Composting/Compost Bin

[SoyBean]

My co-worker has told me about a compost bin for $60 that I plan to get tomorrow. So hopefully we can get a nice pile going. We always have the "green" since we always have fruit peels, left over veggies, grass clippings, ect. As far as the brown, we have a good source if this is ok to use. We keep rats and we are always changing their bedding. The bedding is a wood pellet bedding. The rats are basically on a vegetarian diet, so there would be no dairy or meat in their poo. Would the rat poo and wood pellet bedding work for the compost pile?

 

[SoyBean]

I had another question. Roughly, how long does it take from beginning (adding materials to pile) to end (done composting) for a compost pile. I know its not an exact science and times will vary, but give me about how long it takes your compost to complete itself.

 

[amyquilt]

This is an interesting question...watching for info ;-)

 

[Beekissed]

I think it depends on the level of moisture, sunlight and air available. I do know if you add some red wigglers to the bin, it will go much faster! I think it just varies too much according to the design of the bin, the amount of sunlight exposure, the level of aeration the compost receives and the level of moisture retained (too wet is bad, too dry is bad) so its pretty difficult to pin down a time frame.

Maybe someone here can give you some facts on it......waiting for someone more knowledgable to show up...

 

[bodnsoul]

It also depends on pile size and the carbon to nitrogen ratio. My normal compost bin with garden and kitchen wastes takes months to finish. But, I ahve also built piles of horse manure and hay and had a pile steam, get real hot and finish in 3 weeks with 3 turnings during the process. I always make my bins from shipping pallets, staging nails on the corners for tie wire to secure the corners. When time to turn the pile I remove 1 side and pull the compost out and refill the bin. The pallets are free and I like free, they look pretty rustic as they weather as well and such a bin holds a huge amount of material which I need for my huge garden. Adding a little high nitrogen fertilizer, or a manure will speed things up.

 

[patandchickens]

Unless there is a LOT of rat poo and just a tiny bit of litter, you may have a carbon-biased pile that will not compost as quickly as it might with more nitrogenous material in it. (If you care to, you can correct that by adding more high-nitrogen stuff, or by adding ammonium nitrate or bloodmeal).

I've had piles that were good finished compost in less than a month (large piles at horse barns, turned at least weekly with a tractor), and piles that took five years, and I have *seen* piles that are clearly going to take more than five years for anything but the innermost bottommost part to break down. I think the range of variation is like "couple weeks to couple lifetimes"

Pat

 

[SoyBean]

My rats poo a lot. We clean the cages in shifts since we have over a dozen rats. They are like poo factories. I could put more nitrogen into the pile to balance it out. What could i use to do this?

 

[patandchickens]

Ammonium nitrate or bloodmeal are the most 'direct' means, but they require a shopping trip.

Other relatively high nitrogen sources include grass clippings (but don't - use a mulching mower and leave 'em on your lawn), 'green' type kitchen wastes that your chickens or rats won't eat, any other kind of manure (do you have chickens? get chickens, put a droppings board in the coop under the roost, and scrape it off each morning to put in the compost), or frankly the males in your household can just go out to the compost pile whenever it's time to take a whizz

Pat