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South of Buffalo

Hi,

I am augmenting my soil for next season. I have the ability to obtain chicken manure from a local chicken farm (unsure if its composted or not) as well as cow manure. I do have access to quite a bit of free sheep manure from a local hobby farm. Its been piling up since last year and is mixed with bedding. Its obtained from mucking the barn stalls. Any thoughts as to which is best? Thanks jeffp

9/10/2010 2:20:59 PM

Burt NY

i would take the sheep. FREE is always the best

9/10/2010 2:25:04 PM

South of Buffalo

I agree with free but my patch is small 1 pickup load would do it. The chicken is 75$ loaded for a fullsize pickup and i just found that it is composted. The oldest sheep poop is on the bottom of the pile and the stuff on top pretty chunky. I am thinking of adding both.

9/10/2010 2:42:39 PM

El Paso TX.

A mixture of the 2 would probably be a good plan - One drawback to both of those manures vs. cow manure is that they can contain a lot of weed seed in them (cows have multiple stomachs so most of the weed seed does not live through the digestion process) so you'll want to be sure you get the compost pile nice and hot to kill the seed before using it (unless you enjoy weeding !)

Raw chicken manure must be composted before it is applied to crops. According to Seattle Tilth, "chicken manure is so high in nitrogen it can damage roots and kill your plants if it is applied directly."

According to Marion Owen, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul, "sheep manure is lower in nitrogen than many other animal manures, moderate in potassium and especially rich in potash. It can be used extensively without

9/10/2010 4:07:40 PM

El Paso TX.

risk of burning young plants."

9/10/2010 4:08:56 PM

South of Buffalo

The chicken manure comes composted either bagged or loaded with a hylift. the egg farm it comes from has an advanced drying and composting section as they sell to organic farms and use on there own organic fields. So i wont have to compost it.
I have to look at teh wood shavings the sheep manure is mixed with, dont want a N sink.

9/10/2010 8:16:14 PM

South of Buffalo

Well it turns out the good sheep manure was spread on a section of hay field so the present matrial will not be broken down till next year. So now its chicken or cow.

9/12/2010 10:05:37 AM

That chicken compost should be good stuff, no weeds, and might even be pelitized for easy, accurate spreading. High in Ca is a bonus, here it runs around $6.00 for 50# bags. With an soil test you can control exactly what you are putting on the gardens. If you want to work on your OM you will have to find other sources for that though.

9/12/2010 12:01:43 PM

Buffalo, New York

Krehers Chicken Poo is $6.00 for a $30 pound bag. Like you said, the truckload is $75

I spread the bags in with my compost and till it in the fall, so i know it will be ok by spring.

9/19/2010 1:18:00 PM

Ada, Oh

Harder to find, but rabbit manure will out-preform others consistently

10/13/2010 6:14:20 PM

Anchorage, Alaska

Here's my personal experience regarding chicken manure. It is well kown and accepted that chicken manre will burn a young plant. This is where, in my opinion, accepted common knowledge contains a bit of truth and myth. Itis true that green chicken manure will burn a young plant if applied around new growth. However, I have been tiling in green chicken manure for years, then planting without a trace of burn, but extraordinary growth. This is one of those long lived myths with some truth and a whole lot of misunderstanding that exist and won't go away. Another example of some truth mixed with a lack of understanding is the belief that the wood cedar resists rot. Well, the cedar you buy anymore will rot just like any other wood...BUT, and this is the basis for the belief, old growth cedar does resist rot...for a very, very long time.So what's the difference? Old growth cedar has preservative resins within the wood that young cedar does not. Want proof? If you live in an area with logged off cedar and can find an old growth log on the ground, the wood will be sound except for a hollowed out center! The first approx. 50 years of cedar growth does not contain the preservative resins. Oh, good luck on finding any old growth at the lumber yard.
I only point this out because the chicken manure myth is much the same.
I have no knowledge regarding other uses of chicken manure..for example, on pumpkins.

11/16/2010 2:17:08 PM