I've been trying out quite a few composting systems over the years and have settled on a few favourites.
After a lot of smelly / time-consuming / rodent-attracting / expensive experiments with tumblers, bokashi, direct digging, active/static + hot/cold piles etc I now have a reliable & constant source of compost with little cost/effort.
General garden waste such as mower clippings and chipped branches go to the garden paths or directly onto the beds. Much of this is also sent to the chickens for food and deep-bedding.
Meat & vegetable waste goes to the chickens and their deep bedding material is harvested for fertiliser. I've set the chicken coop up on a slope so that inputs start at the top and age their way down the enclosure for collection every 3 months.
For all other organic waste that the chickens find unappealing such as fire ashes, coffee grounds, citrus, onions, bones, cardboard, etc I have a simple 60L/13Gallon black plastic garbage bin system. I buy regular outdoor bins with lids and drill many holes (quarter inch/6mm) on the bottom and sides (not the lid) to allow black soldier flies to enter and exit. These holes help avoid rodent infestation and allow some airflow.
I currently have 13 bins in rotation and I'm filling each bin every 3-4 weeks. This means that each bin is around 10 months old by the time I need to harvest it. Regardless of what I put in - and in what ratio or carbon/nitrogen - it generally looks like a nice compost after this amount of time with no need to turn. As we are semi-arid I do put in some water every month during summer but otherwise this is a very low-maintenance system.
I liked the large pile methods but found them hard to rodent proof - they also took a long time to produce a large amount of compost that was ready all-at-once. With this smaller system I get a constant supply of compost every few weeks (without the rodents).
A few side-benefits of the system - adding our fire place ashes over the winter months produces a few 'bio-char' batches of compost as the charcoal absorbs microbes over the 10 month maturation period. The black plastic bins keep the compost warmer in the winter months (we are USDA Zone 9b so that's only about 4 cool months).
The mix can get a bit smelly in the initial anaerobic stages but this is only an issue while feeding the bin in the first few weeks. Once the bin is full the lid is left on for 10 months except for the occasional addition of water.
The system starts with black soldier flies, as they slow down the compost worms appear followed by the occasional earth worm. I don't add these - all appear on their own as the bins are directly on the soil below. I've read somewhere that black soldier flies are apparently a non-disease spreading fly due to their digestion method so I'm happy to have them in the system as they appear to be the most productive at decomposition.
Keen to hear of other successful systems out there from this group!