You give me a lot more credit than I deserve. When I moved here I had a lot of extra brick lying around. I built two open-top bins side by side, each maybe 4’ square. One is my working bin and the other is what I collect stuff in for the next batch. I also pile a bunch of the refuse from the garden like corn, okra, and tomato stalks, sweet potato vines, stuff like that, in separate piles, one in a corner of the garden and another near the compost bins. I scrape the droppings board maybe once every two to three weeks, depending in how thick it gets and whether I’m expecting company that might want to see the chickens.
When the working bin is finished I clean it out, fill it with stuff I’ve collected in the other bin plus those piles, maybe grass clippings, and start another batch. For a few months I dump any poop I’ve cleaned off the dropping board on top of the working pile, turning it a lot less than I should. When that working bin is maybe within a month of being ready to use, I start dumping the poop in the holding bin, along with kitchen wastes, garden excess the chickens don’t get, whatever. Some of that stuff in the holding bin is well on its way and provides the bugs to get the next batch started real well when I mix it in.
I’m not sophisticated at all. I just dump the poop on top of whichever bin I choose. I’m rural and it’s pretty well isolated away from my house or anyone else so smell is not a problem, but it doesn’t really smell anyway. About the only problem I ever have is when the poop gets pretty thick on top or maybe I have a lot of garden refuse like when I can and it stays wet a bit, flies lay eggs in there. But that’s only when it’s set in wet a while. I turn it or stir it up some and that problem goes away.
My real problem is that it dries out too much in the summer. It won’t work if it gets too dry, just sits there. I keep meaning to water it more and keep it slightly damp, but well, good intentions.
I made a frame out of ½” hardware cloth and 2x4’s that fits on top of my wheelbarrow. When a batch is finished I sift it through that hardware cloth. Anything that goes through gets put into an empty plastic feed bag. Paper bags rot because the compost will keep working some if it is damp. Anything that doesn’t go through gets put in the next working batch.
It’s a lazy man’s way of composting. It works, not as fast as it would if I turned it more often and kept it damp like I should, but it makes a world of difference in the garden.
When the working bin is finished I clean it out, fill it with stuff I’ve collected in the other bin plus those piles, maybe grass clippings, and start another batch. For a few months I dump any poop I’ve cleaned off the dropping board on top of the working pile, turning it a lot less than I should. When that working bin is maybe within a month of being ready to use, I start dumping the poop in the holding bin, along with kitchen wastes, garden excess the chickens don’t get, whatever. Some of that stuff in the holding bin is well on its way and provides the bugs to get the next batch started real well when I mix it in.
I’m not sophisticated at all. I just dump the poop on top of whichever bin I choose. I’m rural and it’s pretty well isolated away from my house or anyone else so smell is not a problem, but it doesn’t really smell anyway. About the only problem I ever have is when the poop gets pretty thick on top or maybe I have a lot of garden refuse like when I can and it stays wet a bit, flies lay eggs in there. But that’s only when it’s set in wet a while. I turn it or stir it up some and that problem goes away.
My real problem is that it dries out too much in the summer. It won’t work if it gets too dry, just sits there. I keep meaning to water it more and keep it slightly damp, but well, good intentions.
I made a frame out of ½” hardware cloth and 2x4’s that fits on top of my wheelbarrow. When a batch is finished I sift it through that hardware cloth. Anything that goes through gets put into an empty plastic feed bag. Paper bags rot because the compost will keep working some if it is damp. Anything that doesn’t go through gets put in the next working batch.
It’s a lazy man’s way of composting. It works, not as fast as it would if I turned it more often and kept it damp like I should, but it makes a world of difference in the garden.
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