Composting with Rabbit Manure

I already used up one full bin of aged rabbit manure as fertilizer for the potato plants. When the bin was full with rabbit poo, I put the bin outside of the rabbitry thinking that I would use it later as fertilizer in the garden. We drilled some holes on the cover to serve as ventilation for the worms but I forgot to put a second cover on top to protect the bin from the rain. So when I was ready to take out some of the manure, the compost bin was soggy from the rain water that managed to seep through the small holes on the cover. Moreover, I saw some white icky things in the compost that looked like maggots! It was so disgusting to look at that I could not bring myself to dig up the bin and I closed the cover. There were some earthworms and the top of the compost was moving with those maggots. The next day was a hot day and I thought that I'd take off the cover of the compost bin so some of the water will evaporate and the compost will not be so soggy. So that's what I did and I put back the cover after 6 hours of exposure to the sun. It was better than when I opened it first but it was still soggy.

 

Then I thought that maybe if I put in some shredded newspapers in the bin, it will soak up some of the water. So the next day, I got a lot of old newspapers in the house and cut them up. Then I put in as much shredded newspaper as I could, even pushing it in to the bottom to soak up the water and covered the bin. After one week, I opened the bin again and I didn't see the maggots but I saw some black creepy things in its place. They looked the size of the maggots but they are dark brown to blackish in color. Anyway, I tried to dig up the bin trying to see where the earthworms are but I could not find any. I thought that maybe they are at the bottom of the bin so I just closed the cover back and left it for another week. It wasn't soggy as when I first opened it. After the week has passed, then I dug up the compost and there were only a few of the black creepy things but no earthworm! I don't know what happened but all the earthworms were gone. So anyway, I got the compost out and used it as fertilizer on the plants. I still have another bin full of rabbit manure with some maggots in it but at least there are plenty of earthworms in the bin. Then I placed the bin outside the rabbitry with its own cover and this time, I remembered to put a second cover on top of it so the rain water will not go through the holes in the top cover. When the weather improves, I will be using this again in the garden.   

The compost bin is located under the shade of the wild ferns and flowers. This is just outside the garden and infront of the rabbitry and chicken coop.