Fertilizing a Lawn with Chicken Safety in Mind

[SueBaby]

It's getting to be about the time that we'll need to fertilize our lawn. The girls are on it daily in the afternoon & evening. This will be our first time fertilizing now that we have chickens.

I called a local farm supply store and they recommended a Dr. Earth product. I'm wondering if anyone out there has experience with this? Our lawn is about 10,000 square feet, so we need to be efficient in terms of effort and price. At a minimum, The Dr. Earth stuff would cost us $80. Yikes.

Yes, the girls do poop all over, but they tend to favor some parts of the lawn over others, so what they give is not going to be enough. We are using the deep litter method in their coop/run so we won't have available composted manure until the spring. And how would be spread that over 10,000 square feet anyway? My husband says any kind of compost will clog up our drop spreader.

I'd love to hear your suggestions.

 

[Capvin]

I put Scotts regular lawn fertilizer(NOT weed and feed) with my drop spreader. I also have a small orange grove that I regularly put citrus fertilizer. My chickens peck all over the yard and they especially dig and peck under the citrus trees. It seems they go after the trees where there is fertilizer and so far they have shown no ill effects. I fertilize my lawn about every two months and then water in in and after that the chickens go on it and I have not had any problems.

 

[mystang89]

I don't know. I normally fertilize our yard just before spring but when that time comes our birds won't free range for about a month until its sank into the ground and been rained on. I generally use normal 10-10-10 for my fertilizer.

 

[laseterlass]

Regardless of what you use I would hold them off the lawn for a few days.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

No regular spreader will handle compost, and you'd need about a ton for your yard anyway.

Just use a good balanced pellitized fertilizer, and put it out the day before a good rain.

It won't hurt the chickens

 

[bleith]

Thanks for the info Bearfoot. I am interested in the fertilizer risks as well. good original post

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I called a local farm supply store and they recommended a Dr. Earth product

The Dr. Earth stuff would cost us $80. Yikes

Dr Earth is a high end "organic" product sold only in overpriced specialty stores.

When you ignore the sales hype and the "feel good" organic rhetoric, and ONLY look at the chemical composition, it's STILL just Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium

The plants won't know the difference in that and the cheapest generic fertlizer from another store.

Chemically they have to be the same to work, and that is what really matters.

3 40 lb bags will cover your 10,000 sq ft, and you should be able to do it for a lot less then $80, even in CA​

 

[SueBaby]

Thanks, Barefoot. I assumed (I know I should never assume...) that the organic stuff was soybean meal or something that was an OK-to-ingest form of Nitrogen. Hmmm. Nothing's ever simple is it?

 

[Oregon Blues]

You could always use manure. That works and won't hurt the chickens. Except I wouldn't buy chicken manure if I have chickens.

Me, I use regular granulated fertilizer and water it in. I keep the animals penned up until the fertilizer dissolves and soaks in, which doesn't take long.

 

[Oregon Blues]

You can also buy plain old cleaning ammonia and dilute that with water and spray it on the lawn. Water it in. It won't hurt the birds once it has soaked in and they can't pick up pieces of it like they can with fertilizer.