Gardening: Chicken Poo for Fertilizer?

[katie197888]

My boyfriend and I are starting an amazing (We hope it will be) Veggie garden this spring. We have plants started and now its time to prepare the garden bed. I have heard chicken poo was soo rich is nitrogen to use as fertillizer. Any thoughts? Also, we have wood shavings mixed in..would this be a problem? We also have beef cattle so we have good ole' fashioned cow dung..maybe we should stick with that?

What works for you guys?

 

[kla37]

I use the chicken poo and pine shavings as a soil additive. I let it age first in a compost heap so it won't burn my plants. You could do a soil PH test every year to see if you need to adjust for the acidity in the pine shavings. Grows great stuff! And they poo all over the lawn too, we just water it in. Hasn't burned any spots on the lawn yet! Good luck!

 

[galanie]

Pile that stuff up and let it age. Cow, chicken, shavings, and all. You can turn it into the soil if you plan to let it set for a month or so but as it's spring most intend to plant pretty quick. One thing I'm experimenting with right now is drying the stuff in the sun that I scrape off the poop board and sort of break it up with a long 4x4 on my back porch. Probably more work than I need to do but sprinkling some on that way sounds a lot better than buying something like blood meal for nitrogen to me.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Apply it, aged or raw, in the fall and turn it in. You can apply it during the winter, but cease applications when you are within 30-60 days of planting. This is the best practice. While Chicken manure is extraordinarily good stuff, like all manure, one needs to take precautions regarding pathogens such as e-coli and salmonella.

Our gardens are 100% organic and chicken poop fed.

Here's a little video I made last June:

 

[classicsredone]

As said above, it needs to age for a few months, first. It is really easy to hot compost the shavings and manure. Or, you can save it up and spread over the garden after you've pulled the plants for Fall. That'll give it time to decompose before you plant when it warms up again.

Although...The 'hot' shavings and manure make a great weed preventative.

We spread it in under our crepe myrtles and have had no weeds where it was spread.

 

[galanie]

Fred's Hens :

Apply it, aged or raw, in the fall and turn it in. You can apply it during the winter, but cease applications when you are within 30-60 days of planting. This is the best practice. While Chicken manure is extraordinarily good stuff, like all manure, one needs to take precautions regarding pathogens such as e-coli and salmonella.

Our gardens are 100% organic and chicken poop fed.

Here's a little video I made last June:

I was so taken by the banjo that I barely watched the video! hahaha Seriously though, nice gardens

 

[harveyhorses]

Fred's Hens :

Apply it, aged or raw, in the fall and turn it in. You can apply it during the winter, but cease applications when you are within 30-60 days of planting. This is the best practice. While Chicken manure is extraordinarily good stuff, like all manure, one needs to take precautions regarding pathogens such as e-coli and salmonella.

Our gardens are 100% organic and chicken poop fed.

Here's a little video I made last June:

So after I went over to Amazon.... Great song! I have garden envy too.​

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I've got about four wheelbarrow loads of manure laced shavings I'm about to turn under in the garden to plant my sweet potatoes in. It's wonderful stuff for making a nice crop of spuds. No composting, just turn it under directly then plant. But that's because it'll be October before I dig up the taters.

For most anything else I prefer to turn it under about a month or so before I plant. Maybe even longer for stuff that grows fast and is eaten raw.

 

[CAMathMom]

I agree with those who say to let it sit. We clean the coop and compost it with other composting in the fall then and add the mixture to the garden in the spring. Has worked well for the past 4 years. Great veggies!

 

[annie3001]

I scoop the poop every day from the coop (night droppings) then add it to my veggie garden, and use a hoe to turn it.
We made a huge area for more veggies this year (very excited) so i think I will also add a bag or 2 of potting soil and mix it all up like a (giant) cake batter.

We have started our seeds already in the house. I have 4 trays growing yummy food!!