Deep litter method

[RoseMarie1]

x2

X3, plus I'd worry about them eating stuff in the horse poop if he wormed the horses or medicates them etc. it will get into your food chain since you eat the eggs from the chicken and I wouldn't want the chicken getting it either really. Just my thoughts.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I put horse manure down in the spring in my veggie garden which is where the hens are housed for the winter. They LOVE it. Mostly they just pick out the grains that didnt digest and scatter the rest around the garden for me. Never thought of them getting by product of an tereatments the horses had but I usually get manure that has been sitting most of the winter.

 

[joan1708]

I don't think you want fresh chicken manure in your Spring garden either. I think the rule of thumb is that chicken manure should be composted and at least 3 months old before it can safely go in a vegetable garden. I don't think you have to be as careful in an orchard or flower garden.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We generate 40 tons of chicken manure a year. We spread it and plow it down in the fields or in the vegetable garden. I had a fellow come and get a pickup truck full of fresh manure last year and till it into his garden. It did great. I wouldn't use it to side-dress plants once they are up though, bad idea...

 

[Hokum Coco]

Chicken manure is the most potent manure know to man. It grows beans and vegetables so fast you have to jump back after putting the seeds in the ground for fear of the plant growing up and knocking you unconscious instantly.

Manure is the main reason I have chickens everything else is a bonus.

You can use it fresh if you take precautions. One is to mix it as a tea in a 45 gallon barrel. I take a feed bag and fill it about ¼ full of fresh manure and tie it off and put it in the barrel to serve as a tea bag (even then if it is poured directly on the leaf of a bean plant it may burn the leaf some times one batch is a little more potent then the other) You have to error on the side of caution sometimes ¼ of a bag is too much.

Not only humans enjoy a vegetable garden.

Backyard.

 

[armorfirelady]

I don't think you want fresh chicken manure in your Spring garden either. I think the rule of thumb is that chicken manure should be composted and at least 3 months old before it can safely go in a vegetable garden. I don't think you have to be as careful in an orchard or flower garden.

When I clean out my coop of the DL I put it right in the garden. I have never had a problem. The DL breaks the droppings down pretty quick. Plus my girls are in the veggie garden all winter and their fresh from the hen manure has not caused problems either. Even fresh horse manure has been ok. I have never had it sit in a compost before putting in the garden.


I usually put it during the winter & spring before I plant. I also dump my leaves from fall in the garden. The hens spend all winter digging thru leaves and manure and spread it very nicely.

 

[joan1708]

I am not an "authority" on this but I fear some day pathogens may be a problem for you. I've read the risk is greatly diminished if you give the manure time to break down and nature time to decontaminate it. Obviously, hot composting is preferred. It is my understanding that there is also more risk with meat eating animals such as chickens. I read rabbit manure is the safest in regard to pathogen risk. There have been outbreaks of disease (e. coli and salmonella as I recall) that have been traced to organic growing operations and poor manure handling practices. I also use chicken manure and it is part of the reason I have chickens. I've read 3 and sometimes 4 months is needed to diminish the risk to an acceptable level. I make sure the newest chicken manure has been in the compost for at least 3 months before I will use it on a vegetable bed. I don't see how making a tea, unless your boiling it, will destroy any pathogens that might be in the manure.

 

[Hokum Coco]

@joan1708
I can not argue your position because I am ill-informed on the subject. In a perfect world I compost the same way as you. That being said sometimes my vegetable garden or certain areas of it are not showing progress or much vigor. That is when I administer my manure tea (it is not a daily event either it is on an as needed basis). Yes chickens eat meat I can not argue that point either but realistically "My birds" get only 16% protein in their pellets and their feed is supplemented with corn, breads, apples, fruit, and grass clippings and the like.The actual amount of protein each bird eats per day is up for debate.

I have been on my own since I was 19 and have grown gardens almost every year of my adult life. I have been around the sun 63 times with this procedure (My tea does ferment and is hotter than the ambient air). I will not say it is safe because I really do not know.That being said it will probably be employed on my 64th trip around the sun God Willing. Unless my garden does not require it (some years I do not need it). This year it was employed because due to wet conditions my garden did not get planted until July 1st (usually planted May 20th). My garden did fine but was late of course.

 

[Beekissed]

Because using it as a "tea" instead of dry matter makes it instantly absorbed into the soils and bound to nutrients there to make it more readily available for plant usage. It isn't lying on the top of the soil like fresh manure would be, waiting to be splashed up onto vegetables with each rain.

People out here in the backwoods have been using pig manure tea on gardens for more years than any of us have been alive, with excellent results, I might add. No illnesses or deaths, either. What city folks do when they move to some acreage and have organic farms, using their VAST knowledge of farming practices

is a great deal different than tried and true methods passed down from generation to generation.

The difference between manures from omnivores vs. herbivores is usually that the omnivore manure has elements that have not been digested fully as they lack multiple stomachs for fermentation and conversion of proteins and some sugars, whereas herbivores have either multiple stomachs(ruminants) or specialized bowels(horses and rabbits) that aid in this break down of nutrients. That is why one is considered a "hot" manure and the other a "cold" manure...it's just one manure is still composting and creating heat, ammonia, etc. and the other is pre-composted by the animal. By taking hot manures and making a liquid from their feces, one captures the nitrogen and other components that enrich the soil without also using the undigested dry matter that is in the actual bulk feces...that matter that is composting hotly if placed fresh on a garden. The tea is powerful stuff and most folks dilute it before side dressing with it.

The point of all that is this...it doesn't lie on the surface of the soil in its raw state, being splashed up onto edibles with every rainfall, creating pathogen problems for the consumer. It is absorbed into the soils and is washed even deeper by the rains, particularly in good, loamy soils found in most established garden plots.

 

[Arielle]

THank you Beekissed for adding your knowledge.

ANother point worth mentioning is knowing the risk of contamination. E coli is typically a contaminant from vegetables where workers use the fields to eleminate, or we forget to wash our hands before handling food items. In this vein, I have found washing fruits and vegetables to be a difficult chore and often missed in my house. THe one method I did read about was laborious though seemed to be very effective. Perhaps a simple water wash is enough to remove any bad bacteria.

THough I just asked my DH about the swim or no swimming order for our local waters: 104 is the cut off. WHich tells me that some exposure to E coli is considered acceptable and will not cause the disease state. Like we do have basic abilities to ward off this particular disease.

Samonella-- cooking kills this of course. BUt if you are like me, eating fresh outof the garden is preferred. Again, washing the vegies.

Most of my birds come from hatcheries and there is no salmonella there these days. Or very little. Once they are loose in the real world with plenty of wild birds, I expect the rish of salmonella to rise.

THen what about the chickens used to clear bugs out the gardens and those birds leave their droppings behind.

Always a risk for E.coli and salmonella, just need to minimize the risks. Wash or cook before eating if necessary in my view.