Composting Chicken Manure: Solutions And How To Get It Right?

What Does Composting Chicken Manure Contain?

Compost ingredients are usually labeled brown or green. Bedding and any additional garden plant decorations, leaves, small sticks, and paper will be your brown part. Manure and food waste will be the green part. An average-sized hen produces 1 cubic foot of manure every six months. And they can’t be accumulating in your barn all the time. It will undoubtedly create an unpleasant odor and attract rodents and flies, which might cause your chickens to die. So what are you going to do with it? Chicken manure composting is a great solution for this!

Moreover, a big part of raising backyard poultry is learning how to handle chicken manure. And it may be one of the home gardener’s greatest assets. Why? When properly composted, it makes an excellent fertilizer or soil conditioner, known as “Black Gold.” This is an organic method of bringing nutrients into the soil without the use of synthetic fertilizers. Compost naturally and slowly releases nutrients to growing plants while building soil structure and increasing the water-holding capacity of vegetable beds.

Chicken Manure Composting Reasons

• Chicken manure can contain bacteria and other pathogens such as salmonella that can pose a serious threat to human health.

• It is high in nitrogen that may burn or worst kill your plants if not properly neutralized.

• Fresh chicken manure gives an unpleasant odor if not composted. Surely, you don’t want your plants near it when it smells bad.

Ways To Compost Chicken Manure

• Hot Composting: The fastest way to compost chicken manure is to use a hot composting system. In this method, you heat chicken manure to at least 130 F for at least 15 days.

• Cold Composting: During this process, the material decomposes at a much lower stage. Mud takes a long time to be harmless. The manure is only safe to use after a longer period of time. You can use a compost bin or pile for this method.

How Does Composting Chicken Manure Work?

The Production Of Chicken Manure Compost

• raw material selection
• drying and sterilization
• Ingredients’ mixing
• granule
• cooling and screening
• metering and seal
• finished product warehousing

Steps:

1. A ratio of 2 parts brown and 1 part green is needed in chicken manure composting due to its high nitrogen content.
2. Gather manure and substrate the material then put all materials in a compost bin or composter.
3. Add sufficient water to the mixture and measure the temperature daily.
4. Plant and manure substrates should reach 140°F-160°F after decomposition.
5. The temperature should be maintained for three consecutive days.
6. You should turn the mixture gradually to add oxygen to the substrate.
7. When the process is complete, the waste and plant matter should smell like clay. You may now put it in the garden.
8. Sprinkle your vegetable garden with composted manure only before planting produce.
9. Pour the compost into the soil with a shovel.

Tips:

• Don’t forget to always wear gloves when handling manure.
• Only apply aged or composted fertilizer to your soil.
• Avoid putting compost on the ground. A pile outdoors attracts wildlife and rodents.
• Set up the composter as far away from the chickens as possible.
• Before applying compost to your garden, consider what you’re planting to prevent contamination.
• Be sure to sprinkle compost at the beginning of planting.
• Place a layer 1-2 inches deep in your garden, then plant on top or add immediately after planting.

Chicken Manure Nutrients:

• calcium
• sulfur
• magnesium
• nitrogen
• phosphorous 
• potassium 
• manganese 
• Chlorine
• Boron
• Molybdenum
• Copper
• Zinc
• Iron

What Are The Benefits Of Chicken Manure?

#1. Organic Fertilizer

It is a complete fertilizer that contains the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as well as important micronutrients such as calcium, which are necessary for healthy plant growth.

#2. Increase Soil Productivity

Chicken manure is a potential source of plant nutrients and chemical conditioners. Indeed, soil high in organic matter is less susceptible to erosion and retains fertilizer better. Additionally,

#3. Enhances Soil Structure

Putting mature chicken manure in your garden not only increases its fertility but also enhances soil structure. It adds organic matter to the soil, thereby improving soil structure, water retention, drainage, and aeration.

#4. Feeds Soil Microbes

The use of chicken manure also promotes a healthy soil biota, allowing the soil network to function as it should. Indeed, soil microbes can break down organic nutrients faster, allowing plants to use them faster.

#5. Improves Plant Health

In addition, organic matter provides a food source for soil microbes, increasing the breakdown of organic nutrients into forms more accessible to plants.

#6. Neutralized Nitrogen Level

One of the three most important nutrients necessary for plant growth is nitrogen. Rich in chicken manure. Composting chicken manure helps reduce nitrogen levels and makes manure suitable for gardens.

Make Sure Manure Is Completely Composted Before Use

Composting removes many impurities. If you are new to composting and need to learn how, you can check this blog “The Untold Secrets Behind The Magic Of Composting“. Hence, composting chicken manure can reduce nitrogen levels and make manure suitable for your gardens. There is no doubt that chicken manure fertilizer is high in nitrogen and also contains large amounts of potassium and phosphorus. However, you need to make sure to place it evenly in the soil. Indeed, composted chicken manure gives a slow-release source of macro and micronutrients and serves as a soil amendment.

Furthermore, chicken manure is one of the best farmyard manure. Indeed, it is a full fertilizer since it contains all the necessary nutrients and smaller elements that your plants need. Moreover, high nitrogen content and balanced nutrients are the reasons why chicken manure compost is one of the best fertilizers. Yet, its high nitrogen levels are not good for your plants if the manure is not well composted. It can surely burn and kill your plants. Therefore, it must be extremely well composted.

Takeaways

The most challenging part of composting chicken manure is knowing how to balance its nitrogen. Hence, too much is no longer good for your plants. They must be decomposed before you use them. The production process of chicken manure is essentially organic fertilizer. And it includes the proper selection of chicken manure. In order not to spoil what you have started. The decision about when you can use your compost is a matter of your judgment.

Have you had a chicken farm? Try chicken manure composting right away. And let us know what you think by posting a comment below.