Would you bury a dead chicken in your garden to nourish the soil?

[QChickieMama]

I heard about this somewhere, but now I'm wondering if it'll be a problem to have a decomposing creature inside a fenced garden. Will plants growing on the upper layer of soil have a problem?

I usually rake the surface smooth and then stick seeds in a tiny trench to plant my garden--I don't plan to till or dig deep holes.

Has anyone done this? Previously I just double-bagged the dead bird and tossed it in the trash. Is that better?

 

[AidKD]

I've never thought about it nourishing the soil, but I guess it's worth a shot! The plants won't have a hard time coming up.

 

[nuthatched]

In theory, it would help but our ground is hard here, they put in the trash or driven it into the woods

 

[Rose the Legbar]

I know that people bury their beloved pet fish in their gardens. I don’t see why not as long as you don’t have anything that will dig the body up and create a mess.

 

[QChickieMama]

I know that people bury their beloved pet fish in their gardens. I don’t see why not as long as you don’t have anything that will dig the body up and create a mess.

I wonder how deep would be deep enough for scavengers not to want it. My garden is fenced but it's only plastic netting fencing.

 

[Sally PB]

I wonder how deep would be deep enough for scavengers not to want it. My garden is fenced but it's only plastic netting fencing.

I have buried 3 chickens, 2 raccoons, and a groundhog in my garden. The hole should be at least 2 feet deep, deep enough that critters won't dig them up.

When I've been digging around in the garden, planting, or harvesting, I have found one or two bones. I just rebury them.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

You can also compost the dead carcass first if you're concerned about burying straight into the garden. I've done that with a few animals I trapped in the chicken run....a few racoons and a skunk.

 

[Sally PB]

You can also compost the dead carcass first if you're concerned about burying straight into the garden. I've done that with a few animals I trapped in the chicken run....a few racoons and a skunk.

There was a dead raccoon in our driveway. I think it was hit by a car...? The ground is too frozen to dig in the garden, so I dumped it in the compost. It's covered with chicken poop and kitchen debris now.

 

[QChickieMama]

You can also compost the dead carcass first if you're concerned about burying straight into the garden. I've done that with a few animals I trapped in the chicken run....a few racoons and a skunk.

The compost area is not fenced here, so that would be inadvisable. My dogs would be in there immediately!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

The compost area is not fenced here, so that would be inadvisable. My dogs would be in there immediately!

Yeah, you wouldn't want dogs getting in there. My compost pile is actually in the chicken run, so no dogs can get in. I buried it deep in the compost pile so the chickens wouldn't get to it until I turned the pile over (many months later).