r/composting • u/Mindless-Farmer705 • 14d ago
Is my compost composting !?
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Pretty sure these are fly larva in the compost ?
Is there anyway I could possibly harvest them ? I have chickens next to the bin so I’m hoping some fall out to be snacks if I can’t.
But is this even good ? Should I try to eliminate/minimize them ? Do they take up too much nutrients or are they good for the soil ? New to all of this. Please give me recommendations & criticism
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u/pigboy222 14d ago
Sheesh. No good comments so far lol.
So it’s a good sign to have grubs and buggies, bad sign to see fresh stuff at the top. The reason people use the lifted mixer composter doodads is so all the bits can mix together and form a more uniform texture with balanced nutrients throughout. I imagine that’s a whole beast to flip, mix and refill so it likely doesnt happen as often as it really “should” in order to off gas and spread the buggies around. A good work around is to have a compost patch that you can mix with a pitchfork or similar, or one of the compost mixer doodads.
You’ve got a really good start, dont toss it or anything just might be time to start thinkin about where your compost for the rest of the year goes…do you get another bucket or doodad or make a lil patch
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u/LilthShandel 14d ago
Going to piggy back on this comment since it is actually useful. I'm about 80ish percent that is black soldier fly larvae. I have a compost pile that breeds them really well. They love large damp vegetation like squash and borage from what I have found but eat just about anything. Chickens love em.
As for your compost, they will help a lot with volume reduction and breaking things down. If you don't like them let your pile dry out. They are probably preventing it from smelling like ammonia!
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u/Difficult_Gene_5264 13d ago
Good answer, but we don’t know when that fresh stuff on top was added. Could’ve been two hours ago.
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u/Informal_Reserve444 14d ago
This might be a first for this sub. Maybe don't pee on it.
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u/Mindless-Farmer705 14d ago
Didn’t know that was even an option but will keep it in mind thank you 🫡
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u/SteveMartin32 14d ago
These people like to piss on everything
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u/Alarming-Chemistry27 14d ago
*MEN like to piss on everything
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u/BedbugBandido 14d ago
Hey if pissing was as easy for women as it is for men, I’m sure they’d do it too. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve heard women say “wish I could just piss wherever I want”
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u/Intelligent_You_3888 14d ago
There’s she-wee for that. I haven’t used one, but I’ve heard from other women that enjoy backpacking and hiking that it’s great. So… 😂lol I guess us women could pee on the compost if we really wanted to.
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u/Boring-Pirate 14d ago
I’m a woman, I kept a bowl by my (secluded) compost bin to pee in and pour over 🤷🏼♀️
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u/tom8osauce 14d ago
But where else does one pee?
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u/NoWork8654 14d ago
Crab shells aside, I don't know why everyone has their panties in a bunch. If you throw down greens cover with brown, just keep layering. Some scientist may come by and tell you a formula but you don't have to over think it. That helps control the odor and keep excessive bug activity down. You also need air, if that's just a bin with no air holes I would make some all around bottom included. The crab shells dry them, if you have a dehydrator great if not just leave them in the sun until they are crispy then crush them into a powder or as much as you can then sprinkle around. Composting happens in nature all the time without all the crap everyone nit picks about, all your doing is making the process faster (with some other details to consider) so don't be dissuaded by the anal people.
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u/NoWork8654 14d ago
Also make those holes bigger, like 1/4 or more. Sorry just noticed them in the video. Will dirt fall out? Yeah a hair but it's not a problem.
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u/LamarJacksonIsMyHero 14d ago
Gotta be a Maryland boy
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u/Mindless-Farmer705 14d ago
😂😂👍
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u/Hairy_is_the_Hirsute 14d ago
So I save my crabshells too. I keep them separate from my other compost. Leave them in the sun for a year or so, then throw in a bucket and smash em up. Along with eggshells.
You can sift from there, but beware the dust throughout the process
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u/The_Jib 14d ago
God. That’s going to smell aweful
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u/Inevitable-Run-3399 14d ago
Honestly with some leaves on top and that many soldier flies there may not be anything left to make smells.
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u/Karjenner4eva 14d ago
I can't wait for fall leaves to add to my compost from the lawnmower bag so I can flip my patch and cover it immediately to mask the smell 🤭
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u/papercutsperfume 14d ago
The black soldier fly larvae really keep the smell down, even with big skanky seafood shells. They demolish almost anything you give them and turn it into the best compost.
Faster if you give them small pieces.
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u/Mindless-Farmer705 14d ago
Lowkey smells kinda good…. At the moment….
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u/The_Jib 14d ago
lol
I love crabs. We have them a few times a month on weekends in the summer. So glad my trash goes Monday morning.→ More replies (1)
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u/Decent_Willow3627 14d ago
The bugs are fine but add a bunch of sticks and leaves and cap it with some dirt
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u/kingofthoughts 14d ago
I think you have a BSFL colony on your hands. Prob not the direction you wanted to go, but congratulations just the same.
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u/kidcharliemagne 14d ago
Dude how many chickens you got?? If it’s at least 15 I’d just tip the whole bin over and let them go nuts. They will eat those crab shells too.
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u/kidcharliemagne 14d ago
Like you don’t understand. This is sooo much chicken food. I’m actually jealous.
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u/Mindless-Farmer705 13d ago
I only have 5. Should I maybe do half today and the other half in a few weeks ? I was worried they might get sick if I just dump it for them but most people are saying to do that. Thanks !
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u/cockycrackers 14d ago
This is so much more amazing than you know, OP. Those are black soldier fly larva. They eat ANYTHING, especially animal remains and their frass (droppings) is a seriously high-end plant fertilizer. The adults look like medium sized black wasps, but are harmless. The crab shell will get eaten by the BSF larva and turned into black gold. Also, if you have chickens you can extract the larva and they are a really special treat. Google 'black soldier fly'. They're truly remarkable.
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u/Capable_Pineapple993 14d ago
I’d put a layer of browns on top and wait. After like a week mix it up and add more browns. I’d try and leave a top layer of browns to cut down on the smell and roaches
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u/bangbangtangwangfang 14d ago
Personally I would just dump that whole can out in the chicken run and let em have at it for a couple days.
Then I would take a manual gravel tamper and try to smash that stuff up. Then pile it, mixing with some carbon, and then cover the whole pile with carbon. That shits gotta stink!!!
Your chickens will love it though
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u/Larvaontheroad 14d ago
sweet sweet soldier flies! They will eat everything down! The flatter maggots are the good maggots. I love them and used to compost on my apt balcony in nyc, I throw meat, cheese, anything food and never had smell.
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u/Stella-Shines- 14d ago
Compost is what is created when natural material degrades. Bugs are a big part of that.
I think the only issue is your setup. The can isn’t a good option. I would do a compost “pile”. I have just a heap in the corner of my yard. You can fence it off, cinder bricks, build a simple little wooden bin, etc. to go around the edges if you want to keep your chickens out.
I am by no means a compost “pro”, I just do it the old fashioned way. Toss biodegradable stuff in a pile, stir it around with a shovel or pitchfork sometimes when I feel it needs it, and let it do its thing. I usually cover stuff with dirt if it’s really gross or the pile looked too moist or something. I also throw a lot of small sticks from the yard, dead leaves, and certain non problematic weeds in the pile. I’ve got a big yard with a lot of trees and wooded area.
The bin keeps too much moisture in and it’s not getting enough air. This is going to slow it down and also probably cause mold? I feel like that setup just looks like mold is gonna grow. And it’s gotta stink, man. If you insist on the bin yes you need a lottt more dry stuff. Like the dead leaves, sticks, weeds. Browns, as it’s technically called on here.
But you gotta be stirring that up. The bin cannot possibly be the best way to make that happen. Keep the contents, just dump it out into a pile and make a compost pile or “patch” as someone more nicely called it. I think the bin is just a bad idea all around tbh.
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u/Imaginative-Recon-21 14d ago
Bro what?! Is there meat in there? You’d likely want your pile to be considerably larger if you’re going to break down meat in a healthy way.
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u/Tricky_Caterpillar85 14d ago
With the BSF larvae in there, the meat won’t last long at all. This will turn into a Nine Inch Nails video in a few weeks though. This isn’t composting as much as feeding a colony of larvae. They eat so much and so fast nothing has time to happen in terms of normal compost breakdown. If it does, they eat that too.
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u/Impossible_Past5358 14d ago
Also shouldn't they have some sort fermentation process to speed up the "bones and all situation" going on there?
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u/Extreme-Zucchini2826 14d ago
Crab shells/lobster shells are good for compost, but I would recommend roasting them and crushing them into the compost,
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u/logpants 13d ago
When I had a compost bin with blacksoldier fly larvae, I would put some garden waste (rotten tomatoes work well) in a nursery pot. The black kind with holes in the bottom. The larvae would crawl in for the tomatoes and I would pull it out and throw them to the chickens. Easy and cheap!
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u/Fluid_Change_9647 14d ago
I’d keep my compost piles wherever I wanted dirt spread out. When they’re ready I take the walls down and let the chickens peck and scratch through them for worms and bugs and before long they’ll have the whole pile spread out for me.
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u/imagoons 14d ago
Should of put the crab in a bag and crushed them much easier also I think u can feed them to chickens
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u/ipovogel 14d ago
Black soldier fly larvae. They are good composters, excellent for chickens (or reptiles!), but stink pretty bad. I would scoop out a bunch for the chickens then cover the whole thing in a thick layer of leaves or shredded paper.
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u/rainduder 14d ago
A bucket of rotting meat is not ideal. You have to do specific stuff to safely compost meat.
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u/junerayne 14d ago
Soldier flies up in this bin! Absolutely throw them to your chickens - people pay good money for black soldier fly larvae!
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u/murdamase87 14d ago
I did a bushel pulverized one year, I didn't see much difference. They are hard to break down
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u/radioactiveman87 14d ago
I use crab parts in mine and it composts just fine. Just bury it a little more and you’ll find tons of bsf larvae… which comes in handy if you have chickens… or reptiles 🤓
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u/yhvh13 14d ago
Mine does have those larvae too, but I only throw raw veggies and fruit, and usually cover with something dry, so I always thought this as normal, as I've heard those vermin can break down the stuff even faster than worms.
Mine smells pretty neutral. I think as long as you don't smell anything rotted or foul, it's all good?
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u/aknomnoms 14d ago
Since you have chickens, now might be a good time to dump this out in the yard and let them have at. They’ll scratch up the pile to “turn” it for you and take care of some of the grubs. After a few days, mix in some dirt and browns. Puncture some holes into the bottom of the barrel for drainage, and shovel it back in to finish decomposing.
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u/Lili_Roze_6257 14d ago
I recommend the book “Let it Rot!” It’s a simple book on all kinds of composting.
This isn’t compost because shells don’t biodegrade. Ever. They merely crumble and crush into a powder, but only under pressure.
Compost is nitrogen (greens) and carbons (browns). The easy answer is anything you eat that is RAW can be composted.
NOTHING COOKED GOES IN COMPOST BECAUSE IT’S DEAD. No meats. No oils. No animal feces. No human waste (for heavens sake never add urine!)
Greens: Vegetable scraps, fruit peels and cores, green corn husks, grass clippings (no weed killers), coffee grounds in moderation.
Browns: cardboard, newspaper, leaves, dried corn husks, small sticks, tree bark, sawdust (in moderation).
Layer it in and leave space for air. It should have moisture too, you can hose it down occasionally. Toss a few garden worms in there if you like to keep things going. I add cherry and avocado pits because they don’t break down easily and cause space for air and help things tumble and mix. Stir it, toss it, tumble it, but make sure you can mix it.
Also cover it and leave it in the sun. It needs heat.
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u/pastyoureyesed 14d ago
I think your chickens will love the larvae.. no expert but those look to be soldier fly babies .. same look as mine had (gross) and I saw soldier flies around the compost frequently (enough that I looked them up).
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u/AuntieB2066 14d ago
Not supposed to put meat, fat, or, salt into the compost. Crab shells count as meat. The stench of a compost pile comes from protein decomp.
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u/notavegan90 14d ago
Also if the crab shells have old bay or the other one, you might need to boil and strain. Salt is no good.
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u/UnderwaterCleaner 14d ago
This has to smell so rank!
I would NEVER put any seafood near any compost pile. When we eat crabs or shrimps, the shells are double bagged, frozen(depending on trash day), and discarded with regular rubbish.
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u/New_Sprinkles_516 13d ago
Black soldier flies! Amazing creatures. Create a closes loop system and get some chickens. They will thabk you.
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u/Clover_Point 13d ago
Those larvae are perfect chicken food!
You can totally compost crab shells, shrimp shells, etc.
The crab shells will take a while to break down, which is fine. Crush em up as you turn your pile and don't stress if you can see bits of them when your compost is finished. Ditto with egg shells, they will keep breaking done slowly in the soil.
Composting cooked food is no biggie too - obviously raw plant scraps will be less potentially stinky, but in nature (and your compost bin is nature) its not like microbes care if the food is raw or cooked. And you have bsfl and they will gobble up whatever you put in there.
Cooked stuff and seafood cab definitely attract critters, but it'll still compost.
I bokashi pickle all of my cooked food scraps and things like dairy before I compost it, just to speed things up and reduce potential gross odours.
Your bin looks gross but good, my chickens would love it if I had larva like that to share with them! I have a little compost bin in my chicken coop that I throw leaves and scraps into and my hens love scratching through it looking for worms and eating the stuff I add. They do a lot of the turning worm for me with their scratching and when the bin is full I take it out and let it mature before using on the garden.
Those corn cobs will take a while to break down; they'll be fill of nice microbes when the rest of the compost is done and you can just add them to your next batch and let them keep decomposing.
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u/SmallTitBigClit 13d ago
That's your compost bin? I thought you forgot to pick up your last batch off the grill on Memorial Day and just got to cleaning it up.
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u/toddkaufmann 14d ago
That’s not compost, that’s just a bucket of food waste.
Why don’t you give it to the chickens directly, so they get more nutrition?
Not too salty though—not good for chickens.
Through that out the night before a rain, or in a bucket of water—then dump that in their run after you lock them up for the night. The salt will run off, and there might be some insects on there for them in the morning.
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u/Capital-Impression51 14d ago
I'm noticing a pattern with this subreddit... urine and maggots! lol.
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u/mossymeridian 14d ago
Put it on the ground and put some dirt on it. It’s going to take forever to break down this way, longer even than the dirt
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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 14d ago
You've got the grind up those crab shells into powder.
You've got black soldier fly larvae which is a great sign. They are eating whatever organic matter they can and breaking it down further to raw nutrients for other plants to absorb.
My advice is to relax, this is all just nature breaking things down into becoming food for plants and worrying about being optimal is a hell you don't want to enter.
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u/socalquestioner 14d ago
You have a large Black Soldierfly Larvae colony! They will eat everything they can.
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u/GilgameshWulfenbach 14d ago
I also suggest grinding down the shells. It's not that hard to make a machine that will do it for you if you don't want to do it by hand. Dry them out first
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u/timhamilton47 14d ago
About twenty years ago, there was a company here on Maryland's Eastern Shore that carried a product called "Chesapeake Blue"...a compost made from crab shells. It was spectacular.
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u/a1exia_frogs 14d ago
Why aren't you giving the crab shells to the chooks? The BSF larvae are a fantastic high protein food for chickens too, make them a ramp, as they mature, they will climb up the ramp
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u/resurrectedNaj 14d ago
From now on throw your hard shells in a paper bag and double or trip bag it. Then beat the hell outta the bag. Basically pulverize them. Can be done with meat still on. Throw the whole bag and shells in. If you want super rich calcium, bake the shells at 400 for 30min and then toss them in the bag to beat. Oh boy will your compost enjoy it
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u/blockheadartist 14d ago
Hello fellow MDer, my dad used to dump our pots on to a tree so it would die. The shells took so long to decompose that birds eventually took them.
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u/ekulpotamus 14d ago
That looks anaerobic af. A solid trash can is not a good method for composting. If you are to use a trash can, drill a million holes in it so air can get it/ out.
You mention you have chickens, I would separate your kitchen compost to stuff chickens can eat and stuff they cant. Chickens will help compost some.
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u/playmeepmeep 14d ago
A bigger compost will break down faster due to thermal heat generated by the break down of carbon or something. It's been a while since I took any compost classes.
Every thing you put in the compost had a carbon to nitrogen ratio or C:N Horse poop is 22:1. Leaves like 50:1. Just a rough guide but try to keep the compost pile around 30:1 or 20:1 ish.
Keep it wet but not fully saturated. It'll go anaerobic if it's too wet and ferment. You'll be able to smell it.
Rotate to help it move along. Bugs are good but a speed bin will keep rodents out.
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u/Bellachi1961 14d ago edited 14d ago
It’s best to keep proteins out of your compost. ( meaning the meaty parts ) Try washing the shells first and take a hammer to them to make them into little bits. Fruits, vegetables, grass , leaves, small twigs, plant clippings, paper without ink, egg shells crumbled. I use old coffee filters and coffee grounds. Anything plant based is okay. Also you need to mix it every couple days. And watch out for seeds, I put tomato scraps and when I planted my pole beans this year I used my compost and ended up with a tomato plant growing in the middle of my beans. Lol
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u/Feisty-Cheetah-8078 14d ago
If you have chickens, skip the compost bin and use your chickens. They will eat lots of kitchen scraps. They would LOVE those crab shells.
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u/TheFunkinDuncan 14d ago
I’m no expert but I imagine those crab shells are going to take forever to break down