Do chickens spread weeds?

[dianneS]

My mother always told me not to fertilize my garden with chicken manure, she said it "makes weeds"?

If I feed my chickens whole grains or my chickens free rage on the weed seeds they find, are they pooping out seeds all over my landscaping that will then germinate and spread weeds and undesirable plants in my gardens?

 

[CMV]

I would think that the only way chickens would spread weeds is if the birds are not digesting their food properly. Chickens may leave a few seeds undigested, but the vast majority of seeds are ground to a pulp by grit in the crop.

 

[dianneS]

That's what I was wondering... if their digestion process is strong enough to keep the seeds from germinating. My horse poops out whole oats and the chickens scratch in the manure and eat it. If I fertilize with horse manure that hasn't composted long enough, I get oat grass sprouting up wherever I spread the manure!

 

[BitsyB]

Don't waste the valuable chicken poop!

I really don't think it spreads weed seeds- whatever goes on inside a chicken makes anything they eat unrecognizable, not like horses where you can see the seeds in the manure.

Chicken poop makes the best compost, and a super soil amendment for the vegetable garden. I don't need to buy fertilizer anymore. One more benefit of keeping chickens!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I've never had a problem with my chickens spreading weeds, but the wild birds do. Mainly bramble, nettles and nightshade. I wish they'd plant something nice!!!

I can tell, because it's a problem anywhere they perch a lot. I've never had things sprout like that where the chickens hang out.

 

[abhaya]

If they have enough grit they should not sped weeds.

 

[Prdtordude]

We mix our chicken poop with leaves,goat manure, and soil in an old cement mixer, add a little water to moisten it. Then empty it into a 30 gallon drum with a lid, the heat that builds up in there will sterilize all the weed seeds and help break down everything into usable garden soil. Whatever goes in smelly comes out with no odor and it only takes a few days to compost. If you throw in a little used coffee grounds it actually smells really good.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

You will not see any more weeds than you would if you used 10-10-10 fertilizer....of course you will get some, but not enough to NOT use the manure.

 

[dianneS]

I think my mother got a lot of weeds in her garden because she's just a lazy gardener and was planting on a previously weedy spot! I don't think it had anything to do with the chicken manure. The farmers around here spread chicken manure a lot. I can tell because it really, really stinks! I have semi-free ranging chickens so I'm glad to know that they are not scattering weeds... they just scatter my mulch!

 

[bgelber]

I don't know about gardens but I do know that my back yard where my girls free range all day has the most beautiful stand of bermuda grass during the summer and not a single weed in the entire yard...now my front yard where they aren't allowed is another thing and I put stuff on it so it won't have weeds