Will chicken manure kill trees?

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ella&clara

ella&clara

Songster
9 Years
Sep 18, 2010
188
2
103
Hi
I want to use a chicken tractor in my garden and in an orchard. A friend, whose family kept chickens on a more commercial scale, said he's seen nearby chicken pens kill grown pine trees. Anyone know anything on how close/how long a pen(because we will probably have a pen too) can be to a tree or in a garden plot before it damages the soil? I know a stationary pen would be bad for the soil, but what about a moving tractor that may move every few days or something? With maybe 6 chickens?
 
What you describe will be fine and beneficial. Concentrated nitrogen in the soil close to a tree from "hot" chicken manure may kill a tree, but non concentrated would be beneficial to the surrounding plants, trees, grass, flowers, and all.
 
That's what I have been thinking all along, but the friend said he saw mature pine trees die. I am thinking his family must have had large numbers of birds penned in one place for a long time. He said when it rained the manure would wash to the trees & kill them. My husband is supposed to be getting the specifics of his operation.
 
In sufficient (that is to say, excessive) amounts, yes.

But 6 chickens, their poo distributed over a good sized area, should not be a problem.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat
 
I do plant nutrition for a living; I don't have any special insights, but after a quick Google, it seems that chicken manure has a high pH. Pines and other conifers prefer a low pH; a large quantity of chicken manure might throw the pH to the high side, killing roots. It might be too "hot" from all that raw nitrogen, too. A small number wouldn't be a problem, but ideally it would be composted and dispersed.
 
I planted a mulberry in my henyard and it's been growing great guns ever since. I have a loquat (Japanese plum) in my rooster pen and it's been growing steady ever since.

The amount of manure is the key. Too much will kill anything.
 
This is happening to one of my pine trees I have 6 chickens that roost and poop all around the tree. Can't I put something on the ground around the tree to counter act this
 

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