How exactly do I use chicken poop in my vegetable garden?
General United Kingdom
So, knowing that I am keen on growing vegetables a friend who recently started keeping chickens offered me all the chicken poop I could ever want :-) I have heard of people using it in their gardens but I never have myself. How exactly do I use it to best effect? Should I just throw it on the compost or can I actually spread it around the plants when the time comes? I'd like to take advantage of this regular supply if it is going to do good things for my plants. Thanks.
Posted
by: Greg Coyle
(3 points)
Posted: April 3, 2013
Answers
We use it on our garden. It is semi-composted, sitting over the winter in the chicken yard.
It will burn some plants, but we just use it on the things that will benefit most from it. The high nitrogen in the manure causes leaves to be bigger - think corn stalks, collard greens, etc. You wouldn't want to use a lot on tomatoes for example, because here you want the energy to be on the fruit, not the leaves. But corn is notorious for doing well with a lot of nitrogen. We take our manure straight out of the chicken yard and put it straight in the corn patch right before planting. The corn shoots up wonderfully, then slows down when it reaches maturity and starts to make fruit.
It will burn some plants, but we just use it on the things that will benefit most from it. The high nitrogen in the manure causes leaves to be bigger - think corn stalks, collard greens, etc. You wouldn't want to use a lot on tomatoes for example, because here you want the energy to be on the fruit, not the leaves. But corn is notorious for doing well with a lot of nitrogen. We take our manure straight out of the chicken yard and put it straight in the corn patch right before planting. The corn shoots up wonderfully, then slows down when it reaches maturity and starts to make fruit.
Posted
by: Lucy
(4 points)
Posted: April 4, 2013
Greg Coyle commented,
Hi Lucy, thanks for the info. I'm not sure that I could successfully grow corn here (although I would love to) but it certainly makes sense to give an extra boost to those plants. I will bear that in mind, great! about 11 years ago.
Hi Lucy, thanks for the info. I'm not sure that I could successfully grow corn here (although I would love to) but it certainly makes sense to give an extra boost to those plants. I will bear that in mind, great! about 11 years ago.
chicken tins to burn so you may want to compost it
Posted
by: michael rosner
(1 point)
Posted: April 3, 2013
I have chickens and I till the manure into the garden in the fall after the garden is done or the season. yes you can compost it too as the others have stated.
Posted
by: chris hedding
(1 point)
Posted: April 4, 2013
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i would put in the compost heap and let it do its thing or spread it around the garden in the fall and let it sit over winter. the raw nitrogen in chicken manure can burn the roots of your plants. about 11 years ago.