AWWWW, Chicken poop......

[Limner]

Getting ready to clean out the hen house....how long does chicken manure need to sit and "mellow out" before it is safe to use in the garden? It is mixed up with grass clippings. Thanks! :mrgreen:

[Summerthyme]

How often do you clean it? FRESH chicken manure is supposed to sit for a year. I only clean our pens once a year, and there is almost NO odor, and there is no ammonia smell (I deep bed them in several feet of dry leaves in the fall, and then add shredded paper as needed to keep the bedding dry). I spread it directly onto my gardens without the slightest problem.

If yours is "eye watering" when you are cleaning it... it's too fresh, and needs to be piled somewhere to compost for at least 2-3 months.

Summerthyme

[Limner]

It just smells a bit amonia-ish, and we cleaned it out just three or four weeks ago. But we've had alot of rain and the place is just damp. it doesn't leak, it's just damp, and we thought it might help dry it out.

We didn't deep littler last fall because we had no leaves to do that. But we have lotsa grass clippings right now. Hence, the clippings.

[Summerthyme]

Well, the grass clippings aren't precisely a "brown" in compost terms, but they should soak up and use some of the nitrogen in the manure, as they break down.

I'd say that you can use it LIGHTLY in the gardens, although I wouldn't put it close to crops which could be contaminated if rain splashes up bugs (germs, not insects!) from the soil... IOW, I'd probably not use it on lettuce or other crops which you eat raw and which are difficult to clean thoroughly.

It would likely make GREAT fertilizer for corn, or pumpkins or other "heavy feeders"

Or, you can simply use it for a good, hot base for a compost pile, and keep adding weeds and other stuff all summer, and then use the compost in the fall, or next spring.

Are you letting the grass clippings dry out before adding them for bedding?

Summerthyme

[packyderms_wife]

I'd compost it and add it this fall another option is instead of cleaning it to add shredded newpapers, papers, etc, to the brew to absorb the dampness.

Kimberly

[Limner]

Well, the grass clippings aren't precisely a "brown" in compost terms, but they should soak up and use some of the nitrogen in the manure, as they break down.

I'd say that you can use it LIGHTLY in the gardens, although I wouldn't put it close to crops which could be contaminated if rain splashes up bugs (germs, not insects!) from the soil... IOW, I'd probably not use it on lettuce or other crops which you eat raw and which are difficult to clean thoroughly.

It would likely make GREAT fertilizer for corn, or pumpkins or other "heavy feeders"

Or, you can simply use it for a good, hot base for a compost pile, and keep adding weeds and other stuff all summer, and then use the compost in the fall, or next spring.

Are you letting the grass clippings dry out before adding them for bedding?

Summerthyme

Sometimes we do, sometimes not. Today we will. The stuff we cut yesterday dried out already...it's a nice hot day. I wanted to use it on my three sisters patch (corn, beans and squash).....so maybe it'll be OK.

[Limner]

I'd compost it and add it this fall another option is instead of cleaning it to add shredded newpapers, papers, etc, to the brew to absorb the dampness.

Kimberly

Some of it will definitely go into the compost pile...to feed the garlic that I want to plant this coming Fall.

[Ms. American]

Fall is generally the best time to add manure to the garden..after the harvest. Then, it gets to sit thru the winter and is ready for spring planting. Most plants take exception to gardens with fresh manure plantings in spring. They like it better when it's been added in the fall.

Chicken manure makes a nice garden once it's composted. Our entire garden area when I was a kid, was placed where the chicken coop had been years before. I have never seen a garden produce as well, since. The worms were nightcrawlers, and in huge amounts!

Some folks actually do something like this. They put 4 doors on the hen house, and they fence that side of the house. Next year, they move the fence to the next side, and the following year to the next side...Each side has 1 year of manure to break down over a 4 year span. You can then plant and rotate your garden with the moving of the fence! It's hard for a bug to survive that system lol!

[Limner]

Fall is generally the best time to add manure to the garden..after the harvest. Then, it gets to sit thru the winter and is ready for spring planting. Most plants take exception to gardens with fresh manure plantings in spring. They like it better when it's been added in the fall.

Chicken manure makes a nice garden once it's composted. Our entire garden area when I was a kid, was placed where the chicken coop had been years before. I have never seen a garden produce as well, since. The worms were nightcrawlers, and in huge amounts!

Some folks actually do something like this. They put 4 doors on the hen house, and they fence that side of the house. Next year, they move the fence to the next side, and the following year to the next side...Each side has 1 year of manure to break down over a 4 year span. You can then plant and rotate your garden with the moving of the fence! It's hard for a bug to survive that system lol!

You know, I've been wondering about doing that! Alas, we had the dogslong before we got the chickens, and I can't turn the hens loose 'cause I am afraid what the dogs would do to them. THIS might work....