Is it okay to let chickens clean-up garden at end of season

[4luvofchickens]

Will thier manure age properly to be safe for next years garden since they will be pooping as they are eating? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I am new to chickens, gardening and composting.

 

[4luvofchickens]

Anyone??

 

[blueskylen]

i think definitely let them do some cleanup - fertilizing. mine love veggies- squash,tomatoes,beans and after we pull most of it out at the end of season, they go in and clean up any bugs,worms,seeds,etc. we even clean the coop/run all winter and throw it on the garden.

 

[redhen]

Yup.. i let mine (and my pigs) in the garden at the end of every season...
Its cleared out in a few days...

 

[darkmatter]

I fenced off my garden and run with a shared fence for that very reason. In the fall when I'm done with the garden, I open the run/garden "pop" door and let them in all fall/winter into spring till I'm ready to plant. They do a bangup job of cleaning tilling and fertilizer for me. See my BYC page for pics. And yes, I use the Coop's year long deep litter in the spring for the garden.

 

[mangled]

We let the fence down and let the chickens have at the garden at the end of the year. I've found that the little bit of poop that they leave isn't harmful, we leave it open, they clean it out, and we till it right before the freeze. We dump the coops' contents before we till as well. Our garden has flourished this year, I really feel it's the chicken manure.

Do you use any type of pesticides, or anti-fungals or anything? We use all natural pest and weed control (DE, vinegar, beer, etc.), so there are no harmful chemicals in the garden. If you use pesticides, I'd say, it's probably not a good idea.

Good luck-
Em

 

[dsqard]

My grandparents used to live next door to a farm where they raised meat chickens. My grandfather would get chicken manure every fall to till into his garden. He said that the chicken poop was too "hot" for spring but it was great for the fall because it would break down over the fall and winter. He had a great vegetable garden every year.

 

[mangled]

It is too "hot" to use in Spring. We till it in at the end of the season, and till again in the spring.

We've lived here 4 years, and our garden the first year was a DISMAL FAILURE. I couldn't even get beans to grow. We began tilling the manure in that fall, and each year our garden has improved. This year, which is the fourth year we've gardened, we've had a bumper crop. Even the potatoes grew.

We've added nothing else to the garden, as our compost pile is nothing but a buffet for the chickens. I attribute the garden's success solely to the chicken poo.

Em

 

[jayne]

I always let mine..they love it and it helps with the garden for next year..saves work to LOL !!

 

[Ironmaiden]

The nitrogen level should be low enough by next planting season. It will be awesome when you till it all up!