Using potting soil from a garden center makes planting fast and easy. But potting soil mixes frequently lack the important trace elements plants need for good health. Mixing aged chicken manure with store-bought potting soil gives you convenience along with what researchers at the University of California call “the most concentrated animal manure with respect to primary nutrients."
Collect both chicken manure and the bedding straw or sawdust mixed with it. You can collect in whatever schedule works best for you, daily, weekly or monthly.
Place the collected manure and bedding materials in a compost bin or a pile somewhere in your yard. The pile will initially have a strong odor, so pick an unobtrusive spot for it.
Add green material to the pile, such as grass clippings or green leaves. Aim for a 2:1 ratio of green material to the brown manure and bedding material.
Water the pile so it is evenly moist but not damp. Keep the pile covered with a plastic tarp if your area gets a lot of rain.
Turn the pile every three days to aerate the mixture. The mixture should feel warm to the touch as all the materials decompose and "cook."
Water, turn and aerate the pile for one to three months. You’ll know the compost is ready when it looks crumbly like soil and loses its smell.
Mix potting soil and aged, composted manure in a ratio of 1 1/4 parts potting soil to 1/4 part compost. For roses, mix 1 part garden soil and 1/4 part potting soil, recommends the American Rose Society.
Things You Will Need
- Compost bins (optional)
- Tarp (optional)
- Wear gloves when handling raw manure.
- Thoroughly wash any vegetables from a garden where composted manure is used.
- Raw manure may contain harmful organisms that could make you sick if you use the manure in vegetable garden beds before it is aged properly. Children, pregnant women and people with serious diseases are especially susceptible.
- Putting raw chicken manure on your plants without aging it can damage the plants’ roots.
- Never use dog, cat or pig manure in compost mixtures, as the parasites in these manures may not decompose.
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