Milorganite on Lawn

[AChickenNamedBlue]

So I’ve been told by a few people, one being the owner of a local hardware/feed store, that milorganite should be fine to use on your lawn if you have chickens. I was planning on using it before we even got chickens because we have a dog and children. Then the chickens arrived. We let the girls out all the time when we are home. I applied it early Friday morning and it got watered in with the rain Friday night and Saturday. It worked out because we weren’t home those days so the girls stayed in their run. I finally let the girls out to wander around the yard this morning. Just wanted some reassurance of using milorganite. I’ve not read anything against it, but not a ton about using it. Thanks!

 

[User635240]

So I’ve been told by a few people, one being the owner of a local hardware/feed store, that milorganite should be fine to use on your lawn if you have chickens. I was planning on using it before we even got chickens because we have a dog and children. Then the chickens arrived. We let the girls out all the time when we are home. I applied it early Friday morning and it got watered in with the rain Friday night and Saturday. It worked out because we weren’t home those days so the girls stayed in their run. I finally let the girls out to wander around the yard this morning. Just wanted some reassurance of using milorganite. I’ve not read anything against it, but not a ton about using it. Thanks!

I wouldn't use it. Wikipedia says it's made from biosolids e.g. human feces: "Milorganite is a brand of biosolids fertilizer produced by treating sewage sludge by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District." It might be ok for your lawn but not clear how healthy it would be downstream for your chickens, or the people eating their eggs.

Ironically chicken manure in small quantities is excellent lawn fertilizer, and is free. There is a lot of literature on rotational pasture for chickens. Moving them in a tractor or enclosure every few days conditions the soil and also provides needed dietary supplement for the chickens.

 

[User635240]

Also, I don't mean to be a Karen, but there are pathogens in human sewage that are not removed by wastewater treatment, like prions (that cause mad cow disease):
"Prion sorption is strongly irreversible and resistant to detergent and chaotropic treatments.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc
Prions in the environment - PMC - NCBI"

 

[Debbie292d]

We've used it over the years. Especially when planting trees or shrubs. We put cow and horse poop in our gardens as well so I guess I see no difference except that this is processed whereas the animal manure is straight from their anus.

https://www.milorganite.com/what-is-milorganite/safety

 

[AChickenNamedBlue]

I wouldn't use it. Wikipedia says it's made from biosolids e.g. human feces: "Milorganite is a brand of biosolids fertilizer produced by treating sewage sludge by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District." It might be ok for your lawn but not clear how healthy it would be downstream for your chickens, or the people eating their eggs.

Ironically chicken manure in small quantities is excellent lawn fertilizer, and is free. There is a lot of literature on rotational pasture for chickens. Moving them in a tractor or enclosure every few days conditions the soil and also provides needed dietary supplement for the chickens.

I wouldn't use it. Wikipedia says it's made from biosolids e.g. human feces: "Milorganite is a brand of biosolids fertilizer produced by treating sewage sludge by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District." It might be ok for your lawn but not clear how healthy it would be downstream for your chickens, or the people eating their eggs.

Ironically chicken manure in small quantities is excellent lawn fertilizer, and is free. There is a lot of literature on rotational pasture for chickens. Moving them in a tractor or enclosure every few days conditions the soil and also provides needed dietary supplement for the chickens.

Thanks for the response. I’ll probably do some more research on other safe fertilizers. We only have 5 chickens so it would take a decently long time to get that much for our yard. We aren’t on a farm, so I can’t really rotate them aside from letting them in the yard.

 

[AChickenNamedBlue]

We've used it over the years. Especially when planting trees or shrubs. We put cow and horse poop in our gardens as well so I guess I see no difference except that this is processed whereas the animal manure is straight from their anus.

https://www.milorganite.com/what-is-milorganite/safety

Thank you!

Reading from their website made me feel better about letting the girls roam, but I’ll still look for alternatives for the next application too.

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you!

Reading from their website made me feel better about letting the girls roam, but I’ll still look for alternatives for the next application too.

For our lawn, I'd just apply it before a good rain.

A few old gardeners around here we met last summer swear by it for their lawns and gardens is why we bought some.

 

[AChickenNamedBlue]

For our lawn, I'd just apply it before a good rain.

A few old gardeners around here we met last summer swear by it for their lawns and gardens is why we bought some.

That’s what I did. I knew it was gonna rain that afternoon, so it worked out perfect. Still kinda smelly, but it’s dissipating!