Did I ruin my garden bed with raw manure and bedding?

[maggs97]

I am new to chickens and am planning on moving my five 6-week old girls out to the coop soon. The brooder box I have been cleaning out every couple days for the last four weeks. I have been dumping the pine shavings and manure straight into the garden bed and then tilling it in with the soil that is there. Doing some research today is telling me that I should have been letting this compost for 120 days first did I ruin my garden bed? We haven't started planting in the bed yet, but will soon as we have started our seedlings.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Chicken poop is "hot" and should be set aside for awhile, that's why rabbit poop is "better" as it's not. Best to make a pile of the poop & shaving off to the side and let the weather cure it. I do DLM (deep litter) in my CH, once in awhile I'll shovel some around the yard but not directly into my garden, although I've read where some do. Since you haven't started planting, perhaps no more in the garden, instead start a pile close and let the weather cure it for future use.

Best to wait to see what gardeners have to say ... I'm not good at gardening

 

[samanthaoverton]

I will be honest. I had my garden in my huge chicken area. I planted tomatoes, pumpkins, Tigger melons, etc. I would put up orange construction fencing around the veggies after planting to keep them out once planted . I also put down garden plastic, then fresh straw down on the ground around the veggies. Now I've read not to do root veggies..potatoes, carrots, etc, plants that you would pull out of the ground to eat weren't good to do and I haven't done root/tubour/bulb veggies in it.

 

[silkiegardens]

All good! Just keep tilling it and wait to plant anything until next season to allow it to get less hot. If you already have stuff planted, try to water and add as much dirt as possible to wash it out and dilute it. You could also try adding homemade or purchased supplements that are low in pH (chicken poo is high in pH, hence "hot") into the garden to try and even out the pH levels.

 

[RoyalChick]

Don’t worry about it.
Raw chicken manure can burn tender seedlings so maybe give any of those a few inches of dirt without manure to grow in.
I use mine straight off the floor of the chicken coop and run.
Some composts in place and some is fresh. I don’t try to distinguish.

 

[Percheron chick]

I won't worry either. I'd finish filling it with good soil, water deeply and let it do it's thing. You can cover it with plastic and let things bake if you want. Give it a month. I've been guilty of using non composted horse poop plenty. It will probably be your best garden ever

 

[Acre4Me]

There are a few things with chicken manure:

it’s hot, can burn plants. I’ll guess you haven’t added so much that is not likely the main issue.

It can make you sick. Poop (uncomposted) can get splashed back up onto the veggies by rain. Yuck. But, you can use straw or other mulch to prevent this from happening. Plus, don’t plant fresh yummies there, like strawberries you can’t scrub and want to eat fresh. Plus, strawberries are low to the ground.

Uncomposted pine shaving might be a bigger issue. These suck nutrients away as they decompose, particularly nitrogen. So, be sure to add some fertilizer.

 

[bhaugh]

Pine shavings are hard to break down and will change the ph of the soil along with compacting it at least where I live. If you want to use the ground this year I’d buy a bunch of red wigglers and cover it to keep birds from picking them off. Red wigglers live in upper layers of the soil and with a heavy rain can be washed away. They reproduce quickly if given enough to eat. I’ve used chicken compost from the coop but not in pots when the poo can cause burn.

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

Another thing I have not yet seen mentioned is the quantity.
How big of an area of garden soil was involved, and how much cedar/poop?

A little bit is not going to make a very big difference. If you dump in a lot, that could be bad.

The cedar chips will use up tons of nitrogen from the chicken poop as well, so it will balance out in the soil in the end.

The advice given above was perfect. Watch your plants. If they show nitrogen burn in a few days, water it well. It will dilute the nitrogen concentration. I saved a plant once this way.

Of course, ideally, aging in compost is the safest and best way.

You can actually use chicken poop immediately if you use it very lightly and some distance away from your plant. This is rarely talked about because it takes some finesse and you don't want to use it on plants whose edible parts are close to the ground. It can be used on trellised vegetables or on ornamental plants. You can experiment with this on some plants you don't mind using as a learning experience.

I put a sprinkle near my hardy kiwis to give them a boost - no edible fruits near the ground.

Think how God designed birds.
They land in the branches and drop a bit of super-charged NPK poop, all the while giving you beautiful songs.

You can drop a bit of this bird poop and sing, too. Make sure you share video.