Chicken waste for compost question

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

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.

That sounds lovey, but I would highly recommend speaking to farmers in your area @NHMountainMan and heed their advice. If you google “chicken poo” as fertilizer you can see what the percentages are. Do your homework before committing to a plan. Just MHO.

 

[azygous]

@NatJ has an excellent point. You need to experiment. Not all soil is the same, so the high nitrogen in chicken poop could be a real shot in the arm to some and overkill in other locales.

If I recall correctly, and a 77 year old brain should never be trusted to tell the truth, lettuce and chard did okay while tomatoes and cabbage did terribly. My squash did okay, I think, but anyone can grow squash anywhere.

 

[NHMountainMan]

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.

Thanks - fortunately, I've accidentally set up that exact experiment. I've only dumped waste on half the beds - so I think I'll follow your advice - till then wait a few weeks.

 

[NHMountainMan]

That sounds lovey, but I would highly recommend speaking to farmers in your area @NHMountainMan and heed their advice. If you google “chicken poo” as fertilizer you can see what the percentages are. Do your homework before committing to a plan. Just MHO.

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to look around for anyone that has just chickens. everyone close by has cows, goats, sheep and poultry.

As a NY'er that's moved to NH, even though I've been here almost 30 years. I'm an outsider. Typically, I'll politely be called a "flatlander." - which is much better than Mass immigrants - they are "massholes."
My Brother in law farms land that has been in his family since before the revolutionary war. Most of the advice I get from him is really good - though he more or less just tills anything under each year. Not a lot of science in what he does, but generational experience is worth so much more!

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Tomatoes dislike too much nitrogen. Plant them somewhere else! It feeds the greenery but the fruit doesn’t like it.

I have a small coop and certainly can’t leave their poop in there. But I turned the run before everything froze, and I was astonished! Even the wood chips had turned to dirt, in about 4 months.(I’m next door, in Vermont.)

A beautiful thing!

I also dumped my bedding in my raised beds after harvesting in September and am crossing my fingers. I covered them with leaves to encourage composting and kept hem damp. Crossing my fingers for spring.

45 years ago I put raw manure from a battery farm on my newly dug garden and dug it in. In spring! I separated the tomatoes. Best yield I’ve ever had. Go figure!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Thanks - fortunately, I've accidentally set up that exact experiment. I've only dumped waste on half the beds - so I think I'll follow your advice - till then wait a few weeks.

You also cannot compare growing conditions in Alaska to New England. Apparently the daylight cycles/midnight sun does something to accelerate the growth cycle of crops resulting in huge vegetables. It’s all about learning what works in your area.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Tomatoes dislike too much nitrogen. Plant them somewhere else! It feeds the greenery but the fruit doesn’t like it.

I have a small coop and certainly can’t leave their poop in there. But I turned the run before everything froze, and I was astonished! Even the wood chips had turned to dirt, in about 4 months.

A beautiful thing!

Great - thank you!

 

[NHMountainMan]

You also cannot compare growing conditions in Alaska to New England. Apparently the daylight cycles/midnight sun does something to accelerate the growth cycle of crops resulting in huge vegetables. It’s all about learning what works in your area.

so true - nothing like 20 hours of daylight to accelerate growth.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to look around for anyone that has just chickens. everyone close by has cows, goats, sheep and poultry.

As a NY'er that's moved to NH, even though I've been here almost 30 years. I'm an outsider. Typically, I'll politely be called a "flatlander." - which is much better than Mass immigrants - they are "massholes."
My Brother in law farms land that has been in his family since before the revolutionary war. Most of the advice I get from him is really good - though he more or less just tills anything under each year. Not a lot of science in what he does, but generational experience is worth so much more!

And even with the tilling, more farmers are going to the “no till” method that cuts back on weeds. Check out Cornell University’s website for gardening/farming questions.

 

[cmom]

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

Yes you can or just leave it and let it decompose. Eventually it's a good idea to turn it in. We have piles. We put leaves, poop, shavings from cleaning the coops, kitchen vegie scraps, hay and grass clippings in the summer when we mow, all go into the piles. The piles get turned once in awhile. We use the tractor with the bucket to turn the piles. We also have a chipper shredder we have used in the past to chip branches in and that also went into the compost. We haven't used it for quite awhile and are going to sell it. It goes on the back of one of our tractors 3-point hitches and runs off of the PTO. The pile on the left is our new pile we recently started. The pile on the right is the one we are using.