Info for a fish composting bin?

So a couple years ago I got into doing some vegetable gardening, and I'm simply learning as I go. This year I bought a composting bin, and its strictly for raw unprocessed vegetation (fruits, vegetables, leaves, grass, etc) use. No processed foods, meats, fish, etc for various reasons including smell.

But I would like to compost fish into finished compost product since fish is often used in gardens.

Does anyone have any design plans for a fish composting bin? I'm thinking it has to be leak proof, and somehow can either contain its odours, or power vent them up into the air, so thus not to attract rodents, animals, annoyed neighbours, etc.

Thanks in advance, for any info you can share.

 

I'm no expert, nor do I have any recent experience but when I used to fish a lot, I would throw the fish heads and entrails et cetera into a small idle cement mixer (maybe 3 cubic feet) with a small amount of limestone and a small amount of water together with some already broken down compost (to inoculate it) and let the cement mixer's motor toss the contents around for 15 minutes or so a couple times a day.

After 2 or 3 days, and maybe a little more limestone, the contents were ready for the normal composting rig . . . . no smells were lingering (at least not to the human nose); and I never had a problem with critters being drawn to the compost. Maybe I was just lucky ?

 

Hmmm, limestone eh? I'll have to look into that. Sounds simple enough. Not sure if the wife will let me buy a cement mixer just to do that, but I certainly get the idea.

I was actually thinking of some sort of drum/barrel that I would rotate, with some screw blades inside so that the stuff can be turned, plus like a cement truck if I rotate the drum backwards the compost would come back up to the opening. Was thinking I could make one myself using plastic drum, plastic materials, and some sort of plastic weld cement. Or use a drum with some sort of auger through it. Can buy a low quality fishing ice auger for cheap. And a pipe power vented up in air. But that sounds like a moot point with the use of lime.

I do a fair bit of fishing and we have a non-native invasive species so I have no shortage of fish to use. I've actually buried some of it deep (say 3 feet down) in hopes that (a) it will decompose without smell leaking out and (b) the deep tomato vine roots will reach this soil that is laden with decomposing fish. So far so good. I'm hoping after a couple years I can turn over the bottom half of my garden soil to spread the fish meal around, keeping it under a few feet of soil for odour control. But you can now see why I am asking.

Thank Vermont! Gotta run, going fishing!