Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[vehve]

I'm interested to see how they work through the winter. I think -20 C is about the coldest they should be able to handle. I've been able to keep the air inside the box at 15-30 deg C warmer than ambient air, depending on what phase of composting is going on. The core is much hotter at that point, it can easily climb to 50 C higher than the outside temps.

With the C:N ratios, I think the recommendations are about 25-30:1, so the 2:1 mix of browns to greens would probably be quite okay. Somewhere in the first 10 pages of the thread I think I've posted some links to some tables of the C:N ratios of different things, taking a look at them will give an idea of what you're working with.

 

[hennible]

I can't wait to see your results over the winter... I'm already sold on the idea and want to build one in the spring but the better your winter results the better mine would be. I also like the fact that the chickens cant get my compost...

 

[vehve]

Sammy, make it a bit bigger than mine though, if you've got a lot of stuff to process. Ideally I'd like one that's three cubic meter compartments, that way you could let it rest in the box for pretty long. Mine does okay, but our yard is pretty small so we don't get that much garden waste.

 

[hennible]

Good idea Fee fee, 2 acres and a lot of gardens... Plus my expanding flock sure make a lot of compostable material....

 

[vehve]

Yeah, a 3 by 1 meter box with three separate lids should get rid of quite a lot. Once you fill the first and get it cooking, you start filling the next compartment, 2-4 weeks later depending on the weather and what's in there, you've got ready soil in the first one, you've just filled the second one and started on the third one. After the stuff has broken down and compressed a bit, you'll probably get about 300-500 liters of black gold from every batch.

 

[Lacy Blues]

That's a good idea vehve. Three compartments. I don't have a lot of waste to be composted, except manure/shavings.

My area is so dry that enclosing it like yours might be the best solution to keep moisture in.

That is another project and won't even begin to see construction drawings until next year some time. I'm still working on my barn for winter and still need to build some other items to go in... so next year is definitely the soonest.

 

[vehve]

Lacy, in Nevada you won't need the insulation - just use whatever scraps you get from the other projects and throw together your compost box, then line them with a tarp to seal in the moisture better. It took me about two hours of work to put together my box, I just pre-cut everything to size and nailed it together. Cutting the insulation took a bit longer, and my main problem was that I ran out of lumber in the middle of the project.

 

[Lacy Blues]

You'd be surprised at how cold it gets here in the winter! Brrrr

 

[hennible]

Insulating it may even help keep the compost at a better temperature when it's really hot there

 

[vpatt]

I use PDZ in the coop ....is that ok for compost? I have lots of leaves cause we are in the woods.....I have had compost in the past. So I think with chickens it will be hotter.