Chicken Manure

[Labradors2]

I collected and composted all my chicken manure, along with the shavings, and kept it in a composter for a year to make sure it would be properly broken down. I was really looking forward to using it on my tomatoes this season. There's not a lot of it, and I had planned to put a little of this black gold in each planting hole.

Now I'm coming across some posts that don't advise using chicken manure in the planting hole.


Does anyone have any experience with this?


Linda

[Worth1]

Put it on top and turn it in a wee bit you wont be sorry.
Feeder roots are on top not down in a hole.
And yes I do have experience.

[Labradors2]

Thanks Worth. I didn't know about the feeder roots, but now that you mention it, there are always more roots at the top than way down when I pull them out in the fall!

Linda

[bower]

That's good advice.
The main concern about chicken manure is the risk of a contact burn - that shouldn't apply to your composted manure, but it's another reason to scratch it into the soil.

Either way, chicken manure will tend to have lots of free N, and that is soluble. So if it's worked into the upper soil, it won't be washed out as easily before the plants can get it. If it was in the bottom of a hole, any rain or watering would tend to wash the N down further below the root zone, I reckon.

[Worth1]

A rain forest or most any other forest for that matter has very poor soil, just the top few inches are where the nutrients are.
The plants feed off of there own dead fallen leaves and animal droppings.
The tree provides a home for critters and they repay it with fertilizer.
My observations on the tundra the best looking plants and flowers were always growing around caribou dung.
Every year they and the birds would arrive to graze, have babies and fertilize the soil.
Many people dont make that very important connection.

[Tracydr]

I do the same as Worth. I may not even compost a year because I clean my coop about every six months, use the deep litter method and the stuff on top is fresh. I’ll put it in a pile for a month or two to give the poop from the top time to compost and then use it.
I use leaves and pine needles as my litter for the coop and it turns into amazing fertilizer.
I also use horse manure, lots of it. I compost it either in my compost pile or in piles in the garden rows before planting. I get my hay from a grower who guarantees that he doesn’t use the type of weed control that persists and I’ve never had a problem with my own manure.
Also, if you happen to have a worm bin they love small feedings of manures.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Worth1

A rain forest or most any other forest for that matter has very poor soil, just the top few inches are where the nutrients are.
The plants feed off of there own dead fallen leaves and animal droppings.
The tree provides a home for critters and they repay it with fertilizer.
My observations on the tundra the best looking plants and flowers were always growing around caribou dung.
Every year they and the birds would arrive to graze, have babies and fertilize the soil.
Many people dont make that very important connection.

I’ve noticed the same in poor soils in horse pasture. I’ve purchased pastures that had nothing but weeds. After doing nothing but spreading horse manure the Bermuda takes off but it always tends to grow better in the “roughs” where the horses like to poop. That’s one reason I harrow my pasture to spread the piles every so often.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

I’ve noticed the same in poor soils in horse pasture. I’ve purchased pastures that had nothing but weeds. After doing nothing but spreading horse manure the Bermuda takes off but it always tends to grow better in the “roughs” where the horses like to poop. That’s one reason I harrow my pasture to spread the piles every so often.

The people that lived here before me on this very hilly spot of land dozed down all the tees and left bare soil that was poor anyway.
Then they put horses on it.
Too many horses and they destroyed the soil even more and much of it washed away.
The horses chewed up the side of a very nice oak tree out of boredom and much more.
We had a horse or two growing up but you couldn't tell it because we had so much land for them to run on.
Now I am letting the place grow back up with fast growing invasive china berry trees.
Why, because they are drought tolerant and smell nice in the spring.

[wildcat62]

A little bit will go a long way. Powerful fertilizer.

[Labradors2]

I hope so Mark. Admittedly, we've had some cool nights here recently, but my plants have just been sitting there sulking. I hope I didn't give them too much! They looked a little better (greener) after some rain, but I'm still waiting for them to GROW!

Linda

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I collected and composted all my chicken manure, along with the shavings, and kept it in a composter for a year to make sure it would be properly broken down. I was really looking forward to using it on my tomatoes this season. There's not a lot of it, and I had planned to put a little of this black gold in each planting hole.

Now I'm coming across some posts that don't advise using chicken manure in the planting hole.


Does anyone have any experience with this?


Linda

That strategy used to work well for me years ago when we raised chickens.

[Labradors2]

Good to know RedBaron .

Linda

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by wildcat62

A little bit will go a long way. Powerful fertilizer.

So true. Much stronger than horse or cow manure,

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by wildcat62

A little bit will go a long way. Powerful fertilizer.

True.
If you look at the label for many organic granular fertilizers chicken manure is usually the second ingredient. And yes,a small handful per tomato maybe twice a season is plenty.

[Labradors2]

My tomatoes did well this year with aged chicken compost in each planting hole. However, I don't think they did any better than when I put Tomato-tone in the planting hole in previous seasons. At least it's all home-grown, organic and healthy, and I didn't kill my plants .