Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[topdycke]

Can't overload on the bunnie cuteness factor

 

[vehve]

I'm working on trying to call them tasty instead of cute though. We're probably going to keep one of the girls from the bunch, just need to find a buck to use with her. We'll continue using the same buck on Hilma in the future, since this seems to have been such a success. We feel a bit sorry for the owner of the buck though, she has tried mating her own doe twice with that buck now, without any luck. On the second go, she had made a nest, but no kits.

 

[HennyPennyCO]

Looks like some tasty meat growing fast! More goodies more meat ya-know.
Scott

I thought your spoiler alert was directed at children or ultrasensitive readers who might not realize that those cutesy fluffy bunnies were destined to be (shudder) - eaten (whispered).
Penny
PS Rabbit was cheaper than chicken back in the almost long-ago days of my childhood in Australia. (There was a plague of introduced feral rabbits until myxomatosis reduced their numbers.) We ate rabbit meat regularly. I remember the rabbitoh (rabbit meat seller) coming around the neighborhood in his truck. He also brought chicken carcasses which you had to pluck yourself.

 

[vehve]

Better days... Now people think meat comes from a vacuum sealed plastic box.

There was one heck of a steam in the compost today, but the thermometer is still showing temps in the 35C/95F range. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

 

[vehve]

It was finally time to empty the compost again. First a flashback from how it looked 5-6 weeks ago:


Then today's picture:


I'm still having issues with getting the lowest part to decompose properly. When I built the box, I should have put the drain pipe lower. Right now, basically everything below it stays a bit too dry, and doesn't get enough oxygen. I've been trying to push some water into the drain pipe from the outside, but I should have started that earlier, because all it has resulted in is that the bottom 4-6 inches is a horrible stinky mess. Now that I got the left part emptied, I dumped the bottom part of it on top of the right side, it will smell bad for a while, but hopefully it will break down nicely. My resting pile was looking a bit compacted too, so I tried to fluff it up a bit before I added this new batch. I once again got two wheelbarrows of beautiful compost.

 

[vehve]

For the next few days, I think I'm going to have to turn the compost a bit more actively, so that I can get the smelly mess mixed in with the fresher straw, bedding and dandelion roots and leaves. I should have emptied the compost a bit earlier, as it's quite full now on the right side, but it should go down pretty quickly once it gets going properly. For some some reason I can't seem to get the temperatures to rise properly though, I have been stuck at 35C/95F for weeks now. And with hte left side emptied, it will probably drop a bit since a lot of the mass keeping the heat has disappeared. On the other hand, it will allow a larger airspace inside the box, so the cooking compost might actually get more oxygen and burn hotter due to that. This batch I'm cooking at the moment has been properly wet from the get go, it will be interesting to see if that will help me avoid the issues with the bottom parts.

 

[Bugseye]

I'm sorry to be more of an onlooker than a chatter, but this is quite the learn-as-you-go thread, and I love it. The coop litter is now in the pile with other assorted goodies and cooking along with golden garnish at 128 F. Today, though, I'll be busy getting cabbage, cauliflower and other things into the ground here in N. Idaho. Chickens are waiting for their mealworms, so I'll get going for now. Hope your pile heats up today, Felix.
Sandy

 

[vehve]

That's ok, I don't mind lurkers. I hope you get some nice compost from your pile.

 

[aart]

I'm still having issues with getting the lowest part to decompose properly. When I built the box, I should have put the drain pipe lower. Right now, basically everything below it stays a bit too dry, and doesn't get enough oxygen. I've been trying to push some water into the drain pipe from the outside, but I should have started that earlier, because all it has resulted in is that the bottom 4-6 inches is a horrible stinky mess. Now that I got the left part emptied, I dumped the bottom part of it on top of the right side, it will smell bad for a while, but hopefully it will break down nicely. My resting pile was looking a bit compacted too, so I tried to fluff it up a bit before I added this new batch. I once again got two wheelbarrows of beautiful compost.

Maybe you should build another and turn by moving the batch form one side the the other?

 

[scottcaddy]

Quote: I like that idea, and maybe just a bit bigger so he can add in the bunny goodies also?
Scott