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Newville, PA

I have 4 chickens outside in a pen, and the ground that they are on gets manure in it and then the chickens peck at it and mixes it in with the ground. What I want to know is would that be good for the garden or not.-Ryan

2/20/2003 7:38:05 PM

syracuse, ny

i think if you had about 4 HUNDRED chickens, in a much larger facility that could pour the manure into a spreader,
then you could mix it into the soil in the fall, and the following spring at planting time by then it might be broken down enough to have improved the soil enough for your pumpkins....you don't want to use fresh manure JUST BEFORE planting---it takes several if not a dozen months for all those chemical processes to happen that make manure
useful for the Growers of Giants...if you get Don Langevin's 'How to Grow World-Class Giant Pumpkins, Vol. II'
you'll be much more well-informed! and look up MANURE on msn
there's a chicken farm a mile away from me---they didn't want to wear out their tires to bring it to me---so i settle for cow,...good enough!
hope this helps-----pumpkinpal

2/20/2003 8:08:35 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Make a compost pile and it should be fine, it breaks down very quickly. Its the litter that slows things down. If you leave the manure just sitting out in the open ground it will get stinky. Then comes the flies. In my coop of 25 chickens it gets cleaned up once a week in the summer. In the winter I keep adding straw or sawdust. By spring it has already pretty much decomposed.

2/20/2003 9:49:45 PM

Newville, PA

ok Thanks for the help.

2/20/2003 10:06:46 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Another point to consider is that Chicken manure is way more concentrated in nutrients pound for pound, almost double that of cow manure. 4 chickens will give you close to 1000 pounds a year.

2/21/2003 2:01:57 AM