Pine shaving bedding as fertilzer?

[Fentonchicken]

Hey guys,

You have always been a huge help. I have a question about my chicken bedding. I maintain a small flock of chickens. I have been using pine shaving as bedding. And I know it's acidic and I was just wondering how I could use it as either a fertilizer or as a growing median.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

~~Three Red Stars about one year old to date and I have six, one month old Americana's.

 

[lazy gardener]

The easiest answer is to compost it. Now, I'm going to suggest that you do a google search regarding: "Back to Eden", and "Hugelkulture". Let me know what you decide to do!

 

[Fentonchicken]

Now I don't have time to watch the movie at work but I will. I did read through the description and I am kind of familiar with these methods of gardening. Is it like Lasagna gardening? I guess I'm just concerned about the acid in the pine.

 

[Fentonchicken]

And I don't think I will do Hungelkulture at my home but I do have some property that I want to try farming and this looks to be what I need to have that hands off low maintenance crop I am looking for.

 

[3riverschick]

Look up Biochar. It has to do with burning it and using the ashes to amend your soil.
I researched it a while back and extremely interesting.
Best,
Karen in western PA, USA

 

[Fentonchicken]

Thank you for the response. I have also heard about burning it. It helps to break it down since the chickens droppings are almost to high in nitrogen when fresh. But I wasn't sure if it cuts down the acidity.

 

[Fred's Hens]

We market garden and the litter manure is the engine that drives it.

The pine bedding is acidic but the poop has a high level of calcium from the hens. The poop is high in nitrogen but the bedding is not and will lock the nitrogen as it essentially a carbon. Thus, what you have is a nice balanced product. It takes 6 months to break down in our soil, and everyone's soil is different. We spread it straight onto the garden fields from late September, right on through winter and early spring. Best practices demand that all manure applications cease 60 days before planting or 90 days before harvesting of vegetables, especially those with ground contact.

So, during the growing season, the manure/litter is piled up and stored until late September.

We grow abundant, wonderful crops in soil that is essential void of nutrients. Just sandy, gravelly empty soil. After 5 years of continued applications, the top 8-10 inches is now a dark brown earthy consistency.

We could not grow what we do without it.

 

[Fentonchicken]

This sounds like the answer I needed. I should be able to make this work nicely.

 

[aggiemae]

Our planting season starts at the end of February so we usually dump our chicken poop/ straw / kitchen wasted / lawn clippings into the beds in December over a layer of year old leaf mulch. I don't till at all.

 

[Roo Boy]

I always add lime to help neutralize the soil too.