Chicken manure builds soil fertility.
Rich in nutrients and chemical-free, aged chicken manure is a top-notch organic choice for increasing your soil's fertility. The manure, which is higher in nitrogen than cow manure, should be aged before added to garden soil. If you raise your own chickens or know someone who does, chances are the manure will be free for the taking. Does this Spark an idea?
Benefits
Chicken manure contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the three major nutrients needed for soil fertility. Like all manures, chicken waste is primarily used for its nitrogen content, which encourages strong stem and leaf systems. Chicken manure contains about twice as much nitrogen per pound as cow manure, and at least twice as much phosphorus. It has about the same amount of potassium as other manures. Chicken manure is higher in nitrogen and phosphorus than horse, steer or sheep manure. Only rabbit droppings contain more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than chicken waste. Chicken manure is a free byproduct of chicken raising, and represents a beneficial method for using old barn litter. And unless the chickens or the barn litter itself was treated with chemicals, chicken manure is an organic fertilizer.
Fresh vs. Aged Manure
All animal manures must be "aged" before they're safe for use in the garden. If worked into the soil while fresh, decomposing manure releases ammonia and excessive amounts of nitrogen, which may burn the roots of garden plants. Fresh animal waste often has undigested weed seeds mixed into the droppings, which sprout if incorporated into the soil too quickly. Most importantly, raw manure sometimes contains pathogens such as e.coli bacteria, which may pass into food grown in the manure-enhanced soil and cause severe illness.
Method
If you buy bagged chicken compost, apply it to your garden in the amounts recommended on the packaging. More often, gardeners use bedding from their own chickens or from a local farmer, which must be aged first. Add fresh chicken bedding to compost piles. The high nitrogen content of all animal manures, including chicken, helps hasten the decomposition of garden materials into rich garden soil. Compost piles need a mixture of high-carbon materials such as hay, sawdust, leaves or shredded paper, as well as high-nitrogen materials like manure, grass clippings and kitchen scraps. Often chicken farming provides both, because owners clear the chicken shed of bedding, usually a mixture of straw or sawdust and chicken droppings. Wait at least six months before working this aged manure into your garden soil. Alternatively, spread fresh manure onto an unused garden patch and work it into the soil at least six months before setting seedlings or seeds into the ground. The amount of manure or manure-based composed various crops and flowers need varies; ask your local extension service for recommendations of amounts based on your garden's square footage and what you're growing.
Cautions
When working with fresh manure, wear gloves to prevent hand contact that might lead to accidentally ingesting pathogens such as e.coli. Wash your hands thoroughly after working with fresh manure. To take advantage of chicken manure's organic quality, don't spray bedding or manure piles with pesticides designed to kill fly larvae. If you get the manure from a local farmer, verify that the farmer uses organic methods.
Tags: Chicken manure, fresh manure, garden soil, into soil, nitrogen phosphorus, soil fertility