erik
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:07 pm
Location: Huntington Beach, CA

chicken manure

hi, I want to add chicken manure to the soil in my vegetable garden. Nothing has been planted. Can someone give me the basics on how to do this, such as do I mix it in with the soil right away or not, and how long I have to wait til I can plant afterward, etc. thanks :D

User avatar
hendi_alex
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3604
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

Chicken manure is one of the hottest kinds of manure, and I would not use it until it was either composted or was aged some. It is easy to overdo it with chicken manure, so be very sparring in the application. Mixing in with compost or or organic material would probably be a good idea.

Bobberman
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

I used chicken manure many times and it is hot but if you mix it with sawdust the two will neturalize each other over time! I would make a early bed and put a layer of manure a foot below the bed and plant a early crop of lettuce and you will be suprised how nice the lettuce will take to the warmth created by the chicken manure. Also add some cabbage r broccoli seeds in the lettuce bed and have some nice early plants to transplant! Its great in a compost with leaves or any brown mix even shredded paper! Chicken manure is like gold make use of it!

cynthia_h
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

Erik, the temps in Huntington Beach are unlikely to be as cold as they are in most of Pennsylvania, so I'd recommend composting the chicken manure, as the first responder also recommended. :wink: When the initial compost is finished, the value of the chicken manure will have been distributed throughout the compost, and the ammonia won't pose a threat to your plants.

I received a few buckets' worth of fresh chicken manure last fall from a chicken "rescuer" and HOO BOY! that smelled like ammonia, most definitely. Whoa! It went into the compost and will come back out very soon; just as soon as I can get good temps and a weekend day together.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

You also can work it into your garden soil in the fall so that it will have all of the off-season to decompose.

I agree with the others that composting it would be the best bet. It would probably work better combined with the compost than by itself, anyway.

User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

I agree chick manure is very hot so must be aged. But all the old timers and farmers around here say nothing does better.

Bobberman
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

Everyone does not agree in the use of chicken manure but like I said mix it with something like saw dust and you should have no problem mixing it into the soil. You will see a quick increase in green growth but it will taper off. I would not use it with crops like potatoes unless it is composted first! We had over 50 chickens for years so I have use it many times! Why this post came up three times I don't know! It did not look like it was posting!
Last edited by Bobberman on Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

cynthia_h
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

garden5 wrote:You also can work it into your garden soil in the fall so that it will have all of the off-season to decompose.

I agree with the others that composting it would be the best bet. It would probably work better combined with the compost than by itself, anyway.
I don't want at all to sound like I'm rubbing it in. (I've lived in Denver and Cheyenne, so I know about LOTS of snow....The first cuss words I heard were when icicles crashed into my dad's face in Cheyenne! :lol:)

But...the OP's "off-season" is likely to be 1) very short or 2) non-existent. Huntington Beach, California, is in Sunset climate zone 24, which has a 12-month growing season. According to Sunset, some weather stations in Zone 24 have never recorded a freezing temperature. :shock:

So his best shot is to compost the chicken manure before adding it to the soil, as there won't be any "fallow time" for it to mellow out when plants cannot be grown. Plants can always be grown in Sunset climate zone 24; better safe than sorry!

Cynthia

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

As stated, chicken manure is quite hot. I will clean the coop in another month, after the snow is gone and spread the manure thinly where I will grow corn this season. I will till it shallowly. It will be about May 5 when I plant corn, so it has a bit of time to mellow out. If I clean the coop in the fall it gets spread on the garden then tilled in deeply. I would not want fresh manure, of any kind, where I was going to plant greens, but it is just fine in the corn patch.

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

Cynthia, oops, I forgot to check the OP's location.

However, I'm going to assume that the warm months are also pretty mild in his area as well, since you state that he can be growing all year around.

However, I know that they seldom get a frost in Florida, but the summer heat is so hot that some gardeners consider summer their off-season.

Also, are those Sunset Zones I've heard you make reference to only for the west coast?

cynthia_h
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

garden5 wrote:
Also, are those Sunset Zones I've heard you make reference to only for the west coast?
The Sunset Western Garden Book is indeed aimed at the western states and provinces, but there *are* Sunset zones for the entirety of North America. In 1997, Sunset published the National Garden Book, with climate-zone maps for all of the continent. Sadly, the National book hasn't been updated or even re-issued.

There are four Sunset climate zones in Ohio: 35, 39, 40, and 41. I'll see if I can find maps or descriptions of them online and get back here with an url. :)

ETA: and here it is!

https://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/climate-zones-intro-us-map-00400000036421/

Cynthia

erik
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:07 pm
Location: Huntington Beach, CA

this may be a newbie question, but what do you all mean when you say it is "hot?"

DoubleDogFarm
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 6113
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm

Potent, overly rich. Fairly high in Nitrogen. Can easily burn roots.


Eric



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”