A very kind farmer has just delivered me 2 tonnes or top soil but has
said he's also mixed in some 1/2 tonne of chicken sh*t.

Having read an article on how strong it is i am frightened of putting
it on the garden straight away, but its on my drive & does smell a
bit.

I wished now he'd not mixed it in with the top soil as I could have
then just mixed the poo in with my compost bin soil and let it
decompose a bit first.

Other than put it straight on the soil should I mix the whole lot in
with the compost bin soil?

tom wrote:
A very kind farmer has just delivered me 2 tonnes or top soil but
has
said he's also mixed in some 1/2 tonne of chicken sh*t.

Having read an article on how strong it is i am frightened of
putting
it on the garden straight away, but its on my drive & does smell a
bit.

I wished now he'd not mixed it in with the top soil as I could have
then just mixed the poo in with my compost bin soil and let it
decompose a bit first.

Other than put it straight on the soil should I mix the whole lot
in
with the compost bin soil?

It may depend on what you meant to do with the topsoil. What was the
plan? (But I wouldn't dilute the compost you've made.)

--
Mike.

"tom" wrote in message
...
A very kind farmer has just delivered me 2 tonnes or top soil but has
said he's also mixed in some 1/2 tonne of chicken sh*t.

Having read an article on how strong it is i am frightened of putting
it on the garden straight away, but its on my drive & does smell a
bit.

I wished now he'd not mixed it in with the top soil as I could have
then just mixed the poo in with my compost bin soil and let it
decompose a bit first.

Other than put it straight on the soil should I mix the whole lot in
with the compost bin soil?


This depends on where it has come from. If it is from the scrapings from
under perches or cages, it will be very strong and raw!!.

However if your Farmer friend has Deep Litter Houses and it is mixed with
this, then the problem is not too bad because this will be mixed with the
deep litter, which in my case when I had chickens, was sawdust and shavings
and we put it straight on the gardens, and sold a lot :-)) You get a lot out
when you clear an 80 ft x 20 ft deep litter house :-))

Mike

It may depend on what you meant to do with the topsoil. What was the
plan? (But I wouldn't dilute the compost you've made.)
The plan is to put the topsoil on the graden around the plants, on top
of the current soil.

tom wrote:
It may depend on what you meant to do with the topsoil. What was
the
plan? (But I wouldn't dilute the compost you've made.)
The plan is to put the topsoil on the graden around the plants, on
top
of the current soil.

It depends how much, of course, but I don't think you can do that, as
a rule. The trouble is the plants are probably at the depth they like
best, and raising the soil level around them could weaken or kill
them. With most plants, if you want to raise the soil more than a
little I'd want to dig them out and put them back when you've
established the new level.

--
Mike.

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 21:36:05 +0100, tom wrote:

A very kind farmer has just delivered me 2 tonnes or top soil but has
said he's also mixed in some 1/2 tonne of chicken sh*t.
I now know where the term "flies round sh*t" comes from :-(
Hawing returned home from work on a lovely bright and sunny afternoon
the pile was alive with millions (no exaggeration there) of big
horrible yellowy brown flies that seemed to go for me every time i
approached the pile with my wheel barrow (peg on nose cos of the
smell) ohh what a nightmare!!

The wife's fallen out with me, the kids wont go outside and the next
door neighbors are going mad.

Has anyone got any advice (I'm desperate now) on what I can do about
the horrible flies (I haven't seen flies like this before)?

And the smell, Is ther anything i can to tone it down a bit?

Thanks

tom wrote:
[...]
The wife's fallen out with me, the kids wont go outside and the
next
door neighbors are going mad.

Has anyone got any advice (I'm desperate now) on what I can do
about
the horrible flies (I haven't seen flies like this before)?

And the smell, Is ther anything i can to tone it down a bit?


The pong, like the flies, will go away when it's good and ready, I'm
afraid.

First thing, check to see if the chicken shit is mixed in, or mainly
lying on top of the soil. It sounds from the flies that it's not well
mixed. I don't want to sound daft, but covering with soil will help:
if the good stuff isn't perfectly mixed with the soil, perhaps you
could extract enough pure earth to bury the muck. Also try a
tarpaulin (or those big plastic sheets the sheds sell for
decorating); that will show everybody you're trying, and, by keeping
things warm and moist, may accelerate the return to freedom from
effluvium.

Alternatively, you could spend the weekend spreading it all out where
you intended to in the first place: I think the smell will go away
much quicker, but the actual rotting-down process will be slowed. You
may very well kill some of your plants, too, as it's obviously fresh,
not well rotted. In an emergency like this, I'd be inclined to put as
much as possible on the vegetable patch, digging in if possible, and
sacrifice the crops for now.

I suppose it's too late to offer your neighbours as much as they
want?

You could always sell the stuff in the free ads! If you make a
profit, make sure Mrs Tom benefits: this is no time for
self-indulgence!

--
Mike.

Alternatively, you could spend the weekend spreading it all out where
you intended to in the first place: I think the smell will go away
much quicker, but the actual rotting-down process will be slowed. You
may very well kill some of your plants, too, as it's obviously fresh,
not well rotted. In an emergency like this, I'd be inclined to put as
much as possible on the vegetable patch, digging in if possible, and
sacrifice the crops for now.

Thanks Mike,

I have emptied my compost area and put as much as I can in there, I'd
say its taken about half of it (1 tonne). I then mowed the lawn and
have sealed it in (hopefully) with the grass clippings.

Like you say i will spend tomorrow spreading the remainig 1 tonne over
the soil.

That way I will get my drive back & get it further away from my
neighbours door!!

Thanks to everyone for their help.

I'll stick to the pelleted variety in future.

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes

What was really disgusting, was the number of completely flat
mummified hen corpses in it; many of which were eagerly retrieved by our
dogs and brought home for rolling on.

Janet.



What ? You mean the Barracloughs couldn't make a gourmet meal out of
them or find a way of doing something 'useful' with them?

I don't know that I could bring myself to pay someone who kept battery
chickens but that's just my problem, I'm sure the stuff will come in
useful for you
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:
The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

/snip/

I don't know that I could bring myself to pay someone who kept battery
chickens

Be careful which commercial fertiliser products you buy, then. 6X and
Rooster are products of confined poultry farming.

I can't see a commercial future in pooper-scooping-up free-range chicken
droppings innit.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/