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I do worm composting for the outside garden. I wanted to add egg shells and some other things that will add to the soil but are hard to break down in the worm composting bin. Since it will be outside I'm okay with it taking a while. What I am not sure of is where and how can I store egg shells so they do not smell until such a time as I can bury them in the garden. Thanks for the tips.

Dano0430
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Don't "store" them at all - just bury them. Or you can bake them (250F/120C), which dries them out so they don't stink, but I only do that when I'm going to break them up small and offer them to chickens for recycling into more eggshells.

Ecnerwal
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  • I've baked eggs before, and put them in plant pots for months, and then broken them. They've got an interesting smell, but it's not a really bad smell. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Aug 12 '15 at 23:05
  • The Baking is a cool idea. I've been rinsing them. I figure once a week I should have about 15 min to get them buried but I was hoping that there was a simple way to keep any smells out of the kitchen. Thanks I'll give it a shot! – Dano0430 Aug 13 '15 at 02:40
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Are you adding eggs or the shells, only? Eggs are protein and putting protein/fat into compost will cause very unpleasant smells. As well as potential Ecoli...wash egg shells and put them through your blender before putting in any compost. Never add protein or poop from us or other carnivores in your compost. You can add nitrogen to your compost to help decomposers do their work. Definitely turn your compost with a big pitchfork to get air into the equation. Composting is a great skill for all of us humans to learn, I am so very glad you are learning to do this! Gotta say we all need to learn a little bit of chemistry to do it properly and you can find cheap or free classes through your cooperative extension service that is funded by a college or University nearby. Pure gold if you know how to make it...!!

stormy
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  • Egg shells. I edited for clarity. This is not typical composting I'm working with here. I do worm composting because the Townhome HOA board would never fly with regular composting. Though I've done it pretty successfully in the past. Was nice and hot. I never add protein to my compost so no worries there. Good general info though. Thanks – Dano0430 Aug 13 '15 at 02:39