Chicken poo - can it be composted? And how?

Downsizing__for_sanity

Hi there,

I'm new on this board, usually I am on the OS Grocery/Storecupboard Challenges. We have recently got our 4 chickens and I know our council accept the bedding in the brown bin for recycling.

I have just ordered a compost bin from the Love Food Hate Waste Scotland website, at only £10. I was wondering how long it takes to be broken down or if you can use it as a liquid fertiliser if you add water to it?

We have all our plants in containers at the moment apart from a large expanse of lawn so they will obviously need more feed and water than in the ground. I'm hoping to grow some tomatoes and maybe some peppers in a mini greenhouse but this might be a tad ambitious!

Many thanks for your help.

Downsizing.

HariboJunkie

Just add the chicken manure to your normal compost (veg peelings, tea and coffee grounds, grass clippings, cardboard etc). It will accelerate the decomposition process in the bin.
Don't add fresh chicken poo to your plants. Let it rot down first.;)

Downsizing__for_sanity

Many thanks Haribo. Hope my composter arrives soon!

shirlgirl2004

Fresh chicken poo is fine for veg just not your flowers.

Lotus-eater

Fresh chicken manure is not OK for vegetables, Try it if you like and find out, Not only will it burn young plants, it will produce way too much sappy growth.
You can use it fresh on comfrey though, about the only thing you can use it on.

An old timer once told me to compost it for 2 years before using it, he was most adamant.
Well I do it about a year.
It will speed up any compost bin, but it can be quite wet and I always add alot of dry material when I add it to the bin. Such as paper or cardboard.

You can use it as a liquid fertiliser, add it to water in the std way, I've never done it, of all the poos I have used in the garden, I suspect it would be by far the smelliest.