Chicken manure as compost

[Dawnclucks22]

Hi there! I’m brand new to gardening. Of course, I am eager to know how I can use my chicken manure as compost. The bedding they have is grass clippings. How do I start?

 

[Trish1974]

Hi there! I’m brand new to gardening. Of course, I am eager to know how I can use my chicken manure as compost. The bedding they have is grass clippings. How do I start?

Depends on how much free space you have.
If you are limited on space, I would look into one of those tumbler systems to compost. I have several acres and dedicated a corner of my garden into one big compost pile. I turn it every 2-3 months, depending on the weather. Chicken manure is hot like horse manure, so it needs to age and break down for about a year.

 

[Compost King]

Composting is why I have chickens, although I am not the perfect person to ask how to have a perfect compost pile, I can point out a few obvious do's and don'ts. Keep your compost pile on somewhat high ground, never have it sit in standing water. Attempt to get oxygen into the middle of the pile. Most people turn their compost piles with a pitch fork. There is a perfect Ratio of Nitrogen (manure) to Carbon (bedding) but I do not know it off hand. Should be easy to look up. The perfect ratio will lead to all the seeds of weeds being killed off with heat.

I use compost piles to feed chickens, they are full of bugs and others goodies chickens love to eat, but if you are going for a perfect compost the chickens might mess up that perfect temperature to kill the seeds of weeds in your compost.

Once the compost is completed (6 months) you can mix it in with your ground garden or you can fill up nursery pots and grow plants in that, or fill in raised beds with pure compost. When I went from growing trees in garden Soil to my own chicken compost I noticed that the trees rooted faster and started growing tall in the first year, in Garden soil they took a year to establish their roots before they started growing.

One benefit to have a compost pile, the Earth Worm population on my entire property exploded. even on the opposite side of the property from the compost. Worms seems to rapidly multiply in compost piles and move on to other places. My landscaping which never sees this compost started to look healthier just due to the boom in earth worm population. And of course some chickens will eat worms like crazy which leads to them eating less feed that you have to pay for.

 

[TXchickmum]

We use a large metal trash can with a lid for compost. -drilled (very small) holes in the sides. -add chicken manure, veggie scraps, coffee grounds, and some old hay from nesting boxes. -turn it with a pitchfork, bi-weekly. After about 8-10 months it is wonderful! During the process, soldier fly larvae work the compost. The chickens love to be tossed a handful of these periodically!

 

[PirateGirl]

As others mentioned you need to let it age. I collect my compost all summer and then turn it into my garden plot early the next spring before I plant. This website outlines some good and easy designs for making your own compost tumbler if you need one and cannot have an open pile on your lot.

https://homesteading.com/compost-tumblers/

 

[MountainGaurdian]

Composting is why I have chickens, although I am not the perfect person to ask how to have a perfect compost pile, I can point out a few obvious do's and don'ts. Keep your compost pile on somewhat high ground, never have it sit in standing water. Attempt to get oxygen into the middle of the pile. Most people turn their compost piles with a pitch fork. There is a perfect Ratio of Nitrogen (manure) to Carbon (bedding) but I do not know it off hand. Should be easy to look up. The perfect ratio will lead to all the seeds of weeds being killed off with heat.

I use compost piles to feed chickens, they are full of bugs and others goodies chickens love to eat, but if you are going for a perfect compost the chickens might mess up that perfect temperature to kill the seeds of weeds in your compost.

Once the compost is completed (6 months) you can mix it in with your ground garden or you can fill up nursery pots and grow plants in that, or fill in raised beds with pure compost. When I went from growing trees in garden Soil to my own chicken compost I noticed that the trees rooted faster and started growing tall in the first year, in Garden soil they took a year to establish their roots before they started growing.

One benefit to have a compost pile, the Earth Worm population on my entire property exploded. even on the opposite side of the property from the compost. Worms seems to rapidly multiply in compost piles and move on to other places. My landscaping which never sees this compost started to look healthier just due to the boom in earth worm population. And of course some chickens will eat worms like crazy which leads to them eating less feed that you have to pay for.

Chickens are not only great at producing manure for fertilization but they are also amazing little rototillers. I gather old junk rotting hay into piles and let them sit for a couple years and then I start breaking the piles up a bit which gets the attention of the chickens. Once they get started they will tear the pile apart eating the inch long beetle grubs out of it and at the same time breaking the old rotting hay into little short bits and pieces making it much easier to mix into soil.

 

[Compost King]

Chickens are not only great at producing manure for fertilization but they are also amazing little rototillers. I gather old junk rotting hay into piles and let them sit for a couple years and then I start breaking the piles up a bit which gets the attention of the chickens. Once they get started they will tear the pile apart eating the inch long beetle grubs out of it and at the same time breaking the old rotting hay into little short bits and pieces making it much easier to mix into soil.

Leghorns are the perfect breed for acting as a rototiller. Mine are beasts of burden in my composting operation.
I have plenty of bug attracting piles. Then lift up the pile and the most alert hens will already be there to eat the worms and other goodies under it. In my Nursery I often move my plants in nursery pots. just a foot or 2, let the chickens eat, then move the next one. I do not need to move them for any other purpose, its just how chickens get treats on my nursery instead of me spending money on meal worms.
A lot of big chunks of carbon that I will eventually compost will have its own pile to age in, logs old half rotted plywood etc.. I lift that up for chickens to get under also.