Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[yellowchicks]

My compost tumbler stinks to high heaven, what should I do?

I have been doing DLM in the covered run, clean off the poop board everyday for 10 months. All was well. A smaller dual compartment compost tumbler held the chicken poop and wood shaving from the first 5 months, it just sits there and rot slowly for the last 5 to 10 months, not heating up or composting but it doesn't smell. A larger 7 cu.ft single compartment tumbler held the more recent chicken waste from the last 5 months, it was half full, but no smell, no heat either.

In order to speed up the composting action, A week ago, I added "Compost Plus" in all bins, nothing noticeable happened. Meanwhile, last sunny weekend, I decided the clean out the DLM in the run. I scooped out the powder-like poop crumb from the bottom of the DLM, left most of the shavings in the run to be reused. The poop crumbs was added to the large compost tumbler and wet down with some water, then mixed with the other existing material that was already in the bin. Within a day, the smell became pungent, all the flies showed up for a block party, fueled with a breezy south wind, I think I stunk up the neighborhood in 24 hours!

I quickly added more old leaves in the tumbler, turned it some more but now the bin is full, no room to add anything else, but the smell persists. What now? Need some expert advise here. Thanks!

 

[vehve]

What's happening is that you've got some hot composting going on in there. I would guess that if you were to take a thermometer to that tumbler right now, it would read something around 120-150F. The compost is a bit too wet and nitrogen heavy, and that's why it's smelly. I'm guessing it's a ammonia resembling smell? That would be the added poop. You've got a couple of options.

1. Do nothing. It will probably stop smelling within a week.
2. Tumble it like crazy every day to add more air. It will start smelling worse as the composting becomes even more intense and the heat rises, but the smell should go away more quickly.
3. Empty out some of the contents and add more carbon based matter. Dried leaves, sawdust and the like are your friends here.
4. Try to press out some water from the matter, this will probably not be all that efficient.

Hope some of these suggestions help you.

 

[aart]

My compost tumbler stinks to high heaven, what should I do?

I have been doing DLM in the covered run, clean off the poop board everyday for 10 months. All was well. A smaller dual compartment compost tumbler held the chicken poop and wood shaving from the first 5 months, it just sits there and rot slowly for the last 5 to 10 months, not heating up or composting but it doesn't smell. A larger 7 cu.ft single compartment tumbler held the more recent chicken waste from the last 5 months, it was half full, but no smell, no heat either.

In order to speed up the composting action, A week ago, I added "Compost Plus" in all bins, nothing noticeable happened. Meanwhile, last sunny weekend, I decided the clean out the DLM in the run. I scooped out the powder-like poop crumb from the bottom of the DLM, left most of the shavings in the run to be reused. The poop crumbs was added to the large compost tumbler and wet down with some water, then mixed with the other existing material that was already in the bin. Within a day, the smell became pungent, all the flies showed up for a block party, fueled with a breezy south wind, I think I stunk up the neighborhood in 24 hours!

I quickly added more old leaves in the tumbler, turned it some more but now the bin is full, no room to add anything else, but the smell persists. What now? Need some expert advise here. Thanks!

How moist was it before adding this water?

 

[yellowchicks]

What's happening is that you've got some hot composting going on in there. I would guess that if you were to take a thermometer to that tumbler right now, it would read something around 120-150F. The compost is a bit too wet and nitrogen heavy, and that's why it's smelly. I'm guessing it's a ammonia resembling smell? That would be the added poop. You've got a couple of options.

1. Do nothing. It will probably stop smelling within a week.
2. Tumble it like crazy every day to add more air. It will start smelling worse as the composting becomes even more intense and the heat rises, but the smell should go away more quickly.
3. Empty out some of the contents and add more carbon based matter. Dried leaves, sawdust and the like are your friends here.
4. Try to press out some water from the matter, this will probably not be all that efficient.

Hope some of these suggestions help you.

We have been turning the tumbler whenever my DH has time, it weights a ton now. Since it is so full, not much mixing action within. It dose get smellier every time it was turned, but I (really he) will continue turning it every couple of days.

I have emptied out one of the oldest compost pile from the duel tumbler to make some room. That particular pile has been sitting there for 7 to 10 months, still can see the shapes of the pine shaving, not quite completely broken down to a hummus, but it doesn't smell. I spread it out under a couple flowering trees, hoping that it is not too "hot". Is it safe to use?

As soon as I am "brave" enough and geared up with an OSHA mask this weekend, I will try to transfer some of the smelly pile over, and add more carbon. The small bin does not seem to have too much capacity though.

@aart , The content in the bin before was a moist pile but it was not wet. The DLM added was a dry powder consistency that's why I added some water.

I realized that there was too much nitrogen as it started to smell. My mistake was that I thought the DLM material that has been in the run for 6 months, thus it has sufficiently broken down and that it just needs some moisture to further activate the compost action. Should the DLM powder be added to the compost without water?

The smell seems to died down a bit today, and the VANILLAROMA trees adorn the area seem to chase away the flies. I have been praying for the compost bins to heat up like everyone else's, but so far, no luck.

 

[vehve]

Optimal moisture levels would be so that if you grab a handful of compost and squeeze, you should get a few drops out of the stuff, but not more than that. I hope you get the smell down quickly. My compost is heating up right now too, and has gotten a bit smelly. I've been lazy about turning it, and the white mold in there shows that it's been in a state of anaerobic breakdown. I finally managed to install the new thermometer today, so here's what's happening in the box today.



For the benefit of you metrically challenged people I decided to go with a dual scale thermometer this time. As you can see, the temp is about 34C/93F at the moment. That's about 8 inches above the cooking mass, which is still heating up the full left side that had cooled down, so we should get up to a nice heat soon.

 

[vehve]

Now we're up to 36C/97F. Aerating the bin has helped me control the smell a bit too, it isn't as offensive anymore. (Yesterday the smell was bad enough that the neighbor commented on it, just in a friendly way, but I could tell it bothered her.)

 

[scottcaddy]

At least you have nice neighbors!
Scott

 

[vehve]

Scott, for the most part... we're having some issues with one neighbor though. All kinds of easement, fence, rainwater and other issues...

 

[vehve]

Well, the compost seems to be holding at about 35C/95F. Perhaps it will just need some more stuff in it to reach higher temps. The thermometer is located about 8 inches above the pile though, so I think I have a better heat going on in the middle. The left side is looking pretty nice and done, and it has a lovely earthy smell to it. Soon it will once again be time to dump that batch.

We added some of the compost that's been resting since fall to our raised beds in the weekend, and Karin planted onions in one of them. It's still a bit cold for anything else, but I will at least be planting some carrots in one, and we'll see what else we put in them. I should probably start the egg plant soon.

Does anyone have opinions on growing squash/pumpkin, should I just plant straight in compost, or should I start them inside too?

And then a chili/tomato update:

The tomatoes that are under grow lights are about 8 inches tall now, and almost pencil thick.


The tomatoes by the window are clearly less developed, but the chilis are doing pretty well here. They could use some more light, but it's still enough to slowly grow them. They're about 8-12 inches tall now, depending on the variety.

 

[AthenaT]

I cant believe I read the whole thread......raining here or I would start making my compost bins...currently we just have a huge pile of leaves, grass clippings, deep bedding coop bedding and a small amount of household waste like coffee grounds