Hebe’s sometimes just give up the ghost they are fickle shrubs.
2 Likes
I’m looking for a bit advice. Before the renovation of the garden, we had a compost heap where the chickens also lived. We’re looking for a bit more structured setup now and think of getting a compost bin - or multiple compost bins.
Would something like this do, or am I going terribly wrong this way:
They work……but apparently these ones you can turnover and tumble the contents are better, quicker……perhaps a user can comment?
2 Likes
Those plastic bins are fine, but the contents can get a bit smelly and slimy as they are not breathable. I prefer the wooden ones which you can buy or just make out of old pallets.
If you are impatient the type you can turn speeds up the process a bit, but I prefer to just let them take their time. The turnable ones are usually small, and bigger is generally better.
1 Like
Old wooden pallets work better than the plastic ones.
Form three bins and turn into the next bin when full, delivers decent compost.
Watch out for rats!
1 Like
If you have rare plants that you want to use your home made compost on, the barrel ones that rotate on a stand are the best. It keeps the contents isolated and you can control the decomposing better.
The one you’ve pictured never seem to work for me properly.
2 Likes
Do you still want to keep hens?
If so I would go for a metal rotary composter; if not I would go for a hexagonal plastic bin. The one you showed will do a good rob if there is enough carbon in the compost and you add urine as accelerant. But they are too small for fast composting, hence the recommendation for the hexagonal bins, which have a sufficient volume to have efficient composting.
2 Likes
I use two of those plastic daleks and they do work okay, i find it’s best to relocated them around every other year, but the compost produced from them is excellent.
They are good in that the composting is neatly containerised, handy for a small garden, or if one doesn’t want the eyesore a more open structured compost. The daleks also contain the smells well, and maybe the minions of employee creatures that inhabit the factory have a safe environment to survive the winters, but i’m certainly very happy with their productivity.
Here in Wales the local county council sell them for far less than the garden centre, and free delivery too.
4 Likes
In March or so they come. The fence is just made and I need to create a coup for them with old wood we have. Looking forward to them - lovely animals.
1 Like
Excellent - when my first batch died I decided to re home barn hens. They arrived a very poor condition but they recovered to full plumage in 3 months. The only down size they are all brown so naming them is tricky.
Looking forward to seeing some pictures of your girls.
1 Like
I remember some photo’s you’ve posted on the forum pre / after good care for your hens.
We likely get 4 hens, and they’ll get named after some aunties (we have over 30, large family).
But first the composting bin. Some good comments were made above which triggered me investigating a bit more and I now understand the importance of mixing brown & green.
1 Like
My first compost bin was one of those plastic Daleks which our local council gave away to anyone who wanted one. I soon learned that putting lots of kitchen waste in it produced a foul smelling sludge as the excess noisture excluded air and caused anaerobic decomposition. Grass clippings, and any soft, wet foliage has a similar effect.
If all you have is dry garden waste, nothing happens. Adding water can help, but keeping a good mixture of wet and dry material keeps things in balance.
2 Likes
Indeed - I have a good 3 years of (incorrect) experience now but it made me realise that I do have all the good ingredients available. Grass clippings, sawdust, amazon & newspaper paper, kitchen waste (thats quite a bit in our young family). Mixing it and rotating it should do the trick.
I’ve watched some yt vids about it and was surprised how fast it can go if mixed & maintained properly. We’d a completely different experience - ultimately with sufficient results but it often took a year or so until we had good compost.
1 Like
A year is fine by me, the level never stops going down so I just keep on filling it until I finally get round to using it. Sometimes I reverse it by emptying one bin into an empty one next to it as that gets everything evenly broken down, but I see no need for constant rotation.
1 Like
I probably get along fine with the daleks because of balance between wet & dry, or what some call green & brown. If it gets sludgy and smells bad it’s probably not enough dry twiggy woody stuff in the mix. At least once a year i wood-chip a sizeable pile of apple tree branch cuttings, and this makes a fabulous ingredient for good future compost. Also no lawn here so no grass mowings, the green stuff is just weeds and kitchen waste.
Surprising how after an hour or two of weeding the garden, the daleks can become well stuffed.
2 Likes
I use two ‘dalek’ composter bins & have for numbers of years with great success.
I have one in the filling stage & the other maturing.
Apart from all the kitchen food and garden stuff, a lot of grass mowings, woody type clippings, plus some cardboard, unprinted paper and a small bag of sawdust for sprinkling on once a month or so.
The secret of both keeping the mix sweet smelling & composting down faster is a regular stir up.
I do this about once a month in both bins with a compost aerator, push it in and pull it out all over until it’s all loosened up.
After 4 month summer period of maturing, it’s ready to empty and receive the runner bean & other end of summer refuse around Sept Oct.
The winter maturing dalek is then ready to empty around April.
2 Likes
Don’t forget to pee on your compost heaps or bins occasionally. The added nitrogen is welcomed by the micro-organisms in the compost and they will generate heat.
A few chicken manure pellets dissolved in water would be a suitable alternative and doesn’t run the risk of prosecution!
2 Likes
I should mention that I also add Bokashi waste to my rotary bin. The Bokashi, fermented kitchen waste, is added to rabbit bedding and chicken bedding. I have two rotary bins which I empty when the other rotary bin is full. I empty them into my Dalek bins; this accelerates the compost in the Dalek, but the compost is still not as good as that from the hexagonal bins.
I don’t aerate although it would speed up the process. I do mean to try it sometime. The rabbit bedding takes longer to break down than the chicken bedding, largely because of the higher ratio of browns.
1 Like