ATHENS, Ga. — With the higher cost of eggs and frequent cases of avian influenza, more people are turning to backyard flocks. However, then the question arises of what to do with the created animal waste?
According to the Rodale Book of Composting, “Chicken manure is the ‘hottest’ of all animal manures, meaning that it is the richest in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Chicken droppings must be composted or incorporated with a high-carbon mulch or cover crop before use, or they will burn any plants with which they come in contact.”
One chicken produces about 10 pounds of manure monthly, turning that into usable compost for gardens is a beneficial way to safely dispose of waste, and give your garden a boost.
Dr. Casey Ritz, professor and associate department head with the University of Georgia’s Department of Poultry Science, focuses his research on animal waste awareness.
“In poultry, it’s manure or it’s dead birds taking that nitrous source, adding it to carbon at the right ratio, and letting nature take its course, because they’re natural microbes and bacteria, beneficial bacteria and all kinds of things in the natural environment that then utilize those nutrients and feed on those and then reproduce,” Ritz said. “And as they do that, they transform that raw material into a stabilized product, which would then be called compost.”
Stabilized compost makes for a slower release of nutrients to the plant and soil.
“When we stabilize it, that’s what we do, it allows the nutrients to then be more time released, essentially, instead of volatizing off so quickly,” Ritz explained. “It contributes to soil health, when we add that carbon material in that helps to loosen the soil up and make it easier for plants to root, particularly in a garden or flower bed.”
Fraser Reade, a Jefferson, Ga., backyard flock owner, composts his own chicken manure, although not in quite the same conventional manner.
“I compost chicken manure by adding the manure and wood chips to an old pile I’ve had going,” Reade said. “I know that with a concentrated source of nitrogen like that, you can get a pile up to 140-150 degrees and get it fully composted in a couple of months, whereas my current pile takes a couple of years.”
For further information on topics from myths of poultry farming to utilizing chicken waste, check out UGA’s Department of Poultry Science website at: https://poultry.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications.html.
