Starting to Compost

[pine_lore]

Of those materials the most likely to stink if they’re in there too much is the grass clippings.

Layering in between layers of the other two materials sounds like a good start!

Plan is wood chips, pine shavings, grass clippings, and repeat. Doing it today. Looking forward to starting my compost adventure!

 

[BlissInBelize]

My mom's composted for years and so do I. I have a tumbler. Gobs of coffee grounds (filter included), eggs shell, miscellaneous food scraps (no meat), poopy straw, even cedar shavings, one time I threw ash in there from my wood burning stove. That stuff is black gold. I use it in the garden. When planting we dig a hole, then I put a bunch in the hole and put the plant on top. Then cover as usual.

This sounds like the mix we have. How long do you let it sit before putting it in your garden? Do you mix it as you build it up?

 

[samanthaoverton]

This sounds like the mix we have. How long do you let it sit before putting it in your garden? Do you mix it as you build it up?

Its in a compost tumbler. So I tumble it...when I remember.lol. It usually turns black, when it's ready.. It's very casual. Egg shells usually take a long time to fall apart. When I put them in the holes before planting I usually have to break apart the egg shells but that doesn't seem to bother the plants. The more you rotate the compost the faster it decomposes. I usually just leave the lot in the barrel and take as needed. This year we moved the tumbler and dumped the compost into a container to use for the garden. It was black and it smells earthy.

 

[samanthaoverton]

Also there is hot composting and just normal composting..hot compost is with the tumbler..hot compost breaks down quicker. It can be a couple weeks to a month with hot compost.

 

[TooCheep]

Its in a compost tumbler. So I tumble it...when I remember.lol. It usually turns black, when it's ready.. It's very casual. Egg shells usually take a long time to fall apart. When I put them in the holes before planting I usually have to break apart the egg shells but that doesn't seem to bother the plants. The more you rotate the compost the faster it decomposes. I usually just leave the lot in the barrel and take as needed. This year we moved the tumbler and dumped the compost into a container to use for the garden. It was black and it smells earthy.

Crumble the egg shells before composting. They will break down faster.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Crumble the egg shells before composting. They will break down faster.

Or run them through a chicken first.

 

[TooCheep]

Or run them through a chicken first.

Composting breaks them down.

Hens put Humpty Dumpty back together again...

 

[gtaus]

Egg shells usually take a long time to fall apart.

I take my egg shells, smash them inside a bread bag, and feed them to the chickens. The egg shell calcium is good for the hens, and they will process the egg shells and poo them out. Then, just compost the chicken poo in your tumbler. That's about the fastest way to compost egg shells.

There are many ways to feed crushed egg shells to your chickens. Sometimes I just dump some crushed egg shells in my kitchen chicken food scraps bucket and dump it out into the run. Sometimes I will take some crushed egg shells and throw them in my PVC calcium feeder. Some people just take out the egg shells, throw them on the ground in the run, and walk over them to crush the shells. What the chickens don't eat will later get composted in whatever method you have set up.

 

[TooCheep]

@gtaus
Do you crush and feed uncooked shells? I've been very cautious and only feed shells from hard boiled eggs. I depend on layer feed for the rest of their calcium, but have been thinking of switching to flock feed, so will need more calcium. Would I need to bake shells from uncooked eggs to insure they are safe or can they eat crushed uncooked shells safely (even with minor dirt occasionally)?

 

[Sally PB]

This is what I do to the egg shells I feed back to my chickens. I wash out the remaining egg white and set the shell aside to dry. When I get tired of the pile of shells, I put them in a mixing bowl and crush them with the bottom of a glass. I aim for <1/4" pieces. Dump them in a container with a tight lid, and replenish the eggshell dish when it's low.

That's what I've been doing for almost two years, and it works well. The chickens also have access to oyster shell, but they eat a lot more of the eggshells.