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Post By rharper
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Post By Brighton
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Post By Harry Chickpea
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Post By Awnry Abe
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Post By Marilyn
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Post By Ozarks Tom
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07/23/13, 07:46 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 107
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Ode to chicken poop
Don't discount how good this stuff is ...
Okay, so here's the back story:
We moved to a place that had poor soil to begin with (clay and quartz), had been logged, and had the space around the house razed and backfilled with more low-quality soil.
We knew it would be a challenge, especially this first year (heck, we mostly planted the garden in an attempt to keep what soil is there from running off), and the results are what we expected--anemic corn and oats (tasseling/developing heads waaaay too early), half-hearted squash, stumpy beans, and so on ... we added compost, but it clearly just wasn't enough.
We also started chickens last summer, and kept them (a dozen layers) over the winter in a converted gazebo that was in the middle of the circle drive. Their yard (a few dozen square feet--not small but not huge) was about half gravel when we started, and they dug it all to heck.
We threw in hay, and kitchen scraps, and some rotten squash and the like, as well as the occasional seed-treat. Then, this spring, we moved them to a summer range.
Now, the chicken yard (which was, again, about half-gravel) is absolutely lush--covered in volunteer pumpkin, squash, and sunflowers. We've literally been hacking the squash vines back to keep them out of the driveway itself, and they are trying to grow over the gazebo. When you look at the old chicken yard, and then at our garden, it becomes very clear how useful those little birds really are ...
This winter, we're putting them on the garden. Wow.
It' definitely cheaper than buying and spreading and tilling manure/compost, and the results are amazing ...
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07/23/13, 07:52 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,125
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My main garden sits where a chicken house and run sat for 50 years, then goats for 5 years, I couldn't imagine better soil!
Anna
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07/23/13, 08:03 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: north Alabama
Posts: 10,811
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Chicken poop for the soul... (edit - soil)
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07/23/13, 09:42 PM
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My name is not Alice
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: On a dirt road in Missouri
Posts: 4,185
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A gazebo in a circle drive converted for chickens sounds pretty cool to me. Keep those girls matriculatin down the field and you will have a wonderful yard/garden.
__________________
Honesty and integrity are homesteading virtues.
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07/24/13, 08:53 AM
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Plotting My Escape
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Williamsport, PA
Posts: 675
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I planted 2 Asian pears the same year near each other. When I got chickens and made a pen area one of them is inside the fence and the other is outside. The one inside is easily twice the size of the other and it is supposed to be the slower growing of the two kinds.
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07/24/13, 04:05 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Indiana
Posts: 2,961
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I saw exactly what you're talking about in my own garden this year, rharper. When my dtr and I cleaned out the coop this spring, I thought it might be too late to work it into the garden beds. So instead, we just layed it in a row right down the middle of the garden, to be worked in at a later time. I had three rows of potatoes this year, one of which was closest to the row of chicken bedding. That row was noticeably larger, greener and ready for harvest before the others.
I'm so glad I have chickens 
__________________
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson
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07/24/13, 05:45 PM
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 8,009
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Yep, chicken & rabbit poop, along with the shavings from the coop. Put it on the garden in the fall, perfect by spring.
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07/25/13, 09:52 AM
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Registered Users
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: South-central Indiana
Posts: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea
Chicken poop for the soul... (edit - soil)
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That is funny.
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07/25/13, 12:48 PM
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Enter farm name here
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 1,526
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I've been using chicken poop (and bedding from their coop) on my garden beds for years. I also put a few clumps of composted manure into the pots of veggies I grow on my patio (peppers, eggplant, etc.).
Chicken manure is "da bomb diggity" (to quote my teenagers).
__________________
Nerds on a nano-farm - since 2005 
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.
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07/25/13, 01:24 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 69
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Rabbit poop unlike chicken poop can be used "green" if you didn't know. It won't burn your veggie plants. Have both rabbits & chickens and have never seen so much green growth in my life.
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07/26/13, 01:24 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: The Boonies, Oregon
Posts: 153
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Chicken poo, rabbit poo, sheep poo, goat poo... I have such a spoiled garden. 
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07/26/13, 06:07 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Western NC
Posts: 665
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The school I work at got some donations to redo the ball field area. They basically tilled it up, made it flat, and now are in the process of reseeding it. The school was built in the 60s. From the talks of things, the field hasn't really been improved since (other than the occasional aeration, which hasn't happened in a long time) Prior to that, it was a cattle farm. I was there the other day when they were able to finally work on it again (we've been pretty wet here). I swear it smelled as if 100 head of cows were on there yesterday. I was amazed that the fresh turned ground had the smell after all these years.
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