Any manure type you would not use?

[Dvangorp]

I have access to chicken/duck, cow, horse and rabbit manure.
Does one provide more benefits that the other?

What about rat (yes, rat) bedding ... sort of like rabbit pellets. The rats are fed a commercial rodent feed and raised in a very clean environment. Do you think adding the aspen bedding to the compost pile would be a problem?

thanks!
doug

[Mischka]

Poultry manure is too hot to use straight from the pen. It is too "hot" (high nitrogen) and must be aged a full season, at minimum. (I raise geese, peafowl and guinea fowl)

Horse manure is too full of weed seeds, IMHO. It also should be aged a season and the pile frequently turned, to kill any sprouting weeds. There will be many.

Cow is superior to horse manure and can be tilled directly into the garden, as loong as you don't go more than 50/50 with it

The finest manure of all is the highly valued rabbit type. It can also be tilled right into the soil or even used as top-dressing, if you rake it in slightly. I would get as much as you can lay your hands on and enjoy a lush garden!

[KarenO]

Human. Including composted sewage “biosolids”
As they so nicely call it.
KarenO

Of your list the rabbit would be best, all are ok fully composted provided you KNOW for certain there is no herbicide treated feed being fed to the animals.
KarenO

[KarenO]

Your pet bedding and waste should be ok fully composted.

[pmcgrady]

Pig/Swine manure, some farmers around here make a slurry and inject into their fields... It stinks for miles. I would never use it in a garden. As stated above rabbit manure is one of the best.

[Worth1]

Hog and human never.
Worth

[bower]

Never list: human, dog, cat, rodent. Why? Risk of disease.

Yes it's true, ultimately everything animal including manure rots and will turn into plant nutrients. The backyard compost cycle is too short, the temperature is not controlled, and ultimately I would rather be safe than sorry.

Pet manures, like animal bones, I would dispose by digging in around trees or shrubs to let them decompose on the long cycle, far away from contact with fresh veggie foods. Cover them well, so flies don't visit them before they come visiting your vegs.

[ScottinAtlanta]

I prefer goat manure. Not hot, can be directly used.

[bjbebs]

The would nots have been covered. One not mentioned is worm castings. When your soils are feed with leaves and other prefered worm foods they will go into action. It's not something that can be readily seen but they are working your soil. A healthy garden full of worms will give plants everything they need.

[gssgarden]

I was so happy to get unlimited horse manure...until I found out it was filled with Bermuda seed!! ugh!! If you go that way, let it sit for a year.

Go Cow!!

[zipcode]

Horse. Unless it's pelleted stuff bought. Otherwise it's full, and I mean full, of all the possible weed seeds. I find cow to be well suited for tomatoes, more so then chicken (nutrient wise).

[mensplace]

Around here it depends upon what pasture the cow manure is out of. Some argue that the number of stomachs a cow has will kill the weeds, but not true of all weed seeds. Same is true of spoiled hay.

[charline]

I do use rat and mice manure in my garden. They are my domestic animals and there is no risk of diseases.
I would be more concerned for diseases in rabbit and chicken manure as they often have coccidiosis. But I use it too and never had any problems.

[brownrexx]

I put any manure in the compost not on the garden but since I have 10 hens, chicken manure is the only one that I use. I have used small amounts of horse manure in the past with no problems but I never use cow manure since they are common carriers of e.coli and pig manure can have parasites that are transmissible to humans.

[bower]

One thing I noticed over the years, as a gardener without manure animals and therefore bought various kinds of manure from different sources, is that besides weeds, there is a different profile of insects/inverts associated with different manures I've had. It is certainly true you can get a lot of horsey weeds with horse manure, but you'll also get fantastic amounts of worms. Most of the horse manure I've gotten was rotted enough that it didn't bring a lot of flies with it - this wasn't the case with cow manure I had one year, which hatched out a huge crop of flies. Curiously it attracted different birds too - we had "Foxy-diggers" around that year which are not common here in the woods. They were definitely after the flies, and didn't return the following year. I wasn't that impressed with the cow manure value, and didn't like the smell or the flies, although it's true there were no weeds... so I've stuck with horse manure for the most part, when I can get it. In recent years, there are lots of dried chicken manure products on the market. They've been heat treated and don't carry disease or insects, and they're easy to use. So that has become a favorite for me in the manure department.
I've seen great results in the gardens of people who keep chickens, it certainly is good stuff.