Chickens in the garden over winter? Will it kill my soil?

[Chickens R Us]

I have wondered about leaving my chickens in my garden in the fall after the garden has been harvested . I worried about to much poop burning my plants. I would love it if the chickens eat/kill all the weeds in my garden like they do their run. I'm going to try it this year.

 

[aart]

There is a heck of a lot of poop in the greenhouse soil, and I plant in that soil every spring.

I flood it twice first, that soaking and leaching helps so that the plants do fine.

My grandmother would have me put majorly nasty (enough ammonia to make my eyes hurt) chicken coop bedding in between her garden rows, on the paths. Her garden did beautifully.

You just have to manage it properly. So, too much poop is not a problem, unless you make a mountain of poop directly on top of your plant.

Curious Alaskan...were the rows raised beds or was the bedding immediately adjacent to the plant rows?

I have long wondered about the balance of high nitrogen as a benefit or deficit regarding plant 'burning' and how long it takes for chicken poop to break down enough to be 'safe' or too long for all the good stuff to leach away.

I grow only garlic at this point, which excludes chicken run rotation as the ground is only 'empty' between July harvest and October planting.
This spring I am going to experiment with replacing some of the straw mulch between rows with the shavings/poop from the coop.

 

[Alaskan]

There is a heck of a lot of poop in the greenhouse soil, and I plant in that soil every spring.


I flood it twice first, that soaking and leaching helps so that the plants do fine.


My grandmother would have me put majorly nasty (enough ammonia to make my eyes hurt) chicken coop bedding in between her garden rows, on the paths. Her garden did beautifully.


You just have to manage it properly. So, too much poop is not a problem, unless you make a mountain of poop directly on top of your plant.

Curious Alaskan...were the rows raised beds or was the bedding immediately adjacent to the plant rows?

I have long wondered about the balance of high nitrogen as a benefit or deficit regarding plant 'burning' and how long it takes for chicken poop to break down enough to be 'safe' or too long for all the good stuff to leach away.

I grow only garlic at this point, which excludes chicken run rotation as the ground is only 'empty' between July harvest and October planting.
This spring I am going to experiment with replacing some of the straw mulch between rows with the shavings/poop from the coop.

My grandmother had her garden tilled by a tractor every spring, and then used stakes with string in between to make perfectly straight rows. Walking in between the rows would compact the soil and make it a tiny bit lower than the planted rows. The rows and the paths were, at a guess, all two feet wide. She used the hay that had fallen to the barn floor as bedding in the coop. I would clean it out twice a year, at which point it was many layers or exceedingly soiled hay. Very strong, sting your eyes ammonia. I would cart it out by the wheel barrow load to the garden and put it down on the paths (so yep, you now walked on super poop covered hay to gather the veggies, but my grandmother liked it since you were no longer walking on mud). The paths were wide enough, that the soiled hay was maybe 8 inches from any plant base. None of her plants EVER showed any nitrogen burn.

I put the soiled bedding out in early summer when the spring crops were already pretty established, and again in late summer between her fall crops.


In my greenhouse, i plant directly into the ground. As I said before, since I plant into the ground with transplants, as long as they have a large enough soil ball, they are fine. This last year I planted some peppers that had been in small pots, some of them got some leaf burn, but they recovered and grew well and bore lots of peppers.

For at least the first week my greenhouse still smells of ammonia. I just keep flooding the soil to wash out the extra. I do find that my plants in the greenhouse need some Epson Salts, probably to counter all of whatever is in the poop. But that is all I do.

 

[aart]

.....

For at least the first week my greenhouse still smells of ammonia. I just keep flooding the soil to wash out the extra. I do find that my plants in the greenhouse need some Epson Salts, probably to counter all of whatever is in the poop. But that is all I do.

Thanks......but hmmm, Epsom salts...what does that do and how do you know when to apply it?

 

[Alaskan]

My tomatoes told me they needed it.

You can get good pictures from the internet that show all of the different tomato issues....and mine said they needed Epsom Salts.

I just sprinkled a bit around the plants and watered it in. It worked like a charm.

So, I wouldn't worry about it, unless your plants tell you they need something.

 

[Alaskan]

Tomatoes are just picky anyway.

Peppers are almost as picky.

I also grow cucumbers, basil, cilantro, and melons in that greenhouse soil and THEY never complain.

However, all of the plants, grow very nicely. (Well, if I get enoug heat Some years we only get ten days that hit 60)

Even the picky tomatoes and peppers have only asked for a little Epsom Salts, then they grew fine.

Actually......i think when I planted the tomatoes in a no-chicken poop spot, they still asked for Epsom Salts......so maybe it is just my soil?

 

[aart]

I'll have to read up on the epsom salts....but am encouraged by your experience with chicken poop as a side dressing.

 

[Hinotori]

I'll have to read up on the epsom salts....but am encouraged by your experience with chicken poop as a side dressing.

Epsom salts give you nice green leaves on plants. My mom always adds it when she plants.

I've been making 4'x8'x12" raised beds and putting topsoil and compost in them. I add in a two inch layer of chicken poop in towards the middle of my soil layers. I had HUGE zucchini plants last year that gave me lots of squash even though they were very closely spaced. The strawberries also did excellent in this as did onions. My pole peas would have been great if I could have kept the deer and elk out of the garden. Fencing it this year.

 

[RaZ]

I hope I don't offend anyone with my comments...
If there is a heavy ammonia odor then the manure management plan could use some work. High ammonia content can affect your chickens and cause respriratory issues.

The best thing that people can do is compost the manure over a period of time before using it in the garden. You should also run a soil test where you garden to get a solid idea of what nutrients are needed for your garden. You can get a soil test kit and results from your local Extension Office. That is your best bet for your specific area.

Don't rely entirely on internet searches or home remedies. Your land grant college has resources that are more tailored to your region and you can get help from them through your local extension.

 

[rcstanley]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I'll try it out if I manage to build a coop that's light enough to move.