How long are you composting chicken manure for?

[gdning8]

Saw some various ranges online and wanted to get opinions here. Also any issue with the manure being mixed with pine shavings?

 

[YumYum]

Chicken manure is considered high in nitrogen, at least in the manure family, so adding a brown like pine shavings surely won't hurt.

 

[Meadowlark]

It depends on a lot of things including how often it is mixed/turned and the moisture content, but I'd say on average about 6 months for use in veggie gardens. No issue with the pine shavings added.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

My father always had a huge mound of it over to the side of the property. It just did it's thing through the winter . He did not fuss with it.

 

[redback]

I have my own poultry and the manure is all different ages in the coop and the yard. I also give the hens endless weeds and straw so the variable age together with the nitrogen drawdown of the grass and straw allows me to use it immediately without a composting period. I still add it to my compost for both carbon and nitrogen.

 

[Meadowlark]

... use it immediately without a composting period. ...

And you use it immediately on veggies that are grown for consumption?

 

[redback]

And you use it immediately on veggies that are grown for consumption?

You're only quoting the end bit there. Most of the manure is aged and composted with the grass and straw scratched and turned by the chook's endless activity. I think you know that decaying grass and straw uses nitrogen to aid in its decay. Nitrogen drawdown. You might not know that the most manure is to be found under the perches. That gets composted.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

think possible clarification is needed. when my dad had his chickens, we also had 45 acres of farm land, so the mound of chicken manure on the side was not worried about at all. He'd fling rotten tomatoes into it, or other rotten veggies, they'd come up in the spring.

 

[redback]

The manure in the home chook run is never on its own. In the hen house there is 200mm (8") deep straw litter and the manure/straw mix takes about 2 months to start to smell. The manure is only about 1% of the deep litter mix.
In the yard there is a dirt floor and the manure would fall on the ground and be covered by dirt if I didn't keep putting wheelbarrow loads of green grass on top of it. The fowls eat the grass and scatter it by scratching and this mixture never smells and is cleaned out as compost when necessary. So, the home-grown chooks never actually produce a manure heap.

 

[River]

In my zone 9a starting in spring it doesn’t take long to compost chicken manure mixed with brown matter like shredded leaves. If I turn it a couple of times a week and have the proper moisture I can use it within 6-8 weeks if not sooner

You can still dress the surrounding soil as long as you stay away from the plant at least 8-10 inches to be safe. Otherwise it would most likely burn up the plant

Chicken manure and fresh cut grass mixed in a compost pile will drive up the heat

 

[big rockpile]

I have my own poultry and the manure is all different ages in the coop and the yard. I also give the hens endless weeds and straw so the variable age together with the nitrogen drawdown of the grass and straw allows me to use it immediately without a composting period. I still add it to my compost for both carbon and nitrogen.

Give me an idea. My Chicken House is needing cleaned out.

I have 5 Bales of moldy grass hay. How about using it for bedding, next time I clean it out it goes on Compost.

big rockpile

 

[redback]

Definitely put it in their run and under their perches. Their digestive system will take the moldy seed and their mighty three-clawed legs will shred the straw.
Not in their nests though. They will tolerate it if its dry, but I would put fresher stuff in their laying nests.