How to safely use chicken manure in my garden?

I’ve been raising 2 hens in a smallish run with 6 inches of deep woodchip bedding since Nov 2022.

I understand it may take 6-12 months for the wood chip to break down to a point it can be used in the garden, but I’m wondering how I can use the chicken manure that falls and builds up directly beneath the coop?

I’m only growing 2 different crops. Garlic, that has been in since Nov and will be harvested around June/July, and super hot chillies that will be planed out in early June after I thin the garlic out and harvest green garlic.

Last year, before planting my chillies out, I had a brand new empty raised bed, and empty large pots to plant my chillies into.
I prepared the soil with lots of biochar, and drenched the bed/pots with gallons of chicken manure pellets and human urine smoothie.
I had a bumper crop!

This year, I’ve got the garlic to contend with, and from what I’ve read, I can’t use chicken manure or urine on root crops.

How would you advise me to use the piles of chicken manure that falls beneath the coop, to benefit my chillies without causing problems for my garlic?

Thanks

I would use it as mulch in the fall around the freshly planted garlic. By the time you are harvesting it will be well broken down.

Jonathan Hodges wrote:I would use it as mulch in the fall around the freshly planted garlic. By the time you are harvesting it will be well broken down.

Thank you.

Hi Dave,
The issue with using chicken manure is when it is too fresh. Without breaking down first, it will burn plants and roots. As far as I know, once it is broken down, it can be used on any sort of plant. I have never heard of any issues specific to root crops. Either it is too fresh for anything or it is good enough for anything.

If you are actively working on the compost to make it hot, you could probably get it useable in a month. However, most of the time, I am not out re-digging my compost piles, so I would typically let it sit for a good 6 months before using it. It should look like soil when it is ready enough.

Specific to putting it on the garlic in the fall so it will be ready by spring... it would probably work? But I would feel better about letting it sit and age a bit before doing that.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Dave,
The issue with using chicken manure is when it is too fresh. Without breaking down first, it will burn plants and roots. As far as I know, once it is broken down, it can be used on any sort of plant. I have never heard of any issues specific to root crops. Either it is too fresh for anything or it is good enough for anything.

If you are actively working on the compost to make it hot, you could probably get it useable in a month. However, most of the time, I am not out re-digging my compost piles, so I would typically let it sit for a good 6 months before using it. It should look like soil when it is ready enough.

Specific to putting it on the garlic in the fall so it will be ready by spring... it would probably work? But I would feel better about letting it sit and age a bit before doing that.

Thank you Matt,
I’ve decided to compost it in a bin, and turn it every few days with an earth auger so it’s ready for when I plant my chilies out in June.
Thanks
Dave

Hi, Dave

You have gotten some great answers.

In case you would like to read further here are some threads that you or others might find interesting:

https://permies.com/t/140138/fresh-chicken-manure-garden

https://permies.com/t/2107/chicken-poop-lawn-fertilizer

https://permies.com/t/138499/Chicken-Manure-Hugelkultur

Thanks Anne,
Those were really good threads, and I've now learnt what to do with the broken down wood chip bedding for next year.
For now, I just needed a solution to have safe chicken manure ready for this years chillies.
I believe I can compost the manure that piles up beneath their coop roost in plenty of time for planting out my chillies.
It's amazing how much muck 2 hens can produce!
Thanks
Dave

Anne Miller wrote:Hi, Dave

You have gotten some great answers.

In case you would like to read further here are some threads that you or others might find interesting:

https://permies.com/t/140138/fresh-chicken-manure-garden

https://permies.com/t/2107/chicken-poop-lawn-fertilizer

https://permies.com/t/138499/Chicken-Manure-Hugelkultur

If you continuously mix the fresh poo with wood chips and biochar, I think you have solved the problem. Give it all a bit of time to work, and treat it like hot stuff; but these will buffer and soak up the excess nitrogen you are worried about.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:If you continuously mix the fresh poo with wood chips and biochar, I think you have solved the problem. Give it all a bit of time to work, and treat it like hot stuff; but these will buffer and soak up the excess nitrogen you are worried about.

Thanks Douglas,
I’ve got bio char in my compost bin, and more at hand ready to add, so my plan is to add the coop droppings in there and mix.

I am soon to get my chickens, and I appreciate this thread in finishing up my planning.

I'm going to make a compost pile just from bedding/manure from the chickens separate from my foodstuffs/yard waste compost pile and place it uphill from my comfrey hedge in hopes of capturing any potential runoff nitrogen. I'm doing well with my current compost pile but I don't want to risk using a manure based compost too soon so I'm being safer than sorry.

Lesson in how NOT to use it.  My parents had a bunch of grain cleaned to use for seed.  That got us roughly a pickup load of tare back.(mostly other seeds)  Fed those to the chickens.  That got us manure from the annual cleaning of the chicken house.  Compost that for a year and put on the garden.  Next garden season have a sampling of every weed possible in that garden.  Spend the next 20 years fighting the problem.