Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[vehve]

Ughh, the compost smelled a bit nasty this morning. One of our labradors ate all of the chicken's mash yesterday, right after eating her own breakfast, so we had to induce vomiting in her to get it out so she wouldn't explode. Now what do you do with 2 kilos of semi digested raw meat, veggies and chicken feed? You throw it in the compost of course. Too bad I forgot to turn it afterwards. So it was sitting on top of a 70 degree pile all night. Slow cooking. Luckily I took care of the chicken coop cleaning before breakfast, otherwise I might have added some of my own in there. Now I turned the stuff in though, so it should lessen the smell. Batch 1 isn't giving off any heat anymore when turning it, so I might empty it out today if I don't think of something better to do. Batch 2 is almost full, so I'm going to have to do it soon anyway.

 

[adventerousone]

So when it no longer puts off heat does that mean it is done?

 

[vehve]

So when it no longer puts off heat does that mean it is done?

Well, yes and no. For plants that require a lot of fertilizing, you can use it right away by spreading a thin layer on top of the soil. For many plants it's a bit strong at this point still, and when the hot phase is over, only the easily breakable components have been composted. You don't have humus at this point yet. The humus is produced by all kinds of fungi and worms and other organisms, so if that's what you're looking for, it's good to store it for a while. My plan is to use it in the spring, so I'm going to let it mature in a uninsulated wire cage until then. I'm also thinking of getting some worms to put in the compost, but I might wait with that until next year to see if I get them to come to it naturally from the soil.

I'm sure someone else could chime in at this point about the best ways to use compost at it's different stages, as I'm a bit of a novice still in this matter.

 

[snowflake]

just found this thread, very nice, I have wanted to compost but right now it is just some piles way out back that are sitting,getting added to and not being turned, may take a long time that way.
so, I was wondering if you turn with a pitch fork how do you keep from tearing your plastic?

 

[adventerousone]

Ok.. So here is another question. I have been out pulling weeds out of my lawn that I read were harmful to chickens should I throw those away or can I still add them to the compost without harming my chickens if they forage?...Welcome Snowflake They are so helpful here I have learned a great deal my dad uses a thick plastic border for his that doesn't puncture with the pitchfork .. what kind of plastic do you use?

 

[vehve]

just found this thread, very nice, I have wanted to compost but right now it is just some piles way out back that are sitting,getting added to and not being turned, may take a long time that way.
so, I was wondering if you turn with a pitch fork how do you keep from tearing your plastic?

The tarp only lines the sides. The bottom is open, with netting to keep rodents away, and I seldom hit the bottom anyway. I usually keep the pile against the back wall, but when I turn it, I first drag all of it to the front, with a downward facing movement. Then, when most of the pile is towards the front, I turn the stuff that was on the bottom around a bit, still trying to get most of it to the top front. All this I do with the concave side of the tines facing me, and pointy end straight down. I then turn it the other way, still pointy end straight down, but the convex side of the tines facing me, and from the very back I go straight down, and lift everything up a bit, moving about an inch towards me with every thrust, until I have the whole pile back in the back, and the top and bottom layers have mixed around a bit. So far the tarp has been keeping together pretty well, but I might have to replace it at some point. The tarp I use has a mesh laminated into the plastic, so it doesn't tare that easily. I do punch through occasionally, but since the insulation is polystyrene, which is biologically inert, it doesn't really matter that much.

I hope my description of my turning technique wasn't too confusing.

And welcome to the thread.

By the way, if someone wants help designing a similar composter, I'd be happy to provide help with that. And if someone has built one already, I don't mind seeing a picture of that either.

 

[vehve]

Ok.. So here is another question. I have been out pulling weeds out of my lawn that I read were harmful to chickens should I throw those away or can I still add them to the compost without harming my chickens if they forage?...Welcome Snowflake

They are so helpful here I have learned a great deal

my dad uses a thick plastic border for his that doesn't puncture with the pitchfork .. what kind of plastic do you use?

I haven't bothered worrying about what's harmful to our chickens, we throw most of the garden waste into the run for preprocessing anyway, with the assumption that there's enough harmless matter among it for the chickens to decide what they eat themselves. If you're worried, you could keep a separate compost for that kind of things, or bury them deep into the pile. If you just do piles, it might not be hot enough to destroy the seeds of weeds, so keep that in mind. It wouldn't be nice to plant your garden in your black gold, only to discover that last years weeds are the ones reaping all the benefits.

 

[adventerousone]

Ok I was just wondering will probably just throw them out to be certain I don't cause accidental harm to my chickens.

 

[lazy gardener]

As long as your chickens have lots of opportunities to ingest green matter, I wouldn't worry. Now, for the chicken in a barren run without a stitch of green, I'd hesitate to throw poisonous weeds into their run. (such as nightshades)

 

[vehve]

As long as your chickens have lots of opportunities to ingest green matter, I wouldn't worry. Now, for the chicken in a barren run without a stitch of green, I'd hesitate to throw poisonous weeds into their run. (such as nightshades)

Yeah, that's a completely different situation. We mostly use the garden waste and grass clippings as something for them to kick around while looking for grains, and something that the poop clings to nicely.