I have three compost piles now in various states. Last year I was trying to troubleshoot the very first one, which was consuming greens and leaving browns almost completely untouched. The diagnosis then was too much carbon due to a high shavings to manure ratio, so I tried to up the percentage of nitrogen-rich things finishing off the pile. Post-thaw, it appears to have gone back to doing the same darned thing though. My two other piles are going very differently in comparison.
Compost pile 2 is started pretty much like the first one composition-wise and got started while there were still periodic freezes. The main differences are that it's in a different location and the coop waste going in has a higher manure to shavings ratio since I have a kitty-litter-style method of cleaning now. Even though it's pretty new, it's full of bugs and worms, and woody material appears to already be breaking down in places. I haven't measured its temperature yet but given the animals in it I don't think it's hot.
Compost pile 3 is the newest and next to the original one. With the warming temperatures, I decided to rake out my deep litter and start anew in the coop since it had built up too much depth and a lot of that depth was getting very soil-like. And now it's hot composting! The heap was 110F in the middle this morning with an ambient temp of something like 36F. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by that; my run's deep litter was keeping a plain old rubber water tub completely unfrozen all the way down to around 10F on some days. Now that it's in a heap and away from the chickens, the cooler outer later of the pile seems to have attracted a nice population of sow bugs that are helping to break down the remaining woody material.
With those two piles looking like they're going along nicely, the first one is still driving me nuts. Even the extra manure I added late last year to increase nitrogen content doesn't seem to be breaking down properly; it's just getting reduced to whatever fibers are in it, like it was washed rather than properly decomposed. Moisture content seems fine; it's kind of hard to turn because it's deep, but it's still spongey and not compacted. What sticks out to me the most now is that whenever I turn the pile there are zero signs of life at all. No bugs, worms, or fungus anywhere except for some grass just starting to grow up the outside of the base. At the risk of an absurd question, is it possible that something bad somehow ended up in that first pile that has been stopping bacteria and bugs from colonizing it? My other two piles are very lively if I dig into them whereas the first one seems determined to be dead.
Compost pile 2 is started pretty much like the first one composition-wise and got started while there were still periodic freezes. The main differences are that it's in a different location and the coop waste going in has a higher manure to shavings ratio since I have a kitty-litter-style method of cleaning now. Even though it's pretty new, it's full of bugs and worms, and woody material appears to already be breaking down in places. I haven't measured its temperature yet but given the animals in it I don't think it's hot.
Compost pile 3 is the newest and next to the original one. With the warming temperatures, I decided to rake out my deep litter and start anew in the coop since it had built up too much depth and a lot of that depth was getting very soil-like. And now it's hot composting! The heap was 110F in the middle this morning with an ambient temp of something like 36F. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by that; my run's deep litter was keeping a plain old rubber water tub completely unfrozen all the way down to around 10F on some days. Now that it's in a heap and away from the chickens, the cooler outer later of the pile seems to have attracted a nice population of sow bugs that are helping to break down the remaining woody material.
With those two piles looking like they're going along nicely, the first one is still driving me nuts. Even the extra manure I added late last year to increase nitrogen content doesn't seem to be breaking down properly; it's just getting reduced to whatever fibers are in it, like it was washed rather than properly decomposed. Moisture content seems fine; it's kind of hard to turn because it's deep, but it's still spongey and not compacted. What sticks out to me the most now is that whenever I turn the pile there are zero signs of life at all. No bugs, worms, or fungus anywhere except for some grass just starting to grow up the outside of the base. At the risk of an absurd question, is it possible that something bad somehow ended up in that first pile that has been stopping bacteria and bugs from colonizing it? My other two piles are very lively if I dig into them whereas the first one seems determined to be dead.
If you suspect compost bin 1 may have some herbicide or insecticide in that material, you might be better off just dumping that load somewhere where it can't do much harm and just starting over with bin 1. At this point, I don't think I would even bother with it. Sounds like your bins 2 and 3 are coming along fine, so maybe just start over with bin 1. At least you would know the contents of bin 1 would be free of herbicides or insecticides this time as you build it up. Anyways, good luck.
