Single hen

[Foxy Loxy]

I throw the chicken poo into the compost which will make great compost but after only 5 days, when I take the lid of it now, it is covered in flies. Is this inevitable, do other people find this too or is there something I could do to deter them. I have an abundance of lemon balm and was thinking of throwing a couple of leaves on it.

[Sarah71]

Yeah, I've got the same problem, I've filled mine and it's covered in flies, I'm now having to put it in the wheelie bin

[Louise]

Cover the top with some scrunched up newspaper so the flies arent attracted quite so much

[Gallina]

It's because chicken manure is such good stuff that the flies are attracted. I would continue to use it: it is a wonderful compost activator.

 

I have bought rather expensive wooden compost bins with tight-fitting lids from Recycle Works, and although I still get some flies, they stay inside the bins.

[little Red Hen]

I line the droppings tray with a sheet of newspaper which I then scrunch up with the poos inside and throw in the composter. Apparantly scrunched up newspaper does help to provide air pockets. I do also have to throw it in the household as bin aswell though else the composter would have too much paper in it

[redfrock]

when I poo pick I put it all in one of those biodegradable bags - initially the ones for the indoor kitchen compost caddy, but that was quite dear, then I found some compostable biodegradable doggy bags on ebay (one for every day of the year for £10 including postage!!) and use those instead. They then go straight into the compost bin. I have found I am only suffering from a few fruit flies. Apparently if there are too many flies you can just leave the lid off for a few hours but I would have thought that would attract them ? I have found that the aubiose leaves my bin a little dry so I poured some water in to it at the weekend

 

I keep meaning to ring the council and see if I can put it all in my green garden waste wheelie bin, seeing as it is all compostable. A few drops of citronella in there should help keep it ok during the 2 week wait