bugs in the coop or the run(covered), but I do in the "compost", and I don't like that.  I will fence in the "compost run" when I have time, and just let the girls use it at will this summer.  I bagged up the shavings/manure from last fall and it is the consistancy of fine dirt-but when it got wet, it started to hatch out little flyings bugs.--So much to do and learn, but it feels so good to get outside and move around!Thanks in advance for any help.  I am also watching the gardening posts and the Easy Garden-Gardening with animals posts (when I have time).

You guys are a fountain of information! Thank you all. I will be using several of these ideas.