The message
from "shannie" contains these words:

Wonderful advise there Janet, thank you. May I ask you one more
thing?...I've been planning this for a long while now and bought a compost
bin earlier this year, one of the big black plastic one's with a chute at
the front and a lid on top. I've been putting in household veg waste, waste
from the rabbit hutch and straw and chicken droppings from the hen house
etc. It doesn't seem to be diminishing any way fast though and is now almost
full. Should I get another one and start that? How will I know when it's
ready to use? All the stuff in it looks pretty much as it did when it went
in, a little withered but definately not rotten.

As others have said, it's partly the time of year. Urine is a good
activator. Grass cuttings or chopped nettles or comfrey,mixed with
chicken pooh, will heat up a heap rapidly from spring onwards. Seaweed
is good, or any bulk stuff like dead or live bracken, rosebay willow
herb, mouldy straw.

Really you need at least two heaps, partly so that one can be
"maturing" as you fill another, and mainly because you can never have
too much compost. I use 4 pallets tied together to make each heap and
just extend more bays as required.Bear in mind that the very top of a
mature, ready heap will often look unready; you just save the top few
inches to go into the next one.

Janet.