Ten years ago I never imagined being excited about chicken manure. Being from Chicago, feces of any sort was never a thought except for the daily cat litter cleaning and bagging dog droppings. Now my perspective and appreciation has changed.
Chicken manure is nutrient-rich with nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. It makes a great garden fertilizer by making a liquid fertilizer (tea manure), composting or tilling directly into beds. It contains no toxins, is chemical free and is a sustainable cost effective process. Let’s not forget, if you have chickens the manure has to go somewhere. With only a single chicken, you can collect up to 70 pounds or more of poop each year. This adds up quickly when you have more than one bird.
Using chicken manure is not difficult at all. At our farm we use manure a couple of ways. Composting is one technique we’ve tried. In the colder months we spread manure directly on dormant garden areas including sections where new beds will be created. When spring finally arrives, all that is required is tilling the garden rows.
In late fall and early winter after the garden beds are dormant, you can spread chicken manure with any collected bedding. After spreading, you should till into the soil. I am told that 50 pounds per 100 square feet is about right. When creating new beds, we spread the manure on the ground and over the grass or vegetation. We then cover the areas with weed barrier. The heat from this fabric and manure will encourage insects and worms to break down the manure and pull the nutrients into the soil. Just what the garden wants! Additionally, any grass and vegetation will be killed. When spring finally arrives, we thoroughly till the areas before planting.
Since we’re talking poop – we recommend taking preventative measure to prevent diseases and parasites. If you’re composting with manure, specialists recommend that you allow a year before applying compost directly on your garden. You should always wash and cook your produce to reduce risk of infection.
I hope you have many days of garden bliss with your chicken poop.