Single hen

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Title says it all .

 

I've just removed the bottom layer of compost (from the tardis compost bin) and it's disgusting, slimey and smelly . I've found out on the net that it's due to the bin being too wet but I'm not sure if I can use it straight away or not.

 

I've put a layer on top of some soil in a bed we're going to plant up, hoping it'll dry out. Within minutes there were hundreds of quite large, horrible, pale brown flies all over it .

 

Should I worry about the flies? Will they just disappear? Will the compost be OK to plant in (I plan to put a layer of bought compost on top of it)?

 

Here are the flies

 

You can see the brown flies all over the compost (which looks quite good but is wet and stinky )

[Redwing]

Honestly? I would bung it back in the compost bin with layers of hemcore between (do the girls need a clean out?) or newspaper/cardboard scrunched up to dry it out and allow air to circulate.

 

Sorry

 

If you leave it on the bed and mix it with normal compost it might be ok though as the bought compost will be quite dry.

[Olly]

I'd have thought it will be ok once it's dried out, and the flies will probably disappear then as well.

 

Going forward, add shredded or scrunched up paper, or egg-boxes (if you can spare them!) to get more air into your compost. Did you have a lot of just one sort of thing in there, i.e. grass clippings? It's best to have about 1/3 'brown' to 2/3 green, but sometimes it's just a case of not enough air.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Thanks . The flies seem to be reducing in numbers already .

 

I used to put the old hemcore in the compost bin (which is all veg/fruit/poop tray waste) but have recently been spreading some on the flowerbeds and putting the rest in another compost bin. I think I need to put some in the slimey bin .

 

I've also stopped using shredded paper in the nestbox (makes my new lawn look dreadfully untidy ) so will start adding some of that to the bin.

[Tessa the Duchess]

I am obsessed with my compost bins and am very fussy what goes in them and I stir them every couple of days. I only compost hemcore, chicken poo, shredded next box paper and grass clippings, plus any veg peelings that the chickens wont eat. The compost I get is really good, dry and crumbly, although the hemcore doesn't seem to rot down completely. I sprinkle citronella on the underside of the bin lids and I don't seem to get many flies at all. The bins need to be in a part of the garden that gets the sun, is this the problem ANH?

 

Tessa

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Tessa, they're both in a fairly sunny part (when we actually get sun!). I think the problem is that I've been putting all the veg/fruit peelings in one bin and all the hemcore/soil/poo in the other. So one was too wet, the other too dry . Stupid of me . So I've given them both a good stir, added shredded paper to the wet one and will now alternate the types of waste in each bin .

 

The flies have gone, btw . Good tip about the citronella, though .