chicken manure in the garden

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Quote:
That's probably a good idea for those of you who have winters. We don't really have a winter so we don't have a "no-grow" time in our garden to lay out manure and let it sit.

 

[boxermom]

Thank you all very much for the info. Our present "compost pile is ON the garden ready to be tilled in. DH is going to build a compost container for me. I don't really want a compost pile as its too convenient for the dogs. "Smelly stuff" is too hard to resist when you've just had a bath and its time to come inside for the night.

 

[Beekissed]

I would say it depends on how large a garden and how much poop. I have a very big garden and very little poop compared to that size, so I spread mine on the fallow winter garden any ol' time. I also attempt to kind of side dress with the poop during growing season, but the dang dogs kept eating the fertilizer!

My chicken poop is very dry and there isn't much of it, as my chickens free range. I wouldn't put the fresh poop right on or around the base of my veggies, but I do apply directly to the garden soils near my pathways, between rows of corn, etc.

 

[cmom]

I live in Florida. I compost my poop and litter. I don't grow anything in the summer because of the heat. When it gets hot here it stays hot for months. Yes it gets hot in the summer in the other states too but usually it doesn't stay hot for months only for some weeks. I usually go to Maine every summer and it has been hotter there than in Florida but it's hot for several days then it cools down some for a few days. My compost cooks away. I do it in piles. A friend of mine also does hers in piles but puts wire around it to keep the critters out. I have many gardens. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[Cetawin]

I would not risk a tea either. Chicken manure is way too hot and it needs to breakdown and rest. But you can take your straw and manure and start your compost pile. Throw in your green stuff, coffee grounds, yard clippings and etc. Wet it down well and leave it in full sun, water once per week and turn regularly. You will get some amazing black gold for your garden.

 

[TechEdFireman]

We made chicken poop tea in a large 55 gallon drum and would let it sit maybe a week before using it never burned our zucchini and it was strong smelling. They were pretty large compared to others we didn't use it on. I emptied the coop last fall and put it on the garden, I just did again about three weeks ago and I will safely bet that it will be fine when I go to till and plant at the end of May.

 

[BeardedChick]

There are some crops that won't germinate well if there is too much manure - and some that are happy as a pig in mud. Carrot, for ex. can be finicky.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Bad idea. First, you don't want to be putting fresh poo on food crops; but mainly because it will be hard to make sure that you've got it dilute enough.

The recipes for manure tea that you see - they are for *composted* aka aged manure.

The one place I can think of where fresh manure is often used in gardening -- and usually people use horse manure IME, although if you were careful with the amount you could probably use chicken I would guess -- is when you go to plant squash or melons. The way I grew up planting them is, you dig a foot or foot and a half deep hole under where the hill will be, and put in some fresh manure, then cover it with maybe 8-10" of soil (hilling it up somewhat) and plant your 3 or 4 seeds. Squash and melons like and need lotsa nitrogen and tend to do ok with some of their roots growing down into (by then not really *so* fresh) stuff.

In general though you are way best off composting it first.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[NYREDS]

I know the "conventional wisdom" is that chicken manure will burn up? plants if applied fresh but that has not been my experience.
In the spring-every year for as long as I've kept chickens-I clean out pens, spread the manure on the garden, till it in & plant.
I have beautiful, productive gardens every year. The only part of the garden that doesn't get this is where I plan to put the peppers. If they get too much nitrogen they grow huge plants with very few peppers.

 

[IcedMochaChick]

My sister recently went to a workshop to get a permit to sell at the farmer's market. They said chicken waste needs to be composted or frozen in order to kill stuff like salmonella. I don't know anything about chickens as far as salmonella goes, i.e. do they all carry it? If you compost it, it should reach 135-150*f for 3-5 days. Otherwise, I guess if salmonella was present, it would spread to your veggies.