Teach Meh! ...Please? :)

[baymule]

For those of you composting wood chips, how long do you compost them? I have access to them but I was always afraid of the nitrogen they would tie up. In fact I buy them for mulch (have to be correct brown color according to DD) because they don't break down fast and stop weeds.

That would depend on how OCD you were about them, whether you turned the pile, took it's temperature and so on. My guess, if you mixed the wood chips with manure, green grass clippings, and just let it sit, would be at least a year. If you have the room and the time, go for it. Winter freezes might slow it down. You never know unless you try.

 

[digitS']

Seedcorn, I have few chickens and it is mostly "if it doesn't stink, they can go another month on it." So, their shavings gets plenty of chicken poop and it's pretty dry.

Then, those shavings are mixed with some real compostable stuff. Finally, I am happy to mix organic fertilizer into it. The ingredient listed are feather meal, meat meal, bone meal . . . in other words, they have used the whole chicken in that fertilizer. Still, I can dig into that over a year later and still find plenty of recognizable wood! At that point, however, I don't worry about it.

Here is about what I did back when I got a truckload of shavings and the cleanest stable manure one could imagine. I was still using ammonium sulfate during those days, especially in my compost. Horse Manure Management, Ohio State University (link) My experience was pre-internet but I must have used about the right mix because the shavings really disappeared by 18 months.

Steve

 

[MontyJ]

I agree with Bay. Wood chips will definately tie up nitrogen. However, you can combat that with applications of high nitrogen like urea or fresh grass clippings. I have also very recently discovered that chicken poop will do a number on wood shavings. You are going to have to keep it turned and aerated though. Any route you take, wood chip mulch is going to take some time to break down.

 

[boggybranch]

Here's a good place to start......

http://www.composting101.com/

 

[Poppyseed]

My grandad used to talk about the secret ingredient in his compost, turned out he peed in it!
I use egg shells in mine but dry them out in the bottom of my oven first after I was told that if you leave a bit of yolk in, while this provides extra nutrients it can also attract rats. Suppose it depends on where you are though.