Hi everybody!! First off: a BIG thank-you!! Now I'm spending way to much time at BYC!!! Ive posted so many questions and I keep getting answers! this is really helpful. YAY BYC!! Ok, so now my question. Ive heard that chickens are really good at making super-duper plant fertilizer. Does anybody here sell there chicken poo as fertilizer? There are lots of gardening/outdoorsy people in my neighborhood, I'm thinking it might work. I've also heard that you need to compost it for awhile before it will be usable. any input, suggestions? mnm
Absolutely has to be composted or "aged" for ~1yr. It is too high in nitrogen straight from the source, and will burn whatever you use it on if its not "cooked". Once "cooked", it is some of the BEST fertilizer. Personally, I prefer pig manure. But the neighbors for about a mile in all directions HATE it!
Well, it doesn't have to be a year necessarily, it depends on how your compost pile is functioning. If you can get it composted down real well, you might be able to charge a nominal fee for it -- certainly in various places I've lived there have always been places with signs "aged sheep manure $3.50/bag" and such, although I have no idea how much business they did. (e.t.a. - like, big 50-lb feed bag size, not lucnh-bag size) A much more common solution, if you don't want to use it yourself (as it sounds like you don't) is simply to offer it free, while still fresh, to anyone who wants to come and cart it away. Depending on where you live, it can work quite well to get rid of excess manure pile At a large garden center last week I noticed they were selling cartons (about the size of a quart of milk) of composted chicken poo, with some cutesy-pootsy name that escapes me at the moment, for $7 each! Yowza!! It was presumably from large commercial operations. You should not expect to be able to do anything like that, unfortunately Good luck, Pat
I have never sold any chicken manure because I horde it for myself. If you are applying it in the Fall for a Spring planting, then you can apply it wet (uncomposted). If you are applying it to your garden which you are planting or is in produciton, it must be composted. Chicken manure is incredibly rich in nitrogen and is great to put down before heavy feeding crops suck as corn, tomatoes or potatoes. Also beware under organic requirements, composted manure must be applied at least 90 days before harvest (or is it 60? I forget sometimes). I believe you can get the composting process down to as little as 100 days if you actively managed the pile with moisture and het gauges.
If you need some for your own use, offer every coop clean out free if they clean the coop. Free labor is always great. marrie