chicken manure - age it or not?

tjg911 · March 18, 2007

i was under the impression that chicken manure is one of the hottest manures and you ABSOLUTELY can not use it fresh on plants because it'll burn them and kill them. does anyone use fresh, unaged chicken manure in the garden when planting out veggies?

i know that rabbit manure is safe to use without aging it but i thought that rabbit manure was the only manure that could be used fresh. editted to add llama manure is also safe to use unaged. those are the only 2 i know that can be used without composting or aging to allow them to cool down.

i heard that comment saturday on a local radio gardening show on wtic 1080 called "garden talk with len and lisa", it's on saturdays 12-2 for anyone in the southern new england/eastern new york area. it's a 50,000 watt station and reaches into vermont.

their advice is usually good and they do push organic methods. however, sometimes i have heard advise that is either completely incorrect or so poorly explained as to be misleading and this is especially true about tomatoes. my head almost exploded listening to the poor advice on fermenting tomato seeds (i'm sure carolyn would have passed out!), how to start tomatoes from seed, transplanting them out, all last year while working in the garden. i was stunned at what i was hearing and wanted to call or email them. after a long day in the garden i figured the damage is done, god help the poor slubs that followed that advice! a little knowledge in len and lisa's hand is a dangerous thing i think!

so anyway, a caller called in to say unaged chicken manure could be safely used and the 2 hosts on the show agreed!

am certain that unaged chicken manure is way too hot to side dress or put into the soil when planting out plants. comments?

tom

Rena · March 18, 2007

Yep, not very good advice. Only rabbit poo.

feldon30 · March 19, 2007

Do you duty and call in!

michael johnson · March 19, 2007

It is far too hot to use straight away, except if you kept it away from the roots by a margin of a foot or more, but a lot of it depends on what it is mixed with, wood shavings, sawdust, etc, its very high in nitrogen and ammonia and its that -that does the burning,

Although- over here in the Uk, where exhibition vegetables are grown often and exhibited, and nearly all are won -by miles, by the users of Priority one-Pigeon manure, collected from pigeon fanciers lofts, and prioroty two, Turkey manure-collected from deep litter houses.

it is particularly good for onions and leeks, of very high quality, this years champions were battling over onions weighing 15lbs each, and leeks weighing 22lb each,

But they use all sorts of weird things at times, Horse urine,

whole dead sheep dug into the ground near a grape vine.

and worst of all (human urine) dabbed onto the flower end of little gooseberries forming after the flower heads dropped off-usualy produces gooseberries over two inches. accross

**Mischka** · March 19, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjg911

...so anyway, a caller called in to say unaged chicken manure could be safely used and the 2 hosts on the show agreed!

am certain that unaged chicken manure is way too hot to side dress or put into the soil when planting out plants. comments?

tom

I would say that the hosts are full of it, themselves.

Using fresh poultry manure directly in your garden is bad on two fronts:

A) It will "burn" young transplants. There is no gray area for discussion on this one. Do it and lose your plants.

B) Fresh poultry manure contains pathogens that can be hazardous to your health.

I would never consider using it. I age my peafowl manure for a whole season before I add it to the compost pile.

montanamato · March 19, 2007

Even aged , I don't use my poultry manure, as I use lots of sawdust in my bird houses and that really does me no good....If I want to burn my plants , I just let my husband scrape corrals with fresh steer manure...I still get great onions and cabbage, after a 3 year ago super treatment of manure...I buy stuff I know is aged as most of the stuff here at home is always too fresh....

Jeanne

tjg911 · March 20, 2007

thanks, this is what i thought but then i wondered if i was wrong. imagine these 2 people hosting this show allowing that advice to go out over the air and to agree with it no less! stuff like that makes me dismiss anything they say, i listen out of boredom when doing work.

as i mentioned, their seed fermenting method, seed starting, care of plants and transplanting out (all tomatoes) varied from out right wrong to generally ok but novices can't sift thru this and know what is right and what is not!

tom

melody · March 20, 2007

I would be worried about inhaling the dust from unaged chicken manure as much as burning my plants. You can ingest histoplasmosis spores and get very ill. Folks who don't have a clue about gardening..(newbie listeners to the show) could threaten the health of themselves or their families.....think of a toddler 'helping' to make a garden with it's parents.....YIKES!! Without proper education the use of any chemical can be dangerous. And that's exactly what manure is...

And no, I would never use unaged chicken manure around green plants...(and we have a great number of commercial chicken farms in the area with free manure)...I won't even handle the stuff myself...there's plenty of other poo that I've got access to that's safer.

velikipop · March 20, 2007

I would never use fresh chicken or any other fresh animal manure on my plants. However, pelletized or composted chicken manure is one of the best for organic growers. Used sparingly and with caution it will produce great results. My best plants last year were in a plot where I worked composted chicken manure pellets into the soil about a month before planting. It can also be used for side dressing.

Alex

organichris · June 8, 2007

This year I bought some composted chicken manure. It comes from a company called Nature's Way. They assured me that the manure comes from an organic poultry farm where no hormones are injected into the chickens.
I have just started using it, so I can't really speak to its effectiveness. But I will say I used it pretty liberally without any burn. I think composted manure would be ideal in comparison to fresh or aged.

But theoretically (strictly theoretically) I think fresh chicken manure could be used in the right situations. Obviously the amount used and how it is used would make a big difference. If you were just using it sparingly as a side dressing after plants were well established, that would probably be okay. But if you were using it as a soil amendment before planting your seedlings, it might me too much nitro power.

bbb123 · April 8, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by organichris

This year I bought some composted chicken manure. It comes from a company called Nature's Way. They assured me that the manure comes from an organic poultry farm where no hormones are injected into the chickens.
I have just started using it, so I can't really speak to its effectiveness. But I will say I used it pretty liberally without any burn. I think composted manure would be ideal in comparison to fresh or aged.

But theoretically (strictly theoretically) I think fresh chicken manure could be used in the right situations. Obviously the amount used and how it is used would make a big difference. If you were just using it sparingly as a side dressing after plants were well established, that would probably be okay. But if you were using it as a soil amendment before planting your seedlings, it might me too much nitro power.

I use poultry manure all the time. I have hundreds of yards of it that I use to compost hatchery waste. Fresh I agree with you don't use it on new plants, I generally will put it several feet away from established plants. I will be using some of the compost this year most of it is 5-10 years old before I till, so it should be broken down well by now. All those egg shells should make something grow right??

robin303 · April 9, 2008

I have found out the hard way using poultry manure is acidic and bad for tomatoes. #2 The weed seeds from it was horrible. Use cow or whatever but that.

GIZZARDFARM · April 11, 2008

I use rabbitt and horse manure fresh but age chicken. I also use bat droppings fresh havent lost a plant from any of the three...

robin303 · April 12, 2008

What I read and researched is poultry poo Is acidic and very bad for tomatoes. Plus you get unwarranted seeds to the max. Lesson #42 I learned the hard way.

organichris · May 12, 2008

I'm using the Nature's Way composted chicken manure this year. So far I've had excellent results despite the less than favorable weather (lots of rain but cool temperatures and cloudy days).

I just dug a whole and layered it with partially composted and fresh garbage with soul and the manure. I used the manure sparingly.

Last year I used the manure as a side dressing and it worked fine. No problems.

March 18, 2007	#1
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	chicken manure - age it or not? i was under the impression that chicken manure is one of the hottest manures and you ABSOLUTELY can not use it fresh on plants because it'll burn them and kill them. does anyone use fresh, unaged chicken manure in the garden when planting out veggies? i know that rabbit manure is safe to use without aging it but i thought that rabbit manure was the only manure that could be used fresh. editted to add llama manure is also safe to use unaged. those are the only 2 i know that can be used without composting or aging to allow them to cool down. i heard that comment saturday on a local radio gardening show on wtic 1080 called "garden talk with len and lisa", it's on saturdays 12-2 for anyone in the southern new england/eastern new york area. it's a 50,000 watt station and reaches into vermont. their advice is usually good and they do push organic methods. however, sometimes i have heard advise that is either completely incorrect or so poorly explained as to be misleading and this is especially true about tomatoes. my head almost exploded listening to the poor advice on fermenting tomato seeds (i'm sure carolyn would have passed out!), how to start tomatoes from seed, transplanting them out, all last year while working in the garden. i was stunned at what i was hearing and wanted to call or email them. after a long day in the garden i figured the damage is done, god help the poor slubs that followed that advice! a little knowledge in len and lisa's hand is a dangerous thing i think! so anyway, a caller called in to say unaged chicken manure could be safely used and the 2 hosts on the show agreed! am certain that unaged chicken manure is way too hot to side dress or put into the soil when planting out plants. comments? tom Last edited by tjg911; March 18, 2007 at 06:46 PM.

March 20, 2007	#9
velikipop Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Langley, BC Posts: 768	I would never use fresh chicken or any other fresh animal manure on my plants. However, pelletized or composted chicken manure is one of the best for organic growers. Used sparingly and with caution it will produce great results. My best plants last year were in a plot where I worked composted chicken manure pellets into the soil about a month before planting. It can also be used for side dressing. Alex __________________ I'll plant and I'll harvest what the earth brings forth The hammer's on the table, the pitchfork's on the shelf Bob Dylan

March 18, 2007	#2
Rena Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Warm Springs, GA Posts: 1,421	Yep, not very good advice. Only rabbit poo.

March 19, 2007	#3
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Do you duty and call in!

March 19, 2007	#4
michael johnson Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK. Posts: 960	It is far too hot to use straight away, except if you kept it away from the roots by a margin of a foot or more, but a lot of it depends on what it is mixed with, wood shavings, sawdust, etc, its very high in nitrogen and ammonia and its that -that does the burning, Although- over here in the Uk, where exhibition vegetables are grown often and exhibited, and nearly all are won -by miles, by the users of Priority one-Pigeon manure, collected from pigeon fanciers lofts, and prioroty two, Turkey manure-collected from deep litter houses. it is particularly good for onions and leeks, of very high quality, this years champions were battling over onions weighing 15lbs each, and leeks weighing 22lb each, But they use all sorts of weird things at times, Horse urine, whole dead sheep dug into the ground near a grape vine. and worst of all (human urine) dabbed onto the flower end of little gooseberries forming after the flower heads dropped off-usualy produces gooseberries over two inches. accross

March 19, 2007	#6
montanamato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 1,038	Even aged , I don't use my poultry manure, as I use lots of sawdust in my bird houses and that really does me no good....If I want to burn my plants , I just let my husband scrape corrals with fresh steer manure...I still get great onions and cabbage, after a 3 year ago super treatment of manure...I buy stuff I know is aged as most of the stuff here at home is always too fresh.... Jeanne

March 20, 2007	#8
melody Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Kentucky Posts: 162	I would be worried about inhaling the dust from unaged chicken manure as much as burning my plants. You can ingest histoplasmosis spores and get very ill. Folks who don't have a clue about gardening..(newbie listeners to the show) could threaten the health of themselves or their families.....think of a toddler 'helping' to make a garden with it's parents.....YIKES!! Without proper education the use of any chemical can be dangerous. And that's exactly what manure is... And no, I would never use unaged chicken manure around green plants...(and we have a great number of commercial chicken farms in the area with free manure)...I won't even handle the stuff myself...there's plenty of other poo that I've got access to that's safer.

June 8, 2007	#10
organichris Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 630	This year I bought some composted chicken manure. It comes from a company called Nature's Way. They assured me that the manure comes from an organic poultry farm where no hormones are injected into the chickens. I have just started using it, so I can't really speak to its effectiveness. But I will say I used it pretty liberally without any burn. I think composted manure would be ideal in comparison to fresh or aged. But theoretically (strictly theoretically) I think fresh chicken manure could be used in the right situations. Obviously the amount used and how it is used would make a big difference. If you were just using it sparingly as a side dressing after plants were well established, that would probably be okay. But if you were using it as a soil amendment before planting your seedlings, it might me too much nitro power.

April 9, 2008	#12
robin303 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Austin, TX Zone 8b Posts: 531	I have found out the hard way using poultry manure is acidic and bad for tomatoes. #2 The weed seeds from it was horrible. Use cow or whatever but that.

April 11, 2008	#13
GIZZARDFARM Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: COMFORT TENNESSEE Posts: 300	I use rabbitt and horse manure fresh but age chicken. I also use bat droppings fresh havent lost a plant from any of the three...

April 12, 2008	#14
robin303 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Austin, TX Zone 8b Posts: 531	What I read and researched is poultry poo Is acidic and very bad for tomatoes. Plus you get unwarranted seeds to the max. Lesson #42 I learned the hard way.

May 12, 2008	#15
organichris Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 630	I'm using the Nature's Way composted chicken manure this year. So far I've had excellent results despite the less than favorable weather (lots of rain but cool temperatures and cloudy days). I just dug a whole and layered it with partially composted and fresh garbage with soul and the manure. I used the manure sparingly. Last year I used the manure as a side dressing and it worked fine. No problems.