Chicken poop and the vege garden questions...

[kiwiegg]

Hi all. The girls have been in their new coop and moveable pen for a couple of weeks and it's going great. The coop is 8x8 and I have 17 gals. The floor is linoleum then 3-4" of pine shavings. Although there is a ton of poop of course in the shavings it does not smell bad, yet. How long would you guess I have before I need to change the shavings? Weeks? Months? A few of the older girls are using the roost with poop board but most are to little to get up there and prefer snuggling on ground.

I'm wondering about the poop/shavings combo and my vege garden. On one hand I seem to recall that chix poop is great fertilizer but on the other hand there are plenty of people freaking out about wearing gloves and not touching poop.

I would love to know the science about this. What makes it OK to put chix poop on your growing food but not OK to touch? Is it just a matter of washing fruit and veg more or are harmful bacteria gone by the time it reaches the garden? Any ideas appreciated!

 

[NYREDS]

If getting chicken & other animal manure on your hands was very harmful farmers wouldn't live long. Many people in our culture have developed a near paranoia about "GERMS". It's been great for the folks who sell rubber gloves & hand sanitizer but that's about the only positive. People have fertilized their crops with manure for as long as they've been cultivatig crops. Go ahead & use your chicken manure in your garden. You'll be glad you did.

 

[Fred's Hens]

We are organic market gardeners. We couldn't do it without the driving force, the chicken manure. Superior to most manures, it will create tilth in your garden and produce wonderful crops.

That said, there are guidelines about safe manure handling practices published by virtually every state agricultural university and county extension offices. This one is simple to read, clear and simple to understand, thus, I share it often.

http://umaine.edu/publications/2510e/

 

[ldutch123]

If getting chicken & other animal manure on your hands was very harmful farmers wouldn't live long. Many people in our culture have developed a near paranoia about "GERMS". It's been great for the folks who sell rubber gloves & hand sanitizer but that's about the only positive. People have fertilized their crops with manure for as long as they've been cultivatig crops. Go ahead & use your chicken manure in your garden. You'll be glad you did.

Can I take the shavings right from the coop and apply it to the garden?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Can I take the shavings right from the coop and apply it to the garden?

Please read the post above. There is a link to an easy to read/understand Manure handling guidelines with best practices.

 

[kiwiegg]

Thank you for the replies! Fred, after reading your link I think that I will wait until fall (after harvest) and dig the goodies into the soil rather than place the shavings/manure ON the garden or use it as a mulch. I planted pretty much everything this week and will end up digging up my seeds etc if I dig it in now. I'm going to make a compost bin with steel posts and wire so I can store the mixture until ready. I'm thinking that regularly turning the mix will not be necessary as with leaf/grass compost?

 

[zstewart123]

Touch the poo. It isn't going to hurt you, just be sure to wash your hands when you are done. Its common sense, although that is becoming a rare commodity.

 

[mothernaturesdaughter]

The last couple few years I had been putting straight chicken manure onto my garden with fantastic results, then I read it could burn my plants so I guess I was very lucky, lol. Last fall I found a wonderful way to put all my leaves to work and made a fantastic compost. I piled it up on my garden bed and as long as it was not frozen I raked it from one side to another and wala come spring I had nice dark compost. I also put the ashes from my burn pit in my compost. I keep my compost fairly close to the coops and my burn pit close to my compost pile, making gardening a snap.

 

[kiwiegg]

zstewart123, can I get a t-shirt that says, "Touch the poo, it isn't going to hurt you", with BYC on the back?

 

[zstewart123]

sounds good to me! Get me one when you get you one!