She has filled the rest of the garden with a polytunnel, a vegetable patch, a herb garden, a wildlife pond, woodland areas and more. Simply spread the chicken manure compost evenly over the garden. Chicken manure is a superstar for composting. But since chicken manure is so high in nitrogen, it is important to make sure there is enough carbon rich material (wood chips or shavings, cardboard, dry leaves etc..) You will likely use at a carbon: nitrogen ratio of at least 1:1, or maybe even 2:1 in certain circumstances. If you keep a flock, your chickens’ manure is a valuable and free resource. It is also important to remember that chicken manure can also enrich a forest garden or fruit garden without the need for any intermediary steps. She has made many strides in attracting local wildlife and increasing biodiversity on the site. Keep reading to learn more about chicken manure compost and how to use it in the garden. They typically have NPK values of 4 -2 -1. The type of bedding used will dictate the ratio of bedding to manure. Getting the right ratio allows them to successfully break down. This significantly reduces the risk of contamination. Chickens also help to incorporate organic matter by scratching, they eat pests that would otherwise plague your property and, of course, they ‘recycle’ nutrients and provide their manure to fertilize your garden. It takes about six to nine months, on average, for chicken manure compost to be done properly. In 2014, she and her husband moved to their forever home in the country. The next step in chicken manure composting is to take the used bedding and put it into a compost bin. Fortunately, it is very easy to compost chicken manure so that it is safe for people and plants and can be spread around your growing areas or used in other ways in your garden. Chicken manure, when handled properly, can be a very useful resource to a gardener. When used with plenty of compost , these composted and processed pellets are an excellent cure for tired soil. She is a practical, hands-on gardener, with a background in philosophy: (an MA in English-Philosophy from St Andrews University). The exact amount of time it takes for composting chicken manure depends on the conditions under which it is composted. Always wash vegetables grown in chicken manure before eating them. If you have chickens, you can use the bedding from your own chickens. But using chicken manure in the garden is not a case of simply spreading fresh manure on the soil. The benefits of this are that the soil ecosystem is left relatively undisturbed, and soil biota are able to continue to do their jobs. This gives the percentage nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of the material. Interestingly, you can consider making use of the heat generated by decomposing manure. Lastly, though it is lesser than the above concerns, there is the issue of smell. Firstly, and most importantly, like other manures, chicken manure can contain bacteria and other pathogens. Find more gardening information on Gardening Know How: Keep up to date with all that's happening in and around the garden. Spread the material on the soil surface, and the micro-organisms and other life in the soil should do the rest of the work for you – recycling the nutrients into the system and incorporating the material into the soil. Never sprinkle it on top of plants, especially Once you have finished chicken manure composting, it is ready to use. Chicken manure Poultry manure is often sold in dried and pelleted form by garden centres and is a good non-chemical fertiliser. It also depends on how long it has been rotted or composted before use. Chicken manure pellets are a very useful nitrogen rich fertilizer.