HelpfulGardener.com

I can't find a good place to put this question.

I guess manure isn't exactly gardening anyhow?!
My chickens sneaked out of the henhouse and took up residence in my gazebo.
Hubby is about to reclaim the gazebo and we have been repairing the henhouse, to prevent escapes for a few days.

We have planned for him to wear hazardous wear, gloves, masks, etc.
And to put the manure into 5 gallon buckets.

I hate composting with a passion.

Chicken manure is a hot manure. I can't just throw it in the beds.
I have never had this quantity with no dirt or rocks in it before.
Usually, the henhouse floor has hay, dirt and rocks mixed in with the manure, so it is halfway composted when we get it.
That is not the case with this manure. I bet the bottom is a bit composted, but mostly it looks like what it is.

Would this make a decent manure tea? Can I just leave it in the buckets, perhaps in full sun and it break down on its own?
When I do compost leaves, I put them into trash bags and just pile them up and leave them there until they become dirt. I don't disturb them, I am not a composting person. It has to be "passive" or I won't do it.

So, what is the best way to deal with this? Passive or manure tea?

I can't help but I have questions.

They escaped?

For how long?

5 gallon buckets?

How big is the gazebo?

How many chickens?

I mean it sounds like you have a chicken coop the size of Hew York City and enough chickens to fill it.

Can you take some pictures?

Will company ever sit in the gazebo again?

My only suggestion is to suit up and get a big power washer. Afterwards just let rain and sun work it for a few years.

I really want pictures.

I saw some really cool you tube videos on what to do with it.

I saw a lady with a lot of chickens passive compost it for a year. She just spread it on the ground with chopped up wood in it.

I saw a guy make manure tea, out of horse manure, and foliar spray it on the plants.

Perhaps a combination of both?

Passive compost some and use the rest for manure tea... or raid the passive compost when I want manure tea.

How well would it compost left in the buckets?

Rain would not leach away the nutrients in the buckets, but it would be anaerobic so that may not be good. A trade off? Use buckets with cracks in them?

Hubby is a professional painter... we have a lot of non-food grade plastic buckets. Everything goes into plastic buckets! Some will no longer hold water. But are fine for other things, until I put dirt in them and plant in them... which I do a lot.

I'm not sure if I'm the right one to answer this either, but my impression is that straight chicken poop would smell -- a lot.... Not sure how "safe" raw manure tea is. I think horse manure is different from chicken manure.

Leaving it in the bucket would be very anaerobic.

I don't think you need to make it difficult. Just dump/spread the stuff on the ground mixed/covered with leaves. Mark off the area so you know where it is, maybe use the same spot for other garden debris...or not..., and go back to it in a few months... or a year.

Couldn't you spread them on the ground mixed with leaves around (I.e. drip line) fruit trees?

When you wash out the 5 gal bucket that held the manure, you could use the rinse water to either moisten the pile or to make a dilute form of that manure tea.

Spread it in the Fall. Grow in it in the Spring.

Eric

According to this article: https://www.plantea.com/manure.htm
Double dog is right.