[wildandwooly]

Hello all 
This is probably a stupid question but we are total first timers to composting! 
We're wanting to build a large composter to mostly have somewhere to compost chicken and duck compostable bedding in an accessible corner of our smaller field. I have no idea re composting, it's all new to me but I know it's best not to add any food waste so as not to attract any rats. However, should it have a top on it and if a top needed on it should we line it with anti rat mesh but obviously still using slatted wood surround as usual to allow air in or do we just not bother about any potential rat issue? We don't have a huge problem with rats but then we don't want to give any local ones a nice new des res either! 
Any suggestions and advice from all you composting experts will be gratefully received 

[Fleecewife]

Compost is slightly different to FYM - farm yard manure.  FYM is high in nitrogen and is used for leafy crops and if it has animal bedding in then it also supplies bulk to the soil for the lumbricus earthworms to work in. You can stack manure in a neat heap, but you need to do it on soil to take the runoff, unless it's on concrete and you have an inbuilt channel to some collection point.  Compost is for all your garden material, minus seeding and infected weeds and poisonous plants, plus cage cleanings from guinea pigs, rabbits etc.  This is used for a general fertiliser for your veggie patch and also bulks up the soil, contributing to soil structure.  The worms will work that in too if you go for no dig.
You can mix both together to get a fertile version of garden compost.
In fact you can store both types in composting boxes, min 3 feet cubed.  You don't put in things like meat, cheese, table scraps and so on, but any veggie scraps are fine.
You need to turn a heap so you need a min of 2 boxes in a row, preferably 3. Turning the heap brings uncomposted material into the middle of the heap to break down further and helps aerate the mix. By turning into an empty box, you then have an empty one to start the next heap while the first is carrying on composting.  If you turn again into box no 3 then you will have really well made compost which you can use straight from the 3rd box. Otherwise it can be best to spread the less well composted stuff on the ground to break down more, or put it in the bottom of your bean trench.
yes, compost should be covered.  It can be a lid, a piece of tin, a felted sheeps fleece, an old wool carpet or some old wool jumpers.
Rats aren't much of a problem and if they are, set the dog on them.
Compost is magic 

[SallyintNorth]

Rats are a huge problem here.  (We do have 4 terriers but they all seem to be sofa jockeys.)  But we do put pretty much all our non-meat scraps into our compost. 

[doganjo]

I have a Hotbin, which is ratproof, but there's a knack in learning how to operate it

[Fleecewife]

Rats are a huge problem here.  (We do have 4 terriers but they all seem to be sofa jockeys.)  But we do put pretty much all our non-meat scraps into our compost.

You're halfway there then Sally.  Get one of those indoor bone and scraps composters using bran and tiger worms for the food scraps, or feed them to the cat, kick the lazy terriers off the sofa and Bob's your uncle - lovely clean compost, no rats and some active dogs 

[SallyintNorth]

I have a Hotbin, which is ratproof, but there's a knack in learning how to operate it

We have just installed a hotbin.  But because of the knack thing, we all pile up our contributions next to it, so the Hotbin Expert can combine it as it needs.  The rats, of course, have found the piles of stuff waiting to go in...

[Q]

for a starter have a look at some of the youtube videos by Charles Dowding.  He takes a relatively laid back approach to how to get started with composting.

He was the one who gave me confidence to put in things like couch grass (twitch) and bindweed and anything that might have blight because it all gets composted as long as you heat it up.

I run a communal compost area at the allotments and I have progressed to composting 2 cubic metre heaps at a time.
The bins I use are just made of pallets with a waterproof cover (to keep rain out and moisture in).

I read recently that the dreaded japanese knotweed can be destroyed by composting as long as the heat is greater than 45 degrees.

[Anke]

I would also advocate watching Charles Dowding on youtube, we just put all our garden waste, veggie waste and the occasional bucket of whey, plus some chicken and goat muck into a compost bin, made from four pallets tied together. No lid, and I try to turn it once at least. Works fine, but not the fastest. Can't be bothered with a hotbin or some other modern peice of kit. We also have muck only heaps (with loads of bedding straw and waste hay from the goats), and use that for mulching as well.


So I think not much you can do wrong, but rats will come and move in, food scraps or no food scraps - it is just a nice and relatively dry place to live in!

[Q]

So I think not much you can do wrong, but rats will come and move in, food scraps or no food scraps - it is just a nice and relatively dry place to live in!

yes rats will inevitably inhabit your compost heap but regular turning stops them breeding as much = in my case it forces the rats into the open where the cats deal with them.

[wildandwooly]

Thanks all for all the suggestions and advice 😊
Never heard of a Hotbin but sounds complicated 😄.
We'll have a go at making something and hopefully dissuade
too many rats from looking for new hotel accommodation! I had
seen something that had 2 or 3 separate bin sections Fleecewife
so we'll try that 👍
Will definitely watch the suggested You Tube videos as well.
It'll be good to start having a go at composting anyway 😊

[doganjo]

Thanks all for all the suggestions and advice 😊
Never heard of a Hotbin but sounds complicated 😄.
We'll have a go at making something and hopefully dissuade
too many rats from looking for new hotel accommodation! I had
seen something that had 2 or 3 separate bin sections Fleecewife
so we'll try that 👍
Will definitely watch the suggested You Tube videos as well.
It'll be good to start having a go at composting anyway 😊

Hotbins aren't complicated, you just need to follow the instructions sent with it which most people donlt do (including me till I realised it was actually simple), and they are rat proof.  Even, as Sally says stuff gathered ready to go in, could be put in metal bins waiting for the said 'expert on hotbins'

I have a normal compost bin, but my dogs pulled off the exit panels at the side to get at the chicken manure so it is no more use than a chocolate teapot. Damned waste of £30 for a plastic one, but I couldn't be doing with pallet rat infested ones like I had before

See video
https://marshallsgarden.com/products/hotbin-mini-10906100?variant=31308740001843&currency=GBP&ds_rl=1278790&ds_rl=1284267&ds_rl=1278790&ds_rl=1284267&gclid=CjwKCAjw2vOLBhBPEiwAjEeK9gsXV-ynksvy0ATTdAGWZrSYeBbdLNrq0TLRDJg8-ST5LbVAQwCthBoC3_UQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[wildandwooly]

Thanks doganjo 

[NickRJ]

I know it is an old post but for what it is worth if anyone comes back into this looking for tips/ideas. When I build my compost bins out of pallets I line them with mesh wire, the stuff with small squares not chicken wire. I was lucky when I moved here because there was a roll of the stuff in a barn but I think the guage of the mesh will keep rats out. In addition to that my bins are now on a concrete base which is frequently regarded as a "no-no" but some may regard it as cheating a bit but I bought 1000 tiger worms which are sold as fishing bait/compost worms here and they are doing the job even though the bins are not on soil, it may be that if the bins had been directly on soil the wire would not be effective as rats could and probably would tunnel in, a layer of mesh on the base would probably stop that happening. I had previously had mice breeding in my unlined bins when I lived in the UK. They were nothing more than a nuisance but I never had rats. I don't know if rats will be a problem here or not. The previous owner had left three plastic compost bins and I know they had rats in but it was hardly surprising, as we found chicken carcasses and all sorts of stuff which really shouldn't go anywhere near a compost heap to start with! . So food scraps yes, if it is veg based and generally uncooked but I do add stuff if it has had nothing more than a boil and no additives like salt. My sister in law has commercial plastic bins in her garden and she has found rats breeding in her bins so they too must have tunnelled their way in as there are only small aeration holes on the walls of the bins.

[edstrong]

"the stuff with small squares not chicken wire"

Called aviary wire. Agree really good for keeping rats out: I've used it for my chicken coop including under the floor and no rat has ever got through!

[Fleecewife]

More about aviary wire/pet mouse cage wire.  If you lay it on the ground under your compost heap it will eventually rot away sufficiently that the rats can stretch it and chew through it.  If you line your bin you might find it quite annoying when turning the bin with a fork which will catch the tines on the mesh. Probably best to wrap it round the outside. We have wrapped similar wire around our poultry houses to keep rats out although of course they can use the pop holes as any hen does.
We find egg shells attract rats to compost, also the nice warm nature of the heap. Actually rats love anywhere we don't want them, now I come to think of it     It's a losing battle here anyway