Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[hennible]

Best way to build healthy soil is to grow nitrogen fixing cover crops(legumes) and plants with long deep roots like daikon. ......
......never leave your garden beds bare, always something growing there.

X2
Grow green manure crops!
Which are crops that won't go to seed before you till them into the dirt...

 

[vehve]

And I think chopping up and shredding the branches and leaves and composting them or tilling them in is a lot better in the long run. The tpeat from the swamps sounds like a good idea too. Do you have any horse stables nearby? You could call them and ask if they want to get rid of some horse poop.

Sam, why would you want clay?

aart, was it winter rye and peas and beans that were good ways to amend the soil?

Also, you should rotate what you grow in a spot. Different plants will amend the soil in different ways.

 

[hennible]

No I have clay, I want sand... Lol
It's fine I have a functional way to condition it into useable soil.

 

[aart]

And I think chopping up and shredding the branches and leaves and composting them or tilling them in is a lot better in the long run. The tpeat from the swamps sounds like a good idea too. Do you have any horse stables nearby? You could call them and ask if they want to get rid of some horse poop.

Sam, why would you want clay?

aart, was it winter rye and peas and beans that were good ways to amend the soil?

Also, you should rotate what you grow in a spot. Different plants will amend the soil in different ways.

There lots of plants to use for different purposes depending on need and rotation, but yes those those are a few.
Read about 'soil food web'.......
.......grow the soil and the soil will grow the food.
(there's a whole nother garden under there, or there (sh)could be)

No I have clay, I want sand... Lol
It's fine I have a functional way to condition it into useable soil.

Clay and sand make concrete...kind of.

 

[hennible]

Good point. ( was being silly )
Well then I could make mud bricks with hay from the neighbour.
Deep mulch is working very well to help break up the clay and create topsoil.

 

[vehve]

Our yard is about a foot or two of soil on top of rock, depending on the spot. In some places the rock is above ground too. In the next lot you have to dig a lot deeper to get to the rock, so there you get clay after a foot or two before eventually you hit rock.

The weather has cooled a bit, we went from +2C to about -3C, and at the same time the compost went from +10C to +14C. Now it's starting to produce that lovely smell again, and it was putting out a lot of steam. I poured some more water in there again when I threw in some kitchen waste.

 

[vehve]

I thought I'd summarize what kind of waste production we have at the moment, so that anyone thinking of building a similar compost as I have can estimate their space needs. So, the current compost is about 600 liters. The outer dimensions are about a meter in every direction (a bit over 3 feet), and the insulation makes the inside compartment a bit smaller, so we end up with about 600 liters, or about 160 gallons. That is divided into two sections that are being used in turns.

At the moment we have 5 adult chickens and 4 chicks, but the coop can hold about 8-9 adult chickens and this is still fine for the composting capabilities of my box. The birds have hemp bedding inside the coop. It gets cleaned and turned daily, the most visible poop is removed daily. Not really much stuff coming from inside the coop on a daily basis. The run is mostly filled with leaves and straw at the moment. Hay is removed from under the roosts in the run on a daily basis, we use a 20 liter (5 gallon) bucket for that, it's usually about half full of straw and poop. The coop is completely emptied 3-4 times per year, and the run maybe 4-6 times per year.

In addition to that, we get kitchen scraps, maybe a liter or two (1-2 quarts) per day, but it varies a bit. I usually throw some tea that's been standing in a thermos and any fluids that are left in cups and glasses in the compost bin too, because they add to the moisture. Our household consists of two persons.

In summer we also get some garden waste that is added to the compost. Because of the quicker composting that happens in the warmer times, this doesn't really affect the need for space in the compost.

So, for a flock of 20 birds and 4-5 people household I would recommend doubling the size of the compost box.

 

[RichnSteph]

Penny, try adding a pot of hot water to the compost, it could get it started. A gallon of 50C water seems to do wonders, maybe even hotter. The cold compost cools it down to a temp that the bacteria can handle pretty quickly, but it also helps thaw it a bit and you might get the composting started.

Dang that 's a good idea. We've been warmer here in the past few weeks but the compost just won't come up to temp like it did before. I've been turning it every couple of days and watering it. I'll put a crab pot on the stove tonight and get some water up near a boil and pour it around the outside edges of the compost (inside the bin) to see if it'll jump start the cooking process in there.

 

[Sabz]

I thought warm water got cold faster?
Maybe I am wrong.

I know that when it's -30C and you throw boiling water in the air, it instantly becomes snow.

So anytime I put water in my compost in winter, I tried to use tampered water.
Am I thinking wrong? Maybe once the water is inside the pile it keeps its temperature high because of everything surrounding it, versus throwing it in the air where it becomes multiples small drops!

EDIT: this doesn't apply if it's above freezing point for sure

 

[vehve]

Don't use (near) boiling water, it's too hot and will kill bacteria. About 150F is the hottest I would go, that kind of temps the bin can reach by itself too. And I pour in the middle, that way there's more insulating matter (the compost itself) around it. Hotter water might freeze more quickly, but when putting heat into a (almost) closed system, like a compost with a lid, it's the amount of heat that goes in there that makes a difference. If your compost is frozen solid you shouldn't pour hot water in there though, in stead you can use hot water bottles. A couple of soda bottles filled with hot water will probably work just fine. It will take some time for them to thaw it out and you'll have to change them when they get cold, but eventually it will thaw.