In your situation I would mix the turkey litter with shredded tree leaves, and let the pile sit for 6 months or so. Eventually, it should turn into finished compost.

1) your local nursery offers free compost?

2) you mention turkey compost. Did the nursery specifically say their compost contained turkey waste?

3) under what conditions does turkey waste produce a fish like odor?

um.
1. no, never said it was free. the offer all sorts of landscaping products: compost, mulch, garden soil etc
2. Yes, I said turkey compost. as in composted turkey manure. One can reasonably assume that turkey compost is not composted turkeys, at least that is how it worked for me.
3. I have no idea, that is why I was asking.

Turkey compost very well can include carcasses like Eric said its not done there is to much nitrogen diapaiting that is the ammonia smell it needs to be mixed with browns and finised composting if it was sold as finished compost it is not

1) you again said "offer" when you probably meant "sell". Offer implies free.

2) again, who mentioned anything about turkey compost? I am surprised a vendor selling compost that they would specifically tell the customer, "yes this compost was made from 100% turkey." Or yes this compost was made from 100% opposum manure". Just seems odd to me.

3) You mentioned first it had an ammonia smell but then that changed to a fish scent? Weird, as those two smell nothing alike.

Compost, properly made, will never smell offensive, if what is being sold as compost does smell bad it isn't. Even material just piled up to compost should not have an ofensive odor and supposedly "finished" compost that has an offensive odor probably has been anaerobically digesting and may be infused with disease pathogens.
Something being sold as compost that smells like manure is manure, not compost. I would mix this stuff with vegetative waste and compost it for several weeks before putting it on my planting beds.

kimm-thank you. It really doesn't smell like manure at all, it really just smells like the inside of a fish tank. Since my main experience has been with cow/steer and the occosional horse manure compost, I wasn't sure if this was due to the fact it was poultry.

and to pka...I am not sure what your deal is, but perhaps rereading my original post, to include the title, might clear a few things up for you. Maybe try reading it twice if its still confusing.

And finally to jonas, if you ever find turkey compost made out of actual turkey carcasses, let me know. I've never seen it made from actual cows, chickens or goats either, so I'd be awfully surprised to find out my turkey mix contained real turkeys.

armymomma; It has been a while, but when I was young I worked on a turkey farm for a summer. There was always a few fatalities of the young birds. To shorten the story a bit they ended up in the manure pile. Could be the turkeys were raised with fish meal for the protein and spoiled/spilled/waste feed was added to the manure? (I know, a real stretch)

Curt~

Sorry I must add we did not sell the manure, but spread it on our fields. Thanks

Curt~

Armymamma, I am not confused but you are leaving key details out. You refer to this mysterious compost as turkey compost. I've been composting for close to 20 years and I have never even heard of such a concoction. Secondly. when you refer to "my turkey compost" are you referring to YOU adding turkey parts to commercially bought compost? You never really state things specifically, which makes one need to try to fill in the blanks you failed to provide. See what I mean?

Curt, this is commercial grade landscaping compost. I called the place today and was able to speak with someone about the compost. Actually, I am going to call it manure at this point because it was HOT this morning (my thermometer only goes up to 150 and it was pegged) and I shoveled a bit back and the unmistakable ammonia scent came out again. Apparently this batch of compost is pretty fresh, although they won't admit it at the nursery (they said its been baking for 6 months, which I doubt based on smell alone). It could just be that we've had a super cold winter and this somehow slowed it down? I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt as they've been in business for a while (and have a really good reputation).
I'm thinking that residual fishy scent is just particular to turkey manure (which I've never actually dealt with before).
And to pka, if you are really having that much trouble with my post/questions, perhaps you should just avoid it? It seems to me that you are trying to pick an argument, which I've seen plenty of the tomato forum, just never experienced myself.
Anyway, I think I've solved the issue here, but thanks to all those with helpful replies.

Also in the name of all things holy, why are you BUYING compost? You should be doing your part to MAKE compost the way everyone on this forum does. Part of the problem you're having is you're buying some product someone else started to make and it wasn't finished obviously, and then complaining it stinks.

Here's what I'd recommend. Stick around here read the sage advice of stalwarts like Kimmsr, Val, Blutrane and others and you will gain knowledge and respect for those who are the best of the best in soil building and composting science and will give you a new appreciation as the art of making compost yourself. I have faith in you that you will make the right decision.

Find some finished compost, mulch, or leaves to cover it with. Once you have a few inches of blanket on top, the smell will stop. Every time you smell ammonia you are smelling the nitrogen value wafting away with the wind. You want to keep that in the pile. Finished compost, mulch, or leaves will absorb that ammonia and slowly release it into the pile. Then stop turning it and digging through it. You have to allow it time to compost without releasing the valuable nitrogen.

Dchall, cool seeing you in here. I'm just used to seeing you in the lawn forum with Texas Weed and the Bermuda versus St. Augustine guy that starts those threads (Midlothian?).

If you are still getting an odor of ammonia (that is Nitrogen escaping to the atmosphere) the compost is still not finished. You do need some high carbon material to balance that excess N in this manure. All poultry manure is high in Nitrogen and is considered a "hot" manure.

um.
1. no, never said it was free. the offer all sorts of landscaping products: compost, mulch, garden soil etc
2. Yes, I said turkey compost. as in composted turkey manure. One can reasonably assume that turkey compost is not composted turkeys, at least that is how it worked for me.
3. I have no idea, that is why I was asking.

There are locations and times (such as floods) where whole turkeys are composted. I believe one of the floods of the 1990's there were places where dead turkeys/chickens in the ten of thousands were composted.

Currently some of the birds are commercially composted in as short a time as 30-45 days.

This thread is strange with confusion over what is manure, what is finished compost and what are the signs of unfinished composting.

The "turkey compost" is obviously not compost and seems to be a hazard to health and garden at the time of delivery.

Kimmsr and others are trying to clarify the issues but the OP seems not to appreciate the help.

Reminds me of picking up squab/turkey/pheasant bedding, complete with feathers and parts of birds. Great for making hot finished compost when mixed with 4 times the volume of woody/brown organic waste.

This thread and some of the intentionally obnoxious and self serving responses are exactly why I left gardenweb and have moved on to another site that isn't full of the attitudes and attempts (lame at best) of blatantly trying to be a pompous jerk. And in case anyone cares, it wasn't fully composted and I had someone come and haul it away because it was still quite hot and couldn't be used for what it was originally purchased for (And yes, some of us do NEED to purchase compost... for those of you who aren't in the military and have the luxury of staying in one place for more than a year or two, perhaps you can MAKE all the compost you want...some of us aren't so lucky.) I actually haven't lived in central Texas for going on a year now so this is all totally irrelevant regardless.
Case closed, and since this original post is over a year old, why not let it go so I stop getting email notifications. Thanks.

Can't wait for the death of this thread! ;:\

I used to think turkey compost was when you compost the remains of your thanksgiving turkey.

When I buy bagged browns it says it has bat guano which is bat poop. If it said bat compost it would mean composted bats. So, Turkey Compost is composted turkey. This should be made more clear. If you ever keep a old thanksgiving turkey in the refrigerator for a long time it will smell really gross.

"Case closed, and since this original post is over a year old, why not let it go so I stop getting email notifications. Thanks."

Maybe we can let the lady have some peace.

The considerate thing to do is to start your own thread if you want to carry on the theme of this conversation.

Lloyd

I only looked this up because someone else had asked a question about turkey compost. If people don't like notifications they can make an email filter to send all the garden web notifications into either the trash or a separate folder from the in box. There was something important that I read but I guess it was from a different thread that turkey manure is more strong then chicken. Chicken is stronger then cow. Being the strongest one it was more likely to burn.

Lol!! Email Notification time!

I guess some a$sholes get off on being a$sholes, huh? Just goes to reinforce what I've already said.

(p.s. since I'm betting you guys aren't too bright, that was for you tropicalthought and blazeaglory)

Uhm its called a "joke".

I have read this thread and havent noticed much attitude other than whats coming from you. I really dont understand what the problem is?

You can always ask a moderator to delete your thread if your that serious about it. So Ill leave you alone now. Sorry

I saw some attitude, particularly where someone snarked "Why are you BUYING compost?" I thought it was kinda rude.

At the same time, Ms. Armymomma, I've seen these two in action, and they aren't @$$holes really. Fruitcakes, maybe, but not @$$holes. :-D

In order to let this old thread die as it should, this is the last thing I'm going to post in it.

Post all new comments to this thread.

No one will get any e-mails. Problem solved.

Lloyd