Chicken poop as fertilizer

[Xival Knievel]

I am needing some advice on how to use the chicken manure as a fertilizer for a vegetable garden. I have come across things saying you can't use it when it's "hot" but I don't know what this means. Can anyone help provide some instruction?

 

[newnanchic]

It needs to be the poop at the bottom of the pile ( that has been there for a few months) I just dig down 3-4 inches and get the poop that is dried and looks like black soil it is not wet !!!! And I use it alot. I put a shovel full in every tomato plant hole and I thought my hubby was gonna have a fit. Your gonna burn them up he said !!!! No way I have the most healthy plants around and I will soon have yummy homegrown maters !!!!!

 

[DawnSuiter]

Well.. I'm a little cloudy on the whole composting thing, but the idea is to pile it up in a compost pile with "other" things, I guess leaves, woodchips, grass clippings, garden clippings, newspaper etc and let it heat up, turn it every so often and use it about a year later.

Our plan is for two piles.. build up one, let it sit while we build up another, then use one while the other sites, and so on...

I hope some expertes will reply to you though, because I'd like to get this right, my clay yard needs some serious amending if I'm ever to grow anything.

 

[Wynette]

I've been wondering if there is any way to use mine for fertilizer - I use pine shavings in my coop, and when I clean it out, it's like 98% shavings, 2% poo. So, I'm doubting there's any way to use mine, and I'm not about to sift through & pick out the poo. Years ago, I dumped my horse manure/wood shavings into the garden all winter, and we'd rototill it really well in the spring. After about 3 years, the veggies started not growing well. I took a soil sample into my local county extension service office, and they told me all the numbers were way off. Acid, alkalintiy, pH, etc. It took 2 years to get it back to "right" again, and it was due to the wood shavings. Sigh....I sure wouldn't want THAT to happen again!

 

[Chickending]

I needs to age for a while. I think I have read somewhere that it has to sit for 8 weeks time in the weather to compost but not sure if that is true. I do the deep litter method and when I clean in the fall, I just spread the stuff right on the garden after growing season and it over the winter does its stuff. We do have a compost pile that we add poop, leaves stuff like that too and it take about 6 months for it to actually turn to a dirt, dark brown substance that you can use.

I hope this helps. It works great, if you wait till the fall and just spreak it around I even in the fall take it around and spreak around bushes and trees. It does great over the winter.

Just an idea.

 

[Xival Knievel]

A year!?

Ugh. I wasn't expecting that. A few months I could handle

Wynette, I think that will be my predicament too. For those who do use the manure, like Newnan how is your coop set up that you can just dig down under 3-4 inches and get pure fertilizer? Is it with droppings boards/ hardware cloth under the roosts or something? Wouldn't that get especially smelly? Thanks again for the input.

 

[newnanchic]

Our coop is just for the girls to roost in. An we just let their poop drop right on the dirt floor. It is closed up all except for their little chicken door, so it gets pretty warm in there and the poop breaks down pretty fast. As long as it is dry (like dirt) I think it would be o.k. to use. Do not put it right on the plants I would put it a few inches from the stems. And this fall you can load your garden up with it even the wet stuff.

 

[funkychicken]

new poop is too hot... composting is a great thing...we put clippings and sticks...vege scraps and what not...never any meat scraps...eggshells and coffee grounds are great too...just turn it once a week until ya got dirt...I even dig worms to put in mine...when the pile is done I use it and move to another location...I usually plant a peach tree where my pile used to be and they sure are happy trees..lol

 

[Red Tie]

Shavings actually require alot of nitrogen to break down. They will rob the poo of the nitrogen during the decomposition process. When you compost, you add lawn clippings, leaves etc. you are adding additional nitrogen to the pile which will help break down the shavings quicker and without leaching so much good stuff from the poo itself. I have 21 horses as well as 92 chickens and 20 turkeys. I just clean everyday. I use very little shavings and find that under the roosts I don't put any. This gives me straight poo from that area that I do mix directly into my garden. The shavings area just gets added to the manure pile to "do its thing" for a year or so. I have a service that comes and removes the top of the pile to burn for electrcity. The lovely rotten stuff underneath is then all exposed for me to use! Best of both worlds!

Jane

 

[halo]

I use shavings for my horses and my chickens. The trick to shavings is to NOT till it in. Use it as mulch. That way it doesnt pull nitrogen from the soil. I mulch with both the chicken and horse stall cleanings, and my soil is really nice....especially for Florida! I use it right out of the stalls and coop. So basically, Im composting in place next to the plants, and in between the rows. Have never burned up a plant yet, but then again theres more shavings than poop.