Poultry poop + time = soil amendment?

I have been saving buckets of chicken poop for future compost but I'm left to wonder: how long can poop just sit in a bucket before it's ok to direct apply/till into my garden soil?  

The two problems with fresh manure application I'm aware of are pathogens and nitrogen so I'm wondering if time is enough to mellow those (instead of processing through compost.)

I'm patient. I get buckets for free (job perk) and it's easy to collect from my coop poo board. So can I just let that black gold sit around in a loosely lidded bucket for a year to "weather" and apply it to the soil shortly before planting?
I do plan to experiment, just thought I'd see if there was any experience or ideas out there in the community.

Personally I would dig trenches or pits in my garden, dump the poop into them, cover with a few inches of good soil, and plant.  I've done it before and I would do it again!

Keeping Poop in a bucket is not going to do a lot of good unless you have made additions of fungi and perhaps more bacteria.
The bucket will prevent air circulation which is what ages manures.
Pathogens present in a bucket of poop will simply keep their population growing, it doesn't matter how long that bucket sits full of poop, it isn't going to age properly without air being able to flow all around and through it.

You can use the trench method brought up by Tyler (one good method).
You could build a compost heap and use it in that which will turn the materials of the heap into really good mulch or soil amendment.
You could mix it with straw or some other brown material and let it age in the open air for about 6 months, then use it on your plants.

Redhawk

Bryant RedHawk wrote:

You could mix it with straw or some other brown material and let it age in the open air for about 6 months, then use it on your plants.

Being early September, this is a good time of year to collect up and store dead leaves to add to the fresh chicken shit as you collect it. Chicken shit is higher in nitrogen than many manure sources, and since Matt Todd is collecting it from a
"coop poo board" there won't be bedding already mixed in. I particularly like trees that shed relatively small leaves, like our local "Indian Plum" as opposed to our "Big Leaf Maples" whose leaves really need some sort of processing to compost easily as they tend to mat.

Another good use is to make liquid manure.

Simply place a few shovel fulls of the manure into some mesh-like material e.g. Old curtain material, shade cloth, and tie to make a big teabag.

Put it in a PLASTIC bucket and fill with water. Cover to prevent flies, and let it sit for several weeks. (The wet manure will quickly rust steel buckets.)

It makes the best liquid manure for most plants, especially leafy greens, citrus, roses, etc.

However, it needs to be diluted further before use.

The detritus in the teabag can be used as a slow release mulch or compost activator.

F Agricola wrote:Another good use is to make liquid manure.

Simply place a few shovel fulls of the manure into some mesh-like material e.g. Old curtain material, shade cloth, and tie to make a big teabag.

My lazy method doesn’t even use a bag. I just fill a plastic trash can with manure, fill it to the brim with water, then when it’s aged enough I just ladle out a few cupfulls directly into my watering can. I wish there were a way to use manure tea on a larger scale because I can’t water a large area with a watering can.

You might also consider some form of my "super-sawdust." It should work well for that.

https://permies.com/t/121746/charging-sawdust

Tim Kivi wrote:
My lazy method doesn’t even use a bag. I just fill a plastic trash can with manure, fill it to the brim with water, then when it’s aged enough I just ladle out a few cupfulls directly into my watering can. I wish there were a way to use manure tea on a larger scale because I can’t water a large area with a watering can.

I've seen it done with tractor drawn sprayers, they do use the tea bag method so that none of the nozzle clogging manure debris gets outside of the tea bag.