Composting question

[Thomassio]

Hi all, back for more advice!

This is possibly a tricky one as it's hard to explain quantities. My compost bin smells. I have googled and read up a fair bit on composting and my parents always composted a lot so it's not completely new to me.
I live with my wife only so we don't produce a lot of food waste but my compost bin is made up mostly of duck manure. We tend to put in most of the bedding from 6 ducks most weeks. That's a shallow tray approximately 2x3ft, about 3" deep we also put all of the poo that we can sweep up in there. That's A LOT! I thought it was a fairly good ratio of 'greens to browns' but as the browns is almost exclusively wood shavings and straw, could it be that they are too slow to break down and I'm swamping it with too much nitrogen? I keep it moist but not wet and turn it fairly regularly. Any ideas or pointers people?

Thanks,

Thom.

[billnorfolk]

Hi Thom

Wet smelly compost sounds like to much poo ,straw is good as a brown element ,wood shavings not so good as take a while to break down and once used on the garden can seriously deplete the nitrogen content .Use extra straw in compost and buy an incinerator to burn the wood chips in and compost the ash.

[Thomassio]

Thanks Billnorfolk. I thought that could be the case. I have dumped in a load more straw and turned it again. I guess I was hoping to find something full of carbon that also breaks down quickly!

[lancashire lass]

I guess I was hoping to find something full of carbon that also breaks down quickly!

shredded cardboard or newspaper works well

Also, smelly compost could be due to anaerobic activity - you may need to break up and turn over the compost to introduce more air

[Thomassio]

I'm turning it about once a week at the moment. I filled a dustbin with a load of straw and chopped it up with some shears to try to make it a little easier to turn and break down, then added it to my heap. I think the real problem is the ducks just produce so much poop that I don't know what to do with it. I'm reluctant to throw it away as I just saw a 'special offer' of poultry manure for ten quid per bucket! £10 for a bucket of muck. Bargain!

[teddymouse]

It would help the process if you can add a layer of soil.

[Sara]

Loo roll cartons (you know the bit in the middle) compost down well, and egg cartons... You could also try adding fallen leaves , not really the season i know but you may have some to hand with all the recent wind

Good luck