Chickens produce a lot of manure.
Chicken produce about a square foot of manure every six months. If you're a chicken owner, you might wonder what to do with it all. Chicken manure can be used as a garden fertilizer and as an animal feed. Chicken manure is high in nutrients for both plants and cattle. Does this Spark an idea?
Benefits
Chicken manure has long been used by gardeners and farmers as a nutrient for soil. Once composted, it can provide plants with plenty of phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen, as well provide organic matter that increases the soil's ability to hold water.
As cattle feed, chicken manure is used in the form of DPW: Dried Poultry Waste. Chicken manure provides minerals, protein and fiber in cattle feed.
Recyling Waste
Reusing chicken manure allows chicken owners to use the waste from their flock in a environmentally friendly way. The manure is recycled, using what might normally be considered odious waste into something that provides nutrients for produce and meat.
Manure in Gardens
Chicken manure cannot be used directly on a garden as it will "burn" and possibly kill the plants. However, if it is composted and allowed to break down, it will become excellent fertilizer. You will need to mix one part wood shavings or chicken litter with two parts manure. Sometimes a 1:1 ratio is fine because chicken manure is high in nitrogen.
Composting Manure
To compost manure, you need to mix the litter and manure and wet it down to the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. The compost mix needs to be stirred and allowed to heat from the chemical reactions at 130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit for three days. Use a thermometer made for composting to check the temperature, and add more chicken manure and water if you're not getting a high enough temperature.
After three days, you'll need to stir up the compost, bringing the outside portions into the center and letting them cook. You'll need to do this for a total of three times.
Then, you'll need to let the compost sit for 45 to 60 days or until it looks like dirt instead of droppings and wood chips. You can then use the compost in the garden safely.
Cattle Feed
In cattle feed, poultry waste must meet fairly stringent guidelines, according to the Association of Animal Feed Control Officials (AAFCO): it must include no harmful organisms, drug residues, pesticide residues or parasites. DPW must have at least 18.0 percent crude protein and no more than 15 percent water content. It must also not have more than 15 percent crude fiber, 30 percent ash and 1 percent feathers. Other forms of DPW include Dried Poultry Waste-NPN Extracted (urea extracted) and Dried Poultry Litter (DPL) which includes the litter or wood chips with the waste.
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