Ash straw sawdust and manure...

Hello ! I lurk here  often,  its agreat site, but not often I post......I will post some pics soon of gardn, chicken run etc. not been here long but getting on with making changes.
 and would be grateful if you could let me have your thoughts on the following.
Situation is this:
Have got chickens and geese, that bed on straw, and of course this is great for adding to the compost heap, in fact it is the main ingredient of it.
Also have guinea pigs, and their sleeping quarters have hay as bedding and the rest of their "house has wood shavings.  My daughter has an urge to chuck all this on the compost heap too, although I point out that sawdust/chippings ( all of this is softwood) is not good for a compost, slow to degrade, etc etc
Also have a woodworking shop ( where the wood shavings come from) that has a woodburning stove, and of course this produces ash, which I understand can be added with care to a compost heap or even direct to the garden to be dug in. Good for phosphates etc. But if ash gets wet is forms a claggy lump that is of no use. Understandable.
I know ash is also used as slug/snail repellent and mulch as well, but  I dont  want to use ash for either of these purposes..
So...................Lots of useful ingredients but not the best way to utilise them..........after reading a lot of posts here with this in mind, I think I might have a way to use everything to best advantage.
One post I saw mentioned that wood ash could be used on the floor of a chicken run, will get scattered about, soak up damp and get mixed up with the droppings
Another post noted that wood shavings would do much the same.....
So........ The theory is this:

The guinea pig house wood shavings, hay, droppings, veg remnants, bits of dry meal feed would go on the henhouse ( internal dry) floor for a few days to mingle with the straw and droppings already there,, and get mixed in with the help of lots of little claws and beaks, and the wood ash from the stove also goes in the mix,   then when the henhouse gets a clean out all of this goes on to the compost.
Seems a good use of everything, a great and labour free way to thoroughly mix  the different materials, no waste to dispose of separately and hopefully more bulk to the compost heap, which in turn I hope would be better for it.
The composition would be heavily biased towards the straw and poultry droppings, 6 chickens and two geese, the guinea pigs ( two) will only produce at most a bucket of bedding a week, and the wood ash would only be a bucket or so a month, fine white ash.
So your thoughts welcome. Is it viable? Something I have missed?

Thanks for that considered response Trillium, appreciated.

The birds do not eat in the henhouses, only use outside feeders so they are not used to looking for food in the bedding nothing usually to eat there !  This regime is one I inherited from the original keepers.The birds spend all day outside, and just overnight water for them in the houses.
Does this improve the case for ash as an ingredient in the bedding? Of course it could go straight into the compost. Wherever it will do most good really.I will probably not grow brassicas for a few years, if at all, so no use for the ash there. a lining for the bottom of cold frames perhaps? Slug repellent? Underneath trays etc, no contact with soil plants or water.

Encouraging comment from you about animal/poultry urine assisting in breaking down the wood content, that had not occurred to me.


Doubt if I will get round to an exclusive mix with these ingredients , will have to go on with the original compost for now.
 The birds and compost heap came with the house 18 months ago and the heap was an accumulation of about 7 years of mucking out goose and gander and 4hens. Just piled on and otherwise undusturbed.
 The heap was about 12 foot long, 3 foot wide and 3 foot deep one end 5 foot the other. A lot of stuff. and very well rotted.
 I have since relocated the compost heap and turned it, and am adding  such as the runner beans and rhubarb as they die off, plus kitchen greens etc garden waste and so on.......... so will be concentrating on this heap for a while yet.
My aim here is to create a cycle of uses so everything is utilised and all the ingredients compliment each other or even act as  enabling agents, much as your point about urine/ timber.
Thanks again ( cousin )

Stree

Thanks again for a prompt and informative reply, most helpful.
Actually the amount of ash is minimal , in fact zero until I have replaced the stove I gave away. Using propane in the workshop at the moment but working towards a better wood burner, in fact multi fuel IE coal as well which may in turn affect the viability of the ash as a constituent of the compost ! So may be some other by products in there as well Sulphur perhaps? Not enough to causes problems I would think though. I was producing  wood ash from the previous stove only at a rate of about a bucket every 3 months, very efficient burner so very fine ash  and with the new stove that will be larger I imagine maybe a bucket or so every 2 months.
The guinea pig bedding and waste about a bucket ( loose hay etc  ) a week. The poultry manure and bedding about ( hard to measure this in "buckets" but say around 15 buckets a month.
Which according to my rough working out  is :
90% poultry bedding and manure,
3% ash
7% cavie bedding and manure
As you point out, it makes sense to put the ash/dust down first and cover that with guinea pig bedding and then the straw for the birds who will mix it up nicely

So the ash and wood shavings won`t be too predominant.

Good point about the second or more bin system. I must admit it seemed wrong loading up compost that was "ready" with fresh stuff, so I will leave the existing one a while, after taking some from the bottom for spring planting purposes, and start a fresh one. So I may as well concur with what you suggested earlier, that I begin a fresh heap with just these ingredients ! The original heap can continue to take the kitchen waste.

Thanks for your help Trillium, given me some great pointers and helped me move forward on this.