Gotta question. While anxiously awaiting the spring thaw and planning for the garden I've been eyeing up the litter in the chicken coop. Its about 5" thick and consists of chicken manure, mostly leaves and some straw. I'm also gonna have about 8 yards of composted leaves.

ALL of our garden soil is composted leaves from 1, 2, and 3 yrs ago, arranged in beds, plus several isolated flower beds and the young orchard. What I'm thinking I'd like to do is mix the chicken coop litter in with the freshly composted leaves and use it like a top dressing for the garden and flower beds. The question is; "What ratio of manure/litter would you use to mix with the freshly composted leaves as a top dressing?" I don't think the "hotness" of the manure will be an issue because its already broken down the litter and will be further "diluted" with the compost.

This will be the main fertilizer application for the season.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), March 09, 2001

Answers

We use our chicken litter liberally in the garden. It doesn't seem hot even when fresh, and we'd use more if we had it. It's probably about 50% hay when we clean out the coop.

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), March 09, 2001.

Chicken litter is great in the garden, but the dung is high in nitrogen, which burns plants. I'd put it out there before it has thawed completely. Manure from chickens should be composted before used as a fertilizer. If the litter isn't TOO dirty, you can use it straight - especially this early. It will have time to heat up and cool down before planting.

Rabbit manure, however, can be put straight into the garden.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 09, 2001.