We have been putting the shavings/poop on our garden area and we tilled it all up. Then today, I noticed my Polish hen has a terrible swollen eye (post is in the Emergency/Disease forum). Now I'm afraid she might have something bad. If it's something like that Corzya, would it be safe to eat the vegetables that we grow in the garden that contained the compost?
you need to contact your local extension , animal manure should be left to compost for aleast 3 months
I agree with the other post. I compost my poop and litter. It takes several months so I usually do several piles. I then put it in all of my gardens. There are pictures on my BYC Page.
There are some things that people can get from chickens but Coryza isn't one of them. However, you should probably compost the poo well before putting on veg garden *anyhow*, because there for sure *are* various fecal bacteria in it that you don't want to be eating. 60 days' composting is generally regarded as rendering it safe; if you are extra worried, or composting cold rather than hot, give it another coupla months if you want. Good luck, have fun, Pat
When I was researching having chickens I read somewhere, and I wish I could find it again, that chicken litter needs to be composted for a year because of the high nitrogen content. It can "burn" the plants. Otherwise, use the stuff. It is a good farming practice. The compost I created is some of the best stuff I have ever had. I did mix it with kitchen scraps, yard waste, and horse manure from a friend. Here's to wonderful gardens!!
My first "adult" garden was last year. We bought this house, moved here in March and were quickly trying to get something planted so we could have some sort of garden. We found a couple compost piles of hen and goat manure-- it all got put in the gardens and we had 8-10 foot tomato plants, more squash and pumpkins than we could count, and everything else grew like crazy. Nobody got sick-- the point is, let it rot and compost a bit before using it. When we cleaned out the coop (we, meaning DH) all the litter/manure got spread over the garden, and it's now well rotted for tilling in soon!!!
Quote:That is for "Straight" poop, not mixed up with a lot of shavings or straw. Chicken poop mixed liberally with litter can be used with just a month or two of good hot composting especially in a wet climate like here in Oregon. I put all my coop cleanings straight onto the dormant winter garden and just compost it in a big pile for the summer months. i don't worry about catchign anythign from the composted litter. I'm far more exposed cleaning the coop.
