how well do pine shavings break down in a compost pile?

[everthngsaducky]

Yes there is plenty of nitrogen in chicken poop; the issue is that the shavings take a long time, and a crazy amount of nitrogen, to break down. The chicken poop doesn't quite cover it, unless there is a whole heck of a lot; like if you're emptying a poop hammock into the compost pile more often than cleaning out your shavings. My pile is soaked with rabbit urine and full of chicken poo and rabbit poo, and its still frozen solid rather than having enough Nitrogen to generate heat.

I realize you probably know this already but for anyone following the thread, If you have a cold pile (let alone frozen) the microbes wont be able to get going, ..its only if the nitrogen on the pile was sufficient ...during..the warm season that microbes could get off to a statrt and generate heat, that they would even be able to withstand the cold of the changing seasons...and so no matter how well balanced your compost pile is, the warmth has to be there in order to give the microbes a start..they cant generate heat until they get going..and they can't get going if there's no heat.

 

[everthngsaducky]

Just saw this old tread get woken up again. lol
As I said in my post written 6 years ago (!), if there's enough chicken/poultry poop mixed into the shavings, there should be enough nitrogen to supply the microorganisms and the plants, without burning plant roots.

I've been top-dressing my garden with barn sweepings (a mix of shavings, grass hay and poultry manure) for decades now, and have never, never had a nitrogen deficiency in my soil. The plants grow lush and healthy. Perhaps the key point here is "top-dressing," meaning that it is being applied to the surface of the soil, not turned under or mixed into it. When you top-dress, it allows a gradual integration of the materials rather than giving the soil a sudden dose that would cause a spike in microorganism activity and possibly lead to a nitrogen deficiency due to all that microbial metabolism.

So, really, I'm using barn sweepings as a mulch that composts itself while also holding moisture into the soil and suppressing weeds. The shavings and hay buffer the plant roots from the heat of the mixed-in poop as it breaks down, and also keeps the poop loose and aerated so there are no bad odors.The whole thing ends up as rich, dark compost within months. It works really well, in my experience.

Ditto..as stated , the key is..it's used as mulch and added to every 3 or 6 months, kept away from the trunk of trees or main stems of plants...left on top of the soil ...never mixed in. ..and it has manure mixed in to help start the breakdown.