Chicken manure question...

I've had chickens for over a year now, and they have graciously been contributing to my manure pile.
Can anyone tell me how long dry (chicken manure) has to set before it can be used in the garden? …..I've heard it's good for the garden, but I don't want to burn my plants.

Thanks for the help!
Glenda

Are you mixing the pellets in with anything else or just letting them dry out by themselves? I've never done it without mixing it, which probably brings it down in terms of being 'hot' .... so I guess (to make a short answer long....) I'd mix it with other stuff that you're composting to make sure that it is buffered by the other materials, should you not get an answer from someone with more experience with it.

When we lived in CA there was an egg farm nearby and they'd load your trailer with manure for free. I got several loads over the years and composted it with grass clippings and leaves.

Boy, chicken manure is HOT compared to stuff from cows and horses. I don't think you'd ever be able to use it straight in a garden. But, it's great stuff when mixed about 1/3 with other compost material and then aged. A little of it goes a long ways.

Glenda, if you're still around, please let us know how the chicken pellets do - I'd really be interested in knowing at what point you used them, etc.

When I lived in CA as well, the local nursery sold chicken manure in bags - already aged, etc. It was great. I wish I could find that here - it would work great in the soil, I think. Maybe I'll stop by a chicken farm one of these days . . .

Before Daylilies I had a pretty sizable vegetable garden and had a spreader truck spred chicken litter and composted chickens during the winter.
This was disked in and by planting time it was just right for planting.

Hold on a sec - composted chickens????

The large chicken producers have thousands of chicks die during production.
These and those that are sickly are thrown into a compost bin and covered with litter.
After composting they are mixed with the litter.
This is better than the straight litter as you have bones and feathers to ad to your mix.
On my daylilies I use a product called Agreaux.
It is a pellet form of chicken litter,alfalfa,feather meal and trace minerals.
It really makes plants take off.

I'm not sure I could handle the Ghosts of Chickens Past in my flower beds. cripes!

Wow... well, I guess if they do it with fish, they could do it with chickens, too.

Ghosts of chickens past, lol... I think they only way I'd do it is if it were unrecognizable. Do you have any problems with dogs wanting it?

Yep, I think it wuld be way too tempting for dogs as well.

Putting leftover fish parts in compost doesn't bother me, though I've had to quit doing it because of neighborhood dogs.

But there's something about putting MEAT (dead animals) in compost that bothers me a lot. I'd never do it - it seems like you could spread diseases that way.

I've always thought it kinda silly when people say fish isn't meat. It certainly seems like it is to me - but when it comes to compost ingredients I feel like fish and meat are two entirely different things.

I don't think there are any pathogens that can spread from fish to people, but that certainly isn't the case with animals, even poultry.

Guess what,a good topsoil has millions of dead critters.
Animals do not mess with the composted chickens as they are composted and disked in.There are more pathogens in horse manure which should be handled safely because of tetnus and other deadly pathogens.
The composted chickens with the litter is the best fertilizer I have used in my 60 years of farming and would use nothing else should I go back to mass vegetable or forage growing.
I also use fish parts.These are buried in the garden.

Well, you're right of course. I looked it up.

There's all kinds of USDA and agriculture university stuff posted about composting dead animals - even hogs and such. It's a 270 day process to do it right, and the temps have to be high enough to kill pathogens.

Still, in my own compost piles, I think I'll pass.

Guess what, of course it does. Probably lots of dead people too.

Well, if horse manure has lots of deadly pathogens in it, I should be dead by the end of the year, lol. Tetanus they get vaccinated for. But my plants sure look good.

If horse manure is deadly, then I am probably already deceased & don't know it.

Since I garden in a highly visible public area I would not want to take a chance on dogs getting in the compost, or kiddies finding curious skeletal remains.

That reminds me of the time a lady customer came to the garden.
She spotted some of the chicken bones that had washed up and was about to inquire.
I politely responded that it must be my ex wife who want stay put.You should have seen the expression on her face.
I did explain later and she became one of my best customers
My dog would not touch the bones and some lied on the ground for a few years.

Chicken litter tea.
Has anyone tried this? I figure if you can make cow, horse manure tea why can't you make chicken litter tea? I have a small barrel of chicken litter and access to some more. I am trying some chicken litter tea now. I am mixing it very weak because as an old country boy I know chicken litter is loaded with amonnia and will burn plants very easy. If anyone else has tried this I would appreciate it if they would tell me the results they had good or bad.

I tried making chicken manure tea in a couple of weeks ago but it didn't turn out well at all. Either the manure was too fresh or I used too much of it, but it ended up looking like the innards of a septic tank pretty quickly. I did throw it around the roses though and they seemed to enjoy it.

My Grandmother would make chicken litter tea. She would soak the manure in water. I don't know how much but then take 1 tsp of the tea with gallon of water and water her plants. My mother said she had a beautiful garden. I guess you could experiment - water some weeds or grass so not to burn your plants till you get the recipe right. I have tried it many years ago and I burned my plants so be careful with the Hot Tea.
Good luck.
Mary D.

Well I can tell you what I do with cow manure. And remember chicken manure is much, much stronger. I just use about a half of shovel full in a burlap sack, tie it closed and put in a 5 gal bucket of warm water. Just let the "tea" steep for several days, let the water get as dark as you want. And I use that to water the plants, I'm normally adding about 1 teaspoon to a gal of water. If you used less of the chicken manure to make your tea, and dilute the tea I would think that would work nicely without burning your plants.

I make very strong tea, the water is almost black, so not to get too excited.

What will happen if I use the stuff from the chicken run, the poop and vegetables they don't eat all of plus hay etc? This stuff is very thick since I have never cleaned it out. It looks like dirt but is pretty hard. I will have to use the tiller to get it broken up. Will I have to let this compost as I do for the stuff from the coop or can I use it as is? The bottom layer must be about 6 years old so would it be composted on its own? I have never thought about it being good for anything until now...Thanks for any advice.
Marion

I would think if it's been there that long and is hard as brick it's probably as composted as it's ever gonna be.

I have used both "dirt" from the chicken run and litter from the hen house straight into the garden with pretty good results. The thing to remember is a little goes a long way. I extended my raised vegetable garden last year with the extra "dirt" from the run, some soil raked in from the rest of the garden and some compost. I tilled it all together with some wood mulch and voila- instant garden extension. The end result was about 1/4 of each. I planted pole beans there and they took off. Only bad part was the deer invaded my garden repeatedly and got most of the beans, but I got enough for a few meals if I picked them early. The soil this year has compacted down so I'm adding the litter from the chicken house to it now with some more finished compost and wood mulch. Since I already have a base of soil there I will not till it again, I will just layer everything with the chicken stuff on the bottom.
The only problem I have ever had with chicken "dirt" and litter is using too much. I have found it gives tomatoes and extreme case of blossom end rot that nothing will cure.

Thanks for the infomation. I went down to the natl forest today (adjoining our property)and scooped out the amount of pine needles that were there and there are a bunch. So here is what I plan on doing for raised beds....thanks to frangrance 1st... I have a lot of planks already cut for raised bed a/c we got from our neighbor a/c she didn't want them. So we just took them apart and saved them. So I will put them together with screws and then fill with the following: chicken coop and run stuff, soil from the ground already there, mulched brown oak leaves and pine needles. I plan on putting down some wet newspapers first and then layering the rest of the stuff with the chicken stuff first. Will this be ok to use this year and will the mixture be ok for general veggies? Thanks Marionr

This message was edited Apr 5, 2008 7:38 PM

This message was edited Apr 5, 2008 7:40 PM

You should have great soil to work with with that combination. Pictures? ;)

It should be okay as long as your layers are deep enough. You want to give the chicken litter time to break down a little before the roots hit it. My littler is down about 5 inches this year. It looks like you have enough brown/carbon stuff on top for it to work just fine. I try for a ratio of 4 parts brown to 1 part green, but I've bent it a little to 3 parts brown to 1 part green with good results. It just takes a little longer to break down into great soil. Good luck!!!

I was wandering around in our woods the other day, and there are a lot of leaves in various stages of decomposition. I was thinking of getting some of those and putting them in in my soon to be built lasagna beds - does that make sense? Would a combo of chicken manure mixed with wood chips and straw and hay be okay with that? Do I add peat moss - or just put that on top?

You all are wonderful sources of knowledge! Thanks!

Beth, do all those things, I'd add a couple of generous handfuls of lime to the mix and work all that good stuff together, it will be wonderful!!