Why compost chicken manure?
If you have just cleaned out your chicken coop and are wondering what to do with the manure, I have the right solution for you. Transform the chicken manure into highly valuable nitrogen-rich fertilizer for your farm. What better idea than to feed Mother Earth, who tires day and night to feed us?
Chicken manure is highly rich in nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), and potash (K). This makes it one of the best farmyard fertilizers for your plants. Chicken manure varies according to the breed and nutrition of chickens. It also depends on how old it is and if it’s mixed with litter. Chicken fertilizer is a complete fertilizer in itself as it contains all the necessary major nutrients as well as the minor elements that plants need.
Moreover, composting chicken manure gives you 100% organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer is infinitely better than chemical or synthetic fertilizer. Organic matter improves soil structure and increases the capacity of the soil to hold water and nutrients. Organic fertilizers are better because nutrients release more slowly than artificial fertilizers, allowing plants to absorb them as they get available. Artificial fertilizers also pollute the soil and water.
An important fact to note is that you must never dump chicken manure straight into the garden, as it is very rich in ammonia and will burn your plants. You must compost before adding it to the soil so that the ammonia is released.
How to make compost?
Making compost from chicken manure is not tough or tricky. But there are a few things you must understand to get it right. Hot composting is the most efficient way to make chicken manure compost. Hot composting can have your compost ready in three months at most, but cold composting takes much longer, at least a year. Let’s look at how to make compost step by step.
Step 1- Collect your chicken manure.
Most chicken housing uses the deep litter method. You may use different types of litter for your chickens’ bedding, but wood shavings are the best. Not only is it clean and non-toxic for your chicken, but they are also suitable for making fertilizer.
The chicken manure is most likely mixed with the type of litter you used. The ideal chicken manure composition should have at least 25% manure with 75% bedding. You can know if the percentages are correct if you can form a ball with your hands and break it up as quickly.
When you are dealing with chicken manure, make sure to wear a good chemical mask, gloves, and boots. The ammonia from the chicken manure can damage your lungs. Please read my article on how to clean your chicken coop before you start.
Step 2- Dump the manure.
You can just dump the manure only if you are using a compost bin. You can buy a compost bin, or you can go cost-effective by making your own. Building compost bins do not require expensive materials. You can use any material, like wooden pallets and chicken wire to create a cube that is 1m or bigger. Drive some wooden stakes firmly to the ground, then cover the sides with chicken wire or wooden pallets in such a way that the insides are well-ventilated. Then dump in your manure.
You can also make manure without a bin. Spread a tarpaulin or similar thick sheet away from any greenery and animals, and make the compost in a heap.
Step 3- Make the mixture.
Chicken manure has to be mixed with some essential ingredients to make compost. Your manure already contains nitrogen and carbon from the litter. Your perfect recipe to get the balance right is to add one-part brown(bedding) with two parts green(manure). But since chicken manure is very high in nitrogen, you can add equal parts of both to get a good result. If your chicken manure has too much bedding and less manure, try to add in more chicken manure from dropping boards.
Step 4- Add water.
Add the right amount of water to the compost heap, not too much or too little. Add only so much that you are able to make a shape when you squeeze with your hands, but it crumbles soon after. If they stay a ball, then the water is too much.
Once you have a good balance in the manure and the right amount of water, it needs temperature to heat up. Sunlight during the daytime is quite enough, but not during cold seasons or rain. The compost should heat up quickly to 50 or 60 degrees and hold this temperature for 2-3 days.
Step 5-Mix and repeat
Once the compost has heated for three days, it will start cooling down. So then you need to pull the insides out and mix and put it in a heap again so they can heat up. Continue to mix every three days so that your whole pile has heated. Keep adding in fresh manure to the mixture and mix so that the fresh materials have also heated. Mixing is crucial because it incorporates oxygen into the heap, and oxygen is important for the manure to heat up.
The curing period
This is when you do nothing but sit and wait. Allow the heap to rest for at least 2-3 months. You will know if the compost is ready if it has no unpleasant smells, is dark and rich like soil. When ready, use it for the soil of your vegetable plants or other trees. Composting chicken manure is a very rich form of fertilizer. All your efforts will be paid off when you see your plants growing well!
Fixing the compost
If your compost does not come out as it should or is not heating well, then something could be wrong with the balance. Try adding more chicken manure or water. If your water is too much, add in more bedding. Mix well to incorporate dry parts. And do never touch it with bare hands.
Chicken manure compost is pretty strong so add them to the soil well before planting. Never use it on seedlings or new plants. The high nitrogen levels will kill them. Hot composting is the only way to kill the bacteria present in chicken manure. Other methods are not so effective, take too long, and may contaminate your produce with traces of bacteria. Refer to this site for tips on applying chicken manure to your garden.