Maine

[superchemicalgirl]

Any one else want to chime in on how you manage chicken manure/compost/bedding in the garden, and what results you've had?? If you can, give details about bedding used, how much applied to garden, how long aged, growing results, any issues with over nitrification.

A few years ago I read a thread where in the fall someone cleaned out their coop and threw the poop/shavings into the garden, tilled it in and got great results the next year.

And so I did that. With the most nasty poop/shavings in the coop. Had a gas tiller. Tilled in fall and again in spring.

The next year I had a horrible garden in that spot. The year after, the same thing. The plants barely grew. Some died a few weeks after transplant after not growing at all, just withered and died. What survived was miniature, with exception of tomatoes. They for some reason were spindly but produced. I had the soil tested and it turns out there was NO nitrogen in it - the microbes were used up trying to get rid of the shavings.

I'm still trying to recover from that. I had an improved garden in that spot this year, but nothing great. Last year I added a bunch of cow poop, and tilled again.

I'm half tempted this year to just throw straight chicken poop in it and till it in.

I do use duck (poop, lots of poop) water to water my raised plants. Those do PHENOMENAL with the duck poop water. It doesn't seem to have much of an impact on the disaster garden.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks SCG. Any one else???

 

[lazy gardener]

Coop Chick 719: The habitat store closest to me is in Bangor, at the intersection of Washington and Exchange street. It's almost under the middle bridge.

 

[yankeehill]

Superchemicalgirl, I can't understand how there was no nitrogen. Chicken manure is loaded with it. So much so, that you usually can't use it the first year and need to let it sit for a year before use, or else it will burn the plants.
http://www.hgtvgardens.com/chickens...ht-poop-on-using-chicken-manure-as-fertilizer

Here's how we use our manure:
We have a pile out back behind the chicken coop. Since we get free shavings from a friend, and I am a fanatic about having a cleanish coop, I change the shavings every 2-3 months. I remove them completely from the coop and put them in our compost pile out behind the chicken coop. Then in the spring, we transfer it straight into the garden, well before planting and tiller it in. We do the same with our rabbit manure (GREAT stuff also!)

I'm sure some people could advise me that the chicken manure isn't sitting long enough, but honestly, while it's in the pile, the chickens are all over it, turning it over and over and spreading it out well. Between the chickens turning it, the snow, rain, and other elements reaching it (our compost is not contained - it's just a pile out there), I figure it is ready for the garden. I am cautious in the late spring not to add to that pile directly, but to put the shavings/manure on the outskirts of the compost so it isn't hot.

Seriously though - rabbits...all you would need is one breeding pair of large rabbits. I am amazed by all the poop one litter of kits will make!

 

[lazy gardener]

You would think with all of the talk about chicken manure being so hot that free ranging chickens would kill off all of the grass in a lawn with their chicken bombs. However, I've seen no such issues, and even a tractor where there is a pretty significant load placed every day, the grass grows well, and photos of well managed tractor sites actually show super green patches that define where the tractor has been previously. So, this next gardening season will be quite an education for me! I'm curious to see how much of a manure load my garden can hold and still produce well. I'm hoping that the layer of hay mulch will act as a neutralizer (for lack of a better term) for the nitrogen load. Interesting read Yankee hill re: the avg. chicken producing 90#/year. They're quite the little fertilizer factories!! It would be great to see some studies about sustainable gardening, and flock size in relation to s.f. of garden space for the best utilization of both animals and crops. Sorry if I'm boring you all!

 

[twi728]

I just have to say that @twi728 at RMT Farms rocks! He found me a new feathered friend that I'm going to pick up tonight. Yeah!

TY @MEMama3 Im happy we where able to help you

 

[buckabucka]

Okay lazy gardener, here are the cliff notes for my book (which is a work in progress, as we've only done this one winter):
Bedding starts out as mostly dirt, grass clippings, weeds (whatever debris is already in the garden, mostly weeds). In the winter, if it gets really cold I dump a bunch of dry leaves in there. Last winter, we had a 50 degree rainstorm in January (or thereabouts) and since we hadn't prepared for flooding, the whole "coop" filled with water. I put in a maze of pallets, old plywood on tires (some real pretty stuff) and lots and lots of leaves, and although the water drained within hours, I left the pallets and they froze to the ground.

Floor size is 20 x 24. Two flocks divided by wire for a total of 24 birds. For the run, I put up snow fence in the garden. Once the garden was all full of snow, I let them free-range, which meant they stayed on the shoveled paths and mostly hung out on our front steps. I didn't let them out everyday.

In the spring, we moved the coop off and tilled the soil. It was probably only a month or less before we covered the soil with black plastic and the hoop house. I thought we needed to let the manure age, but DH insisted things would be fine, since it would be months before we harvested any food out of there (this house had tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes).

The plants were monsters! Much of the eggplant went to waste eventually. The peppers we dried and froze and used in sauces. DH put up 75 pints of tomato products (spaghetti sauce, salsa, stewed, etc.).

This year, I plan to dig a trench and pile some soil to prevent flooding (in case we have some freak warm rain again). I'm going to haul in a few pallets to set food, water, and nest boxes on.

The top ends are left open for ventilation, but I did hang old blanket scraps to block some of the draft. Otherwise, the ends are plastic.
Did that answer all your questions? In some ways, this set up is (borrowing a phrase from SCG) "real ghetto", but on a sunny day in mid-winter and is warm and beautiful in there.

 

[yankeehill]

You would think with all of the talk about chicken manure being so hot that free ranging chickens would kill off all of the grass in a lawn with their chicken bombs. However, I've seen no such issues, and even a tractor where there is a pretty significant load placed every day, the grass grows well, and photos of well managed tractor sites actually show super green patches that define where the tractor has been previously. So, this next gardening season will be quite an education for me! I'm curious to see how much of a manure load my garden can hold and still produce well. I'm hoping that the layer of hay mulch will act as a neutralizer (for lack of a better term) for the nitrogen load. Interesting read Yankee hill re: the avg. chicken producing 90#/year. They're quite the little fertilizer factories!! It would be great to see some studies about sustainable gardening, and flock size in relation to s.f. of garden space for the best utilization of both animals and crops. Sorry if I'm boring you all!

There's a thought I had not had...However, I've seen no such issues, and even a tractor where there is a pretty significant load placed every day, the grass grows well, and photos of well managed tractor sites actually show super green patches that define where the tractor has been previously. I'm thinking now I read something about nitrogen evaporating??? Off to research...

 

[MustardTiger]

Hey all, quick update: the buff orp is back in the coop. I never caught her but she went home on her own. The injured chicken is also back in there. She stayed in the house in the big brooder for about 3 nights to heal up and recover from the shock and now she is just fine.

Everyone is just starting to lay again after molting and I am eagerly awaiting my may Ams who are due to lay any time now. Of course I did not worm anyone while they were molting which was dumb so I will be without eggs again soon while I worm them for the first time.

Two cockerels went to freezer camp this am. My husband is making an epic batch of mixed poultry stock from all the Turkey and chicken parts and carcasses we have saved over this year. Should be delicious

We still have two roosters. We were going to just keep one but after hearing stories on here about how it may be wise to keep a backup rooster....we decided to keep them both.


DEEP LITTER: I clean the coop once a year in spring. I add shavings a bag at a time. When the shavings in the coop start to get "flat" and I catch a hint of smellyness I add more and more. By the time it is cold they have a nice deep bed and it stays dry. I have never had a problem doing it this way, thus far. Throughout the year I sprinkle DE all over the coop and in the nest boxes. Once or twice a month I will go in and stir up the litter if there are poop saturated spots. OR I throw some scratch around the coop and the chickens stir it up for me.

 

[quailtrail]

Being my 1st winter trying the deep litter method. Hope to be able to utilize for the garden next spring. Holding steady for eggs still. Someone was in the nesting box moving the hay and wooden egg around. Fingers crossed!!!