Need help, Composting with Chicken poop

[tigger19687]

So I finally bought a tumbler composter. I am limited in space to put this so out front it goes because I DON'T CARE.

Anyway, I get that you need brown and green ratios but still not sure what is best.
Then throw in the Chicken Poop that is high in Nitrogen and a guy who told me his pile was "Really Hot" after adding the poop. Now I am totally confused on ratios.

Anyone here Compost with their chick poop? I have plenty of paper, leaves, lawn clippings (but I usually mulch with the mower), Kitchen scraps etc.
Tell me your secret !

 

[rjohns39]

I haven't tried it in a tumbler... I start my compost pile with LOTS of brown stuff, mostly sawdust and wood chips. When my birds are done with the brooder, I add the deep litter to the pile and mix it in. Simple answer, you can never have too much brown, too much green and manure will stink. And then there is moisture... Too much and you'll smell ammonia, too little and it won't cook. I don't know if that helps or not.

 

[abraga]

I compost with chicken poo. I have round wire cages I made from hardware cloth. I dump pine shavings mixed with poo that i remove from my roosting areas weekly..coffee grounds..grass/plant clippings , shredded paper and odds and ends from food prep..like tater peels and vegetable scraps. I even save egg shells and recycle them back into my soil. Sometimes the shavings also contain chicken feed and scratch seeds. I don't turn mine...i just keep adding to the bins as it shrinks. I might shake the cage on occasion to loosen compost from the bottoms and sometimes I move them to different spots around my garden so that the decomposted material sinks into the ground. I also like to put chicken poo in with my vegetable plants...and I sometimes toss the chicken poo shavings around my berry bushes..and right into my garden in areas where I don't have plants so that it naturally compost so that by spring I will have a nice fertile bed for plants. Come winter I will toss stuff from my coop around fruit trees. I don't waste anything that I can compost. In some spots whereby have compost bins..my chickens scratch around and spread it for me!

 

[tigger19687]

Thanks all.
I did try the big square bin but honestly I just couldn't get it turned nor turned enough. In the end of letting it sit for a year I had roots of an only bush that used to be there all in it. So it was a waste.
I figure with the tumbler I can turn it easier and I will have 2 so I can start one, let one sit.

I will have more Paper products (brown) and coffee grounds to put in it then anything else I think. It will sit where Summer gets morning sun till 9 so I will have to make sure it doesn't get too wet. It will be up against the house so sheltered from too much rain.
Chick poop and some shavings for heat which is good.

I can't wait for it to get here on Friday

 

[rjohns39]

Also take a look at post #14 here. @aart has a wonderful system with his run.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-to-do-until-grass-is-gone.1195163/page-2#post-18922259

 

[aart]

@aart has a wonderful system

Well, that's just cold composting.....at a stretch.
Just dry plant matter to 'eat' up the poops.

Using a tumbler with carefully balanced ingredients and moisture with regular rotation would/could be 'hot' composting and could create some fine material in a month or three. I suggest you get a compost thermometer, very handy for management of hot composts.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Well, that's just cold composting.....at a stretch.
Just dry plant matter to 'eat' up the poops.

Using a tumbler with carefully balanced ingredients and moisture with regular rotation would/could be 'hot' composting and could create some fine material in a month or three. I suggest you get a compost thermometer, very handy for management of hot composts.

I was thinking a meat thermometer, but they make them for compost? Awesome!

 

[CapricornFarm]

I may need to use a meat thermometer unless i find a shorter compost one, 20" is going to be too long for my purposes!

 

[aart]

I may need to use a meat thermometer unless i find a shorter compost one, 20" is going to be too long for my purposes!

Meat therm may work...readout range may a bit low tho, and probe not long enough.
Compost therm is the perfect range,
and you don't have to use the whole length of probe when taking a reading,
but sure is handy when you need it.
They are good for reading soil temps for planting too, if you're a gardener.

 

[tigger19687]

I just put my hand in the space between door & compost, if cold add, if hot I smile lol