Hi all. I recently picked up a bag of composted chicken manure to use in my own potting mix. My main question about it is if the manure is fully composted, does it smell at all? When I opened the bag I bought all I could smell was a very strong smell of ammonia, which had me worried enough to not use any. Is this a natural thing and it's good to use, or did I do the right thing by not using it? Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Question about composted chicken manure
- Thread starter MeatHead1313
- Start date
millworkman
Extreme Member
Composted chicken poo still smells pretty awful. Use it, but not too much as it is still pretty hot and can burn your plants.
That stuff is loaded with Nitrogen!
That white stuff you see in bird poop, is mostly urates with some calcium. Chicken manure is good stuff.
That white stuff you see in bird poop, is mostly urates with some calcium. Chicken manure is good stuff.
Do they have a website that shows the spreadsheet? I bought a product called Nutri-mulch. Composted turkey manure. Website had spreadsheet NPK pH . So far plants are doing good. Didn't have ammonia smell though. I would let it air out and see what it's like in a few days. Better to be safe than sorry. Maybe someone else could comment that knows a little more than I do. Good luck
If you need proof, look at my 4 x 4 squarefoot garden last season. It had a bag of chicken poo in it.
A whole bag?? A 25lb bag of this stuff below will cover 200 s/f. You used a smaller bag, right?JoynersHotPeppers said:
http://www.stutzman-environmental.com/fert-supgreen.php
I plan on making a tea from it.
One of natures absolute best fertilizers. Chickens that eat a lot of seed produce great fertilizer because of the nitrogen content in the seeds. Feeding them Comfrey would be awesome as well.Cayennemist said:
Yeah was not 25 pounds - this product http://www.chickitydoodoo.com/Roguejim said:
Looking back at the picture maybe it was 25 pounds - Happy plants lol
I want to say a few weeks at most. The plants grew massive and about 7 feet tall. I decided to do the Thai garden in there this year since they are smaller plant wise than the super hots.
Thanks for all the info everyone! Looks like my next batch I'll be including some. Another quick question, the basic mix I'm using is 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost and 1/3 perlite. The compost portion so far has been a mix of earthworm castings and black kow composted manure. In order to keep the compost portion at 1/3, about how much of the black kow should I replace with the chicken manure?
What are you growing in? What are you going to fertilize with during the grow?MeatHead1313 said:
I'm growing in a mix of root pouches and Dollar General eco bags. I have fish emulsion, kelp extract and Jobe's organics tomato fertilizer for the nutrient side during the grow. I've been adding some Jobe's to my potting mix while mixing as well.Proud Marine Dad said:
If you are using peat moss as you said you need a buffer for the acidity of the peat so you need to add some oyster shell flour or a crustacean meal of some sort or use lime if that's all you have.MeatHead1313 said:
If the EWC (Earth Worm Castings) you have are high quality they will buffer the pH somewhat as they contain calcium as well but oyster flour would be my choice if you can get some.
I would go easy on the chicken manure as it can be hot stuff unless it is very well composted.
Didn't think to add that. I actually do have oyster shell flour, as well as azomite that I add to the mix that I got from kelpforless. Thanks for the info. I have a few extra plants around so I may just mix a batch with the chicken manure and use it as a test run, and if it works then use it for the rest.Proud Marine Dad said:
Azomite is OK but glacial or basalt rock dust would be even better if you can get any. I found 50# bags of Gaia green glacial rock dust locally for $30 a bag. Good stuff and loaded with trace minerals.MeatHead1313 said: