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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Compost Turners

These are 10 month old Buff Rocks and Colombian Wyandottes turning some 5 week old compost.  This batch is about 50% chickie poo pine litter, 25% dried leaves from last autumn, and 25% shredded tree trimming compost from the city.  Still not enough carbon to nitrogen (chickie poo) so it burns and off gasses ammonia for a few weeks.  I turn daily during that stage - but once the ammonia smell is gone, I let the girls have at it, raking it back into a pile every few days.  By week 5, there are all kinds of tasty creepy crawlies in the compost pile as it cools down and starts smelling like woodland earth.  At least tasty to an ambitious hen.  This pile started out as about 6 wheelbarrows full of stuff and now barely makes one wheelbarrow full.  It is technically ready to mix in the garden beds; however, I haven't had time, so I let the biddies continue to enjoy turning it.  In theory, I should be starting another compost pile... but, well, yeah, what was I thinking when I decided to go back to school!


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