Straw bale gardens and chickens

[redfordchick]

Has anyone incorporated the 2? Any other straw bale gardeners out there? We are at a new home and I plan on doing bales again, then next year I'll have a ton of compost so not sure if I'll do bales or build beds, but the bales worked our great last year. We didn't have chickens last year though!

 

[lazy gardener]

I've not tried it. Are you thinking of using fresh manure as your nitrogen source? We'd love it if you try it out, and document your results. Perhaps do a google search about the NPK content of fresh chicken manure, and make a manure tea to treat one bale, and use conventional methods for the rest. Got a soil thermometer? That would give you some objective data. Continue this thread with your results, and I may join you for a companion test! It would make sense that while fresh chicken manure is "too hot" to use fresh in the garden, it should, at the correct dilution be perfect for inoculating the straw bale.

 

[redfordchick]

I didn't even think about that, but that is a great idea as I used organic bloodmeal (or bonemeal i cant remember) last year and it was so expensive considering I only had 10 bales...and plan on more then that this year. I was just thinking logistically, are the chickens going to get on the bales and demolish everything like they would a ground level garden.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, they'll get on those bales. But, you can keep them off very easily with some deer fencing, some fiberglass poles, and a hand full of clothes pins.

 

[redfordchick]

Yes, they'll get on those bales.  But, you can keep them off very easily with some deer fencing, some fiberglass poles, and a hand full of clothes pins.

Back yard is a blank slate so we will figure it out when all this white stuff is finally gone!

 

[redfordchick]

So... Getting bales this weekend. I think I will give this a try. I have 21 chickens, and 2 pet rabbits... I should not need to buy fertilizer! I do have some bonemeal left from last year. I supposed I could use it as a control for one or two bales, and try the manure out for the rest. What kind of soil thermometer do I need?

Idea on which manure to use? Chicken, rabbit, or a combination ?

 

[lazy gardener]

Bone meal is not going to provide you with any nitrogen. You need a high nitrogen boost to get the compost action going. It needs to ramp up, then cool down before you plant.

 

[redfordchick]

Hmm... I have the straw bale garden book and its what it said to use. I used it last year and my garden did great. You do have to use a lot more then a conventional fertilizer, but that's my organic preference/ option I chose. Anyways, I started a bucket of chicken poop tea today! These Bunnies poop a ton! I will have no shortage of that either.

 

[wyoDreamer]

The nice thing about bunnies is that their poop can be used directly on the garden without composting first. In my opinion, it is the best fertilizer out there.

 

[lazy gardener]

Did the book say to just use bone meal, or to use bone meal and something else?