Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[vehve]

I just did a second turning for the pile, and dug a hole on the right side in which I deposited a pitchforkful of the core from the left side, let's see if that would get it going. The whole left side seems to be pretty active, and I hope the added aeration from the proper turn I did will help the heat climb even higher. Ideally, I'd like to get the heat reading up to about 40C for a week, that way I could be pretty sure that the composting mass has been around 50-60C for a prolonged time. Not much will survive that kind of temps. Even if the right side won't start, it would also get up to similar temperatures and that would hopefully kill any seeds left in it. There's always a fair amount of seeds left in the bedding we toss in there, and I don't want to turn my garden into a wheat field.

I read somewhere, that you need about a week to kill most seeds if the pile is 40C, but if you can get it up to 60C, it will kill most of the stuff in a matter of hours. So that's what I'm aiming at.

 

[aart]

I was going to suggest putting more of the left into the right. ;-)

 

[vehve]

An even mix of both batches might work, but I'm not sure I want to mix everything, in case it doesn't heat up enough. Plus the bedding from the coop might be enough to get it to cook. If I get the left side to cook properly and empty it out before I clean the coop, then I would be in the clear for a while again. I'm starting to be a bit low on compost space, that's why I'm so worried about the right side not heating up.

 

[aart]

Yeah, it's risky...you don't want to take too much out of the left and have it cool off too.
You are learning alot with this.... and by sharing it all, teaching others too.

 

[vehve]

Yup, luckily it's quite a steep learning curve in the beginning. It's easy to get started, but perfecting the process takes loads of learning and experimenting. The point of this thread was to hopefully get others to not repeat my mistakes, and for more experienced composters to be able to give some advice when I'm lost in the woods.

The hot phase is the most interesting one in the beginning, because things happen quickly, so you get fast input on whatever you do to it. What I'd like to learn more about is the cooling down and maturing period, that's something I haven't gotten to see too much of yet. Once the resting pile thaws out in spring, it will be interesting to see what's happening there. I'm especially interested in seeing how the worms in there are doing, and if they've started multiplying.

 

[aart]

I don't think that you can have live worms and seed/pathogen killing heat.......

Oh, wait..... the resting pile. The one that you took out of the bin and it's 'resting'?
Probably frozen solid eh....did you add worms, maybe they went underground for winter?

 

[vehve]

aart, yeah, I added some, and they are the one's I'm interested in. I don't know how much soil there is underneath the pile though, it might be anything from a few inches to a few feet. I wonder if worms can survive inside an ice cube. The pile itself is frozen solid. Or at least it was the last time I poked around in it.

The hot box does have some worm activity too. Last time I emptied it, there were worms on the bottom. Since the bottom of the box is only covered in wire, the worms can escape into the soil when it gets too hot inside the box, and then they can return to feed on whatever the bacteria leaves behind once it cools down again a bit. Those worms I haven't added, they've appeared on their own.

 

[HennyPennyCO]

Yeah, you don't turn that kind of a pile daily... Although, have you thought about setting your chickens loose on that pile? They might help you a bit with it...

Even with that quantity of material (o lucky lucky you) I'd still go with at least a two-heap method, and try to layer the additions as much as you can over the whole heap.
And if your chickens excavate their run material as much as my little flock of four hens do, they could do a wonderful job with turning the heaps, and picking out any unwanted insects, grubs, etc.
I swear my girls are planning a mass breakout because they are digging down under the outer fence of their run. I've had to stuff the holes with bricks (isn't that what you keep a heap of old used bricks for? Don't tell me they're junk!).
Penny

 

[aart]

Quote: YES!!! I wish I hadn't given a pile away just before I got chickens!!!

 

[vehve]

People will even pay good money for old bricks. They tend to be a lot prettier than new ones.

27C in the bin today. Added some more water again. I've actually read that you get better results if you water properly and let it dry in between, but I don't want to risk overwatering when I've finally gotten it going.