Compost Troubleshooting Round 2

Based on how slow that's decomposing (but it IS decomposing), my first guess is maybe it's too dry? A good mix and some moisture might kick start things again.

Yep, looks really dry to me, too. If you want to put the time and effort into an active compost bin, then you want to keep it at that wrung out sponge moisture level. I don't bother with any work on my pallet wood compost bins. I just let nature take care of it in its own time. But if you want to restart that pile, I'd suggest mixing in some greens and wetting it down again.
 
If you want to put the time and effort into an active compost bin, then you want to keep it at that wrung out sponge moisture level.
Everything except the outer inch or so is actually damp - or was at least, at the time I opened it up. It was hot and sunny today so may have dried it out more, but it'll get soaked again in the near future. I live in a really wet area and none of my other piles have behaved like this one including another that was literally right next to it and ignored by me to the same degree, so I doubt the main issue is moisture.
 
I'm going to scoop this one up and dump it in the forest at some point in the near future.

I live in a really wet area and none of my other piles have behaved like this one including another that was literally right next to it and ignored by me to the same degree, so I doubt the main issue is moisture.

Nothing wrong with just dumping a suspect compost pile into the tall grass or back in the woods and focusing your attention on your other compost bins. I know I have too much good compost to use that I don't have the time to waste on a pile I'm not completely confident in.

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.

Looking back at your first post, I'm wondering if you are seeing these compost piles at different stages of the process. You would expect a new compost pile with a good mix of greens, carbon, and water heat up in a few days and probably kill off all the bugs due to the high heat. After it cools down, then bugs will return, unless you mix up everything once again and restart the process with additional water.

I am making my chicken run compost using a cold compost approach. It takes longer to make compost at lower temperatures, but I don't mind because I have so much compost litter in the run that I can't use as much as I make. Since it is a cold compost method, the compost litter is full of bugs and worms which the chicken love to scratch and peck all day.
 
Looking back at your first post, I'm wondering if you are seeing these compost piles at different stages of the process. You would expect a new compost pile with a good mix of greens, carbon, and water heat up in a few days and probably kill off all the bugs due to the high heat. After it cools down, then bugs will return, unless you mix up everything once again and restart the process with additional water.
I don't think it can be different phases responsible for the issues with my problem pile. One of my newer piles is quite a bit further along with more brown crumbly stuff in the middle than the problem pile has. The bugs thing is another good point though; both my other two piles have critters when I poke at them if the ambient temperatures are warm enough. One of those other two piles is using a very similar HWC-type enclosure too. However, the problem pile has no visible bugs/worms and never really had any in the past either. Most life I've seen on it was the dandelion that sprouted in the middle recently (thus prompting me to open it and find out what had changed).

I don't think any of the three piles have ever gotten into the temperature range that would constitute hot composting. The problem pile got kind of close once, but that was nearly two years ago at this point.
 
The bugs thing is another good point though; both my other two piles have critters when I poke at them if the ambient temperatures are warm enough. One of those other two piles is using a very similar HWC-type enclosure too. However, the problem pile has no visible bugs/worms and never really had any in the past either.

Definitely sounds like something was off on that odd pile. I guess I'd just dump it out in the tall grass and forget about it. Composting is not the complicated, but that odd pile seems to have something wrong with it.

FWIW, I don't think I've ever had a compost pile that was not full of bugs and such after it cooled down and sat for awhile. My chicken run compost is full of bugs and worms and my chickens love to scratch and peck all day looking for fresh things to eat.

I don't use any chemicals on my lawn, and everything I toss into my chicken run composting system is all natural. I just sifted out another 8 cubic feet of topsoil/compost mix for my gardens a few days ago, and have my 8 cubic foot cart loaded up with more compost to sift out.

:old Just waiting for some cooler weather to get back to work. It's been in the mid to high 80's F here with an unbearable humidity level. I work up a sweat just walking out to the chicken coop in the morning to let them out. The heat really takes everything out of me so that past few days I've been mostly a couch potato. Every once in a while, I go outside to move the sprinkler for the gardens in the back yard. But that's about all I have done these past few days.

It's been so hot here that things are drying out real fast. I put the sprinkler on the chicken run to wet down an area where I put in a grazing frame for the chickens. I want the grass in the grazing frame to continue to grow so a little water this afternoon should help. Of course, the extra water on the compost litter just helps everything else decompose all the faster. Plus, the worms love a moist environment, so I try to keep the chicken run litter from completely drying out. If Mother Nature does not bring the rain, I bring the sprinkler.
 

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