Using duck poop in garden beds

[AAcres]

Does anyone here use their duck poop in their gardens?
Curious if people just put it in right from the ground/coop or compost it first?

 

[Pollo Blanco]

I compost the chips, but I use the effluent from the wading pool directly. The effluent grows algae in the water within days, so to me that is an indication that the nitrogen is available for plants.

 

[KaleIAm]

I do both.

I compost about 3/4 a bale of straw a week along with kitchen scraps. After a year we have plenty of rich black compost that we till into our garden soil.

I also mulch around my plants with used poopy straw. And my ducks play in the garden, fertilizing at will.

There are probably problems with not composting. One is burning the plants. I haven't experienced this. The other is getting pathogens on the food. My ducks have tested negative for salmonella, but they could contract it from wild birds at anytime. There are other zoonotic diseases, plus the looming threat of avian influenza. Personally I've decided not to care and I sit among the duck poop eating unwashed tomatoes with my filthy hands. This is not the safest practice and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

There may be other risks I am unaware of.

 

[DukesDucks]

I put the used shaving along the rows between plants. Helps keep the weeds down. I scoop up the pool water and use it to water plants in outdoor pots and hangers.

 

[KaleIAm]

I put the used shaving along the rows between plants. Helps keep the weeds down. I scoop up the pool water and use it to water plants in outdoor pots and hangers.

Have you ever had burned plants?

 

[DukesDucks]

No my plants have never burned but you have to remember that this is all the water from a kiddy pool that has been used by 10 ducks all day so it is pretty diluted. Geraniums never looked so good.

 

[3bird]

Have you ever had burned plants?

You shouldn't run into burning issues with duck manure because it is not "hot" like chicken manure. We still compost most of ours because we use the deep litter method and only really clean out once or twice a year.

 

[3bird]

We bring the ducks into the garden for both fall and spring clean-up. They love it, and the raised beds love it too!

In terms of their bedding, we compost that with kitchen scraps.

 

[KaleIAm]

You shouldn't run into burning issues with duck manure because it is not "hot" like chicken manure. We still compost most of ours because we use the deep litter method and only really clean out once or twice a year.

Oh thanks! I was wondering why I've never experienced burned plants, despite my ducks "helping," in the garden daily in the spring/summer.

 

[Ratchnick]

I think best practice for raw manure is to put manure on your garden in the fall and let the beds sit all winter to let the natural soil bacterium overcome that which is in the manure. Composting of course does this much faster but is also more work.