chicken manure compost in SFG - screw up?

18 years ago

Hello ... I just helped my mom setup a SFG yesterday. We drove around to multiple stores getting the 5 types of compost for Mel's Mix. We bought some composted chicken manure thinking that was ok after seeing the picture of the "hen manure compost" in the SFG book but after getting into making the mix and using half the bag of chicken manure we stopped using that and chose one of the other composts to finish our next batches of Mel's mix. Are all our plants going to burn? ... do we have to redo/dilute the mix or is this ok. Total newbies at this ...

I also have to comment about the SFG book. They show a tarp being used to mix the stuff and say that the size is 16ft x 16ft that you should use. I bought a 12x16 and that was way bigger than what they show in the picture. The tarp method of mixing didn't work anyway because it picked up all the weeds on the ground - the whole point of SFG is no weeds so the tarp was a disaster. We ended up mixing small batches in a wheelbarrow and that worked out better but it was time consuming.

Thanks,

-Mike

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Comments (6)

Demeter
18 years ago
If the chicken manure was fully composted, it should be all right. Did it smell like the other composts - rich and earthy - or did it smell, well, like chicken poo? If you only used half the bag, and mixed it well with the other kinds of compost, it should be fine in any event.
fenston
Original Author
18 years ago
the bag said it was composted but it did smell like chicken poo a bit ... we used about 1/2 cu ft for one of the 4ftx4ft boxes but it is mixed in well. Hopefully it turns out ok!

Thanks,

-Mike
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newgardenelf
18 years ago
You should be fine. I used chicken manure in my garden and it was not quite as composted as I would have liked but my garden grew well. When it comes to chicken manure it SMELLS so if it smells a little I wouldn't worry if it was raw- you'd know it!
James McNulty
18 years ago
Almost all animal manure is composted first before bagging as the moisture and heat build-up would be intolerable if not first composted. In addition, people would not buy it again because it looks like hell - wierd colors, feathers, smell, etc. Looks 100% better as a retail product when composted FIRST.
Regards - Jim
Ray Scheel
18 years ago
It'll be fine, especially mixed in like that.
appmy
18 years ago
I used some composted chicken poo in one of my flower boxes this year. It was a different texture than all the other composts I used. No problems and by the end of the season it was all the same.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Square Foot Gardening Blog