Is Chicken Manure Safe to use in the Garden?
Chickens as domestic animals have a long history and likely originated in Asia somewhere around 8000 years ago. [1] They are common place on many farms and acreages providing a variety of services including food, waste disposal and their manure and bedding can be source of material for compost. On today’s Testing Garden Assumptions series video I am going to evaluate if chicken manure and bedding as a source of nutrients for your garden and if it is safe to use. [1] History of Domestic Chickens: http://archaeology.about.com/od/domestications/qt/chicken.htm [2] Nutrient content of Manures http://www.jswconline.org/content/57/6/470.short [3] Fertilizer Burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer_burn [4] Composting Chicken Manure to Kill Pathogens http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096085240100133X [5] Mortality Composting http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2006.03274.x/full Check us out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaUrbanGarden/
Comments
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My dad use chicken and rabbit manure in the garden. Mostly in the fall and let it break down over the winter.
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Excellent and informative as always. Thank you!
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Informative, as always. Looking good!
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Have you seen or used this? http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s4561569.htm
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Nice! A lot of information packed in tight once again. You should do a spoof/comedic video like how to grow any plant with....(fill in the blankwith something silly like fruit loops) then show a huge plant as a result lol.
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The Gardening Assumption Series is by far my favorite segment you film. Great job and thank you for the research!
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Looking forward to your work on no till gardening. I am planning raised beds that incorporate a composter within the raised bed. The barrel will be open at the top and bottom and will have drilled out holes about 1" in diameter all around on the sides of the barrel to allow various critters access between the compost pile and the raised bed soil. This bed is inspired by how well plants tend to do in and around compost piles. The release and distribution of nutrients will be controlled mostly by the activity of earthworms and fungi and the hope is that I will never have to touch the compost once I've placed it in these composters. There will be a lid on top to keep out flies. The raised bed will be around 32" high and will be built up starting with aged logs, then branches, then leaves/mulch, then a layer of finished compost and then more mulch on top. It's like a hugelkultur raised bed with an integrated accessible composter within. Does that paint the picture? I want to create something that minimizes the work of processing compost and my hope is I will never have to water these beds as they should hold a lot of moisture within. No tilling required either.
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Use praire hay in coop, more nutrients in it than straw
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What do you think will happen if we cold compost the chicken manure?? Is it safe??
Your sharing of resources is really appreciated. -
I find the subject a little bit crap since I don't own chickens myself... :D
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I bought my first four chickens this year. I can't tell you how wonderful it has been.I get four eggs everyday.and I love my chickens they're smart, like to be picked up, and even pet. they will jump in my lap. and even come when I call them. .I built a coupe with a big run in it. then a chicken tractor, but now I just let them run free on my acre yard.My cats and dog don't bother them
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Great video, Stephen! Accurate as well ; )
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Always good and reliable information from you. Thanks.
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Thanks Stephen. Like you I only use my compost made from yard and kitchen waste. I see you already have snow on the ground. Best wishes Bob.
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I could use a bit of added nutrients but i have not used chicken manure yet. I will as soon as i find a hot composting method that will spare my back. I have built one pile up earlier this year but i just couldn't do the turning. For now, i just mulch and add cow manure pellets instead. Let the worms do the work. I do have potential sources though!
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I think that fungal dominated compost might also work to maintain the harmful bacteria in small concentration s. I've read that there are some species of fungus that have the ability to remediate E. coli and salmonella. King Stropharia mushrooms are one of them, and as a bonus, they are edible.
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Great points about chicken manure !!! In our small gardens it's just not needed.
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All good things in moderation. FWIW, aerobic composting of poultry manure loses 50% of N. And if you're going to compost it, composting with bedding (straw or another carbon source) reduces ammonia volatilization by ~30%, zeolite or sulphur ~60%. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0960852494901902
The less that goes up as air the better! -
do you use any store bought fertilizer? great videos!
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