Chicken Poop?

[landey1230]

Anyone use it as a fertilizer?  I just heard how great it is, but have not used it in my gardens. 

[Joyce]

I used Rabbit Poop from our pet rabbit no aging needed, can apply it without composting, no fear of burning plants.
And it doesn't stink.

[Jerry]

When I was a tackle dealer ouR live worm supplier used to bring me worm castings.  Oh how I miss it.  Oh yeah, it was ree too.

[bunny56lbc]

The only thing I know about chicken poo is it smell's worse than hog poo ,.... ..that's saying alot if ya know anything about hog's....
A neighbor used to have a "chicken farm"( I think that is the right term ) , somehow
he put it into a manure spreader to spray on his hay field . He lived a good mile or two away , we could still smell it ...... ....nasty!

bonnie

[landey1230]

That must have been a ton of poop.  Rabbit poop, huh?  I never heard of that.  I'm trying chicken, but I'm allowing it to dry up.  It does smell a bit.  Not too bad.  I gave my students extra credit for bringing me some. 

[Kittyzee]

I've never used chicken poop, but a neighboring farmer brought a HUGE load into a field of his and I have never (and I mean NEVER) smelled anything so horrific in my life.  Now this was a very large load, and it smelled like decaying rotten chickens...I don't know how the people living next to that field could stand to have their windows open.  Using it in flower beds and working it in probably isn't any worse than any other poop.

But I have to agree with Joyce, when we had rabbits when the kids were younger, there's nothing better.  I could put it straight in the garden, work it in and NO smell.  It was great stuff! 

[landey1230]

I'm wondering how to score some of that.

[Esther]

I don't know any of the technical info on chicken poop but I grew up on a farm and we raised chickens. I know that if we didn't keep the coops cleaned out, it wasn't long before I could hardly breath in there. The ammonia build up was horrific. I suspect it would burn the plants pretty quickly if not aged outside a while.

[Kittyzee]

Landey,
Check with local 4H groups with rabbits--that shouldn't be hard to do; most of them would be thrilled to GIVE it away!!   

[landey1230]

What does 4H stand for?

[Kittyzee]

4H has groups all over the US teaching kids life skills, leadership, citizenship.  Leaders find kids interested in anything from sewing projects to showing dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, cows, beef, etc. an teach them how to care for the animal and show them usually in a county fair setting.  Winners go to the state fair with the exhibit.  As with some projects that are grown for their meat, buyers come on the last day of the fair and purchase the animal:  meaning the child doesn't take that animal home with them.  It's especially popular in the agricultural communities in learning how difficult it is to grow and maintain healthy livestock if you've chosen that as a possible way to earn a living.  Their motto is:

"I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
my heart to greater loyalty,
my hands to larger service
and my health to better living,
for my club, my community, my country, and my world."  (The logo is a 4 leaf clover with 4 H's in it)

Anyway, we have many clubs that exhibit rabbits around here that are up to their necks in poo! 

[Johns]

I have use chicken manure in vegetable gardens.  Be very careful with it!  Chicken manure is very high in nitrogen and if used indiscriminately it will burn and likely destroy almost any plant you treat with it.  That said, used carefully, it is a great nitrogen source and I recommend it highly.  It is particularly useful when combined with other low nitrogen organic material in the fall in anticipation of spring plantings.

[lorraine1960]

yes i agree it will burn your stuff up............ lorraine

[LeeAnne151]

I think fresh chicken is the worst smelling manure there is. Just driving by an egg farm is awful. At least the one on the outskirts of Phoenix or what used to be the outskirts was awful. Had a chick brooder in our agriculture class in highschool too. It was soooo bad.

[SueSTx]

We had some friends use sheep poop once...was hotter than chicken by far.  Burned everything.

Most animal manures need to "compost" before use.  Twenty years ago when we started our lawn on this caliche hill we tilled in well composted hog manure...it had been in a heap for years with the bedding straw.  It didn't even smell when it was wet.  You could really tell when it was depleted...I wish I could side dress it with some now.

We have lots of cattle feedyards in our area...you can smell them when the wind blows...and it always blows.  The spread the manure on the fields with big trucks...nice crops.

[Kittyzee]

I have barns full of cattle poop mixed with straw--it needs to break down over the winter first, but there's really nothing better--and for me it's FREE!   

[landey1230]

I used goat poop last year.  It worked well.  My students had to work it into the soil.  Their shoes were full of poop by the end of that project.