Roy Bailey wrote:
In article , Bobbie
writes

Chicken manure is very strong, it would burn your plants, and there
is some question of a possible salmonella risk Add it to a compost
heap and it will help to hasten the process. Never use fresh but allow
it time to rot down with other compost.

Bobbie

When I first left school I worked on a farm looking after 400 hens in 20
mobile arks which were moved to fresh ground every day. The droppings
went straight onto the ground and the regrowth of grass afterwards was
amazing.

There was never any problem about the manure being fresh.

Roy.

Have you ever noticed just how luxurious the grass is after a bitch has
peed on it a few times, hosed down it produces a wonderful verdant
growth, undiluted it leaves a horrid brown scorch mark. I would imagine
the same is with chicken manure, if dropped constantly in the same area.
My chickens are free range and likewise the droppings go straight onto
the ground, admittedly I do rake over any badly soiled areas but
generally they have caused no damage. Try putting those same fresh
droppings on or around fresh tender plant growth and the results could
be extremely damaging. My hens are Black Rock, perhaps it is the kind of
manure. Perhaps your hens produce plant friendly manure. Not many hens
do. Judith has not mentioned the breed of her hens, just the colour.


Bobbie.