Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[vpatt]

Tarp would have been better under the snow, now the melting snow will wash away nutrients. But in the summer it's good to cover with a tarp to keep moisture in. In the spring a black tarp might draw heat from the sunlight.

Yes I had it covered at first and then I had the bright idea of letting the chicks scratch it up...lol. if the weather channel can be believed by next week I can cover it again. I think I need a frame around it to keep them from scattering it. I could cover it until there is more acccumulated and then with a frame around it the birds can get in there. Need to get the grandson back to work on a frame.
thnx

 

[lazy gardener]

my mom taught me the art of squatting when I was a little girl and we'd take long drives from Los Angeles through the desert into Palms Springs.... back int he early 80's. Its a skill that has served me well, lol

C

My toddler daughter taught that skill to our pastor's daughter... who then proceeded to use her new found skill in the parking lot behind the church! One of the elders saw the act in progress, and picked up said leaking toddler, and hustled her off to the side behind the cars. "Oh, Dear! Not here!" Even though this was more than 30 years ago, it still gives me a big chuckle.

 

[vehve]

Still 31C in the box, but I should probably switch the thermometer to the right side to get a better reading of the air temp. I finally admitted defeat with the right side, and started adding equal amounts of new spent bedding from the coop and uncooperative compost from the right side to the cooking left side. I can probably still squeeze a bit more into it, then I'm going to let a larger mass of new stuff accumulate on the right side before I start watering that. I need to get more space in the box soon, because it's starting to reach it's limit of how much I can jam in there. I think it will be time to start a new resting pile too. I've got about 400 liters of compost resting in my current pile, I hope I can manage a while with that. The amount of seeds in the current cooking batch is so large that I don't want to risk contaminating the resting pile with it.

 

[vehve]

Air temp was +34C today. But the thermometer is way too close to the pile right now for that number to be comparable, so I moved the thermometer to the emptier side. There seems to be a lot happening though, the pile on the left had gone down about 3-4 inches in just a day.

 

[aart]

Air temp was +34C today. But the thermometer is way too close to the pile right now for that number to be comparable, so I moved the thermometer to the emptier side. There seems to be a lot happening though, the pile on the left had gone down about 3-4 inches in just a day.

Cool.....or HOT d@mn, that's good!

 

[lazy gardener]

Up to 32.7*F outside right now. This is the first above freezing number that I've seen since December.

 

[vehve]

We're at about 2-3C (35F-ish). Inside of compost was 31C this morning (88F). The pile had sunken by 3 inches again. I'm going to keep at it for a few more days, and then I'll leave the left side to rest. The right side is starting to have some space.

 

[vpatt]

I had an old fleece I had not spun and I tried using some of it for bedding during the really cold weather. Now it is all mixed in with straw....do you think it would compost? Of course, there is lanolin in it. What do you all think?

Also, I wondered if any of you have collected grounds from coffee shops....I tried to get some from Starbucks one year and it seems that one of the employees was taking it so I didn't get much from them. I may ask at a couple other shops in our area.

 

[vehve]

Fleece is usually made from polyester, so I wouldn't put it in the compost. The best recycling use I've found for fleece is out at the cottage, where we use rainwater for washing ourselves in the sauna. Pouring it through fleece fabric filters it nicely.

Coffee grounds are a nice addition to compost, although with a lot of chicken poop, I don't know if you need the nitrogen boost it provides. If it isn't much work, go for it, but if you need to drive far for it, I wouldn't bother.

 

[aart]

I had an old fleece I had not spun and I tried using some of it for bedding during the really cold weather. Now it is all mixed in with straw....do you think it would compost? Of course, there is lanolin in it. What do you all think?

I assume you mean a real sheep fleece not the synthetic fleece materiel...but I have no idea if sheep hair will compost or not.