Chicken waste for compost question

[NHMountainMan]

One of the reasons I started with chickens was to get free fertilizer for my raised bed veggie garden.

Looking for fertilizer advice.

Last fall, I started dumping the buckets of chicken poop directly on top of the soil in my raised beds. I also grew a small cover crop of buckwheat. In the past, I'd till under the buckwheat. This year, I thought I'd do the same, but with the chicken poop mixed in as well.

Then I read somewhere that the waste may not be safe to use - it's too "hot" and can damage the new plants.

1 - Can I till it under and not worry in the spring?
2 - Any advice on hoe to use it in compost for the future?

Thanks

 

[azygous]

With your humid climate, your chicken droppings have a very good chance of decomposing adequately to be safe for growing most plants. All you can do is till and plant and see how they do.

I tried composting my chicken poop and due to my arid climate and long cold winters, the stuff refused to decompose. Nevertheless, I used it in my raised bed gardens and some plants seemed to thrive, but others were yellow and puny from the excess nitrogen. I gave up using it in my vegetable gardens and now just spread it over the native grasses. The grasses love the stuff and it doesn't matter if it's fresh out of the chicken or it's been there for a year. The grass has really taken off.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

You need to let it "rest" for at least a year in our climate. And if you use pine shavings for bedding, these take longer to break down or they will rob nitrogen from your soil. I'm going to try "cooking" my piles in a black trash can to see if that speeds it up. (Only using solar no fire)

 

[FortCluck]

I took my bedding from the coop shavings and all and put it on my raised beds. I cover it with soil then wait till spring. I had a lot of growth last year, but the Japanese beetles killed everything.

I use a heavy duty rake of some sort to turn my compost. It's a 60 inch garden rake.

 

[FortCluck]

You can also do deep bedding in your coops from winter till spring. Let the chickens do all the work!

I did that one year and it worked amazingly. It was already composted and everything after only being in the coop for about 3 months.

 

[NHMountainMan]

With your humid climate, your chicken droppings have a very good chance of decomposing adequately to be safe for growing most plants. All you can do is till and plant and see how they do.

I tried composting my chicken poop and due to my arid climate and long cold winters, the stuff refused to decompose. Nevertheless, I used it in my raised bed gardens and some plants seemed to thrive, but others were yellow and puny from the excess nitrogen. I gave up using it in my vegetable gardens and now just spread it over the native grasses. The grasses love the stuff and it doesn't matter if it's fresh out of the chicken or it's been there for a year. The grass has really taken off.

Was there particular plants you remember that did well with the extra nitrogen? I'm hoping I don't need to shovel it all off before tilling!

 

[NHMountainMan]

You need to let it "rest" for at least a year in our climate. And if you use pine shavings for bedding, these take longer to break down or they will rob nitrogen from your soil. I'm going to try "cooking" my piles in a black trash can to see if that speeds it up. (Only using solar no fire)

pretty boneheaded of me not to research this before dumping it on our beds. looks like I'm in for a lot of shoveling $h** next spring. Ugg.

 

[NHMountainMan]

You can also do deep bedding in your coops from winter till spring. Let the chickens do all the work!

I did that one year and it worked amazingly. It was already composted and everything after only being in the coop for about 3 months.

My freedom rangers are going to have access to the garden area, but not sure if they can jump into the beds. I know the cornishX can't get to the veggies. I've got two tractors in the garden area and I'm hoping they'll keep the ticks and grass at bay. First time trying the meat birds, so I'm only going on what I've read here! Also hoping that they'll help keep bugs off the apple trees - but we'll see!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

My freedom rangers are going to have access to the garden area, but not sure if they can jump into the beds. I know the cornishX can't get to the veggies. I've got two tractors in the garden area and I'm hoping they'll keep the ticks and grass at bay. First time trying the meat birds, so I'm only going on what I've read here! Also hoping that they'll help keep bugs off the apple trees - but we'll see!

Apparently the apple trees will need to be sprayed to prevent worms. There are more natural sprays to avoid chemicals. I have a few friends that are farmers and they are my go to info sources. What really can be a pain is pruning them in February or March, hopefully the snow pack is not too deep.

 

[NatJ]

Then I read somewhere that the waste may not be safe to use - it's too "hot" and can damage the new plants.

You need to let it "rest" for at least a year in our climate. And if you use pine shavings for bedding, these take longer to break down or they will rob nitrogen from your soil.

pretty boneheaded of me not to research this before dumping it on our beds. looks like I'm in for a lot of shoveling $h** next spring. Ugg.

If wood shavings have too little nitrogen, that's no reason to shovel off chicken manure that may have too much!

Just till it in, and plant a few weeks later--it breaks down really fast after being chopped by a rototiller and mixed into the dirt.

My Mom (in Alaska, thus cold soil) would clean the chicken house and till it in, and plant fairly soon. certainly within a month. We planted into soil with visible bits of leaves, newspaper, and whatever else had been used for bedding. Everything grew nicely, and by the time we pulled the carrots and dug the potatoes we could no longer see anything but "dirt" because it had all broken down.

My Mom also told a story about the year her Dad cleaned the chicken house, tilled it into the garden, and planted everything that very day. Nothing grew, not even the weeds. So a few weeks later he tilled it again and re-planted everything, and it all grew beautifully. (He was in Washington State, and I don't remember hearing how many weeks was a "few." Probably the time at which all the seeds "should" have sprouted.)

So planting the same day is not good if you've just put in fresh chicken manure, but it only needs a few weeks (month, max) after being tilled into the soil.

If you like to do experiments--just dump all manure from now on, into one half of the garden for this year. Then till it in and plant both halves, and see how it goes.