Safe composting?

[missmychicks]

I Have 4 girls, put wood shavings in their runs and cleaned it out in the fall and put it in my outside pallet composter (with a tarp). I stir it occasionally, but am not actively adding anything to it. Should I wait a year before stirring it into my raised garden beds ?I have read through all the discussions here, but still a little worried to put it on my precious seedlings that are growing in the greenhouse as we speak...TYIA!

 

[DobieLover]

It depends on the nitrogen (poop) load to carbon (shavings) ratio. If it is hot (high N) then I would wait. If not and you really mix the soil well it should be fine.

I have a very hot compost pile that is started with 1 years worth of poop board siftings that are almost all poop that I mix with 95% shavings/5% poop when I do the annual coop clean out. I layer the older board cleanings with the dirty shavings into a newly emptied pallet bay. It will sit there for a year, uncovered and untouched by me. In the spring before the coop cleanout, I shovel out what I need for my veggie beds and leave a pile for any soil amendments I want to do in my landscape beds and start all over again with the next load. It works great.

 

[Sally PB]

https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/2010/05/08/hot-compost-composting-in-18-days/

If you want compost in a hurry, you can do this.

I pile the kitchen scraps and coop scoopings in the compost bin over the winter. When it warms up in March or April, I'll turn it and do a big Berkely pile. In about 3 weeks, I have finished compost.

 

[Bawkbok]

While waiting for your matter to turn to compost, you can add your spent coffee grounds to your garden soil - it does wonders to enrich the soil. Cold coffee from yesterday is also good to water house plants with, not exclusively of course, they still need fresh water also.