What's a good way to age chicken poop for fertilizer?

[clucky2]

How does everyone out there use your chicken poop for fertilizing? I know it needs some age time, right? I have poop in the coop that collects on the wire floor, and poop mixed in with pine shavings on the ground in the pen. I love to garden and want to know if there is an efficient way to cycle in the poop! I'd love to hear how others cycle it into thier gardens.....

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I plant my garden in raised rows and spread the shavings/poop in the alternate rows. In the fall I'll till it all together and again in the spring before I plant.

 

[anngili]

It's more work, but you can also take the chicken poop/shavings mix and put it in a compost pile along with any other green things your chickens shouldn't eat, such as the previous season's tomato plants.
I'll be using this method because I need to take out any toxic plants and let my chickens into the garden now to eat bugs and weed seeds, etc. I need someplace to put the tomato, potato, and other plants while the chickens are working and a place to recycle stuff that's not poultry-friendly.
If not for those reasons, I'd be using the above method which is definitely much lower in labor!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicken poop will burn most plants it touches. If you are very careful you can do it like LilRalphieRoosmama but it is much safer to compost. You can do a search on compost on this site or visit the companion site "TheEasyGarden.com" at the bottom of this page. They have a whole section on compost.

 

[Superior Chicks]

The shavings with poop in it goes to the compost pile.

The manure from the droppings boards, pure, clean (no shavings), goes into a plastic bag that the 50 lbs of feed comes in. This pure manure is allowed to age for 4-6 months (over the fall and winter) and then handfulls go directly into planting areas and worked in, in the garden areas that require high feeding plants such as tomatoes and melons.

It has to be used sparingly, but having it separated this way gives you complete contol as to how much you add to your existing soil., and exactly where.

Works for me!

Ma

 

[2etuaz]

If you have a post hole shovel, dig as deep as you can get 3' to 4 'and fill it with droppings, cover the hole with a concrete paver or a rock so you don't step in it. . When the first hole is full, dig another hole and start filling it. After a while use your post hole shovel to remove aged droppings from the first hole, it should be ready for the garden. You will also have a ready hole for your fresh droppings.
We are in an arid region where this works well. It may not work as well where you are.
Cheers