Chicken muck.

[DIDO.1 20,804]

I'm trying my best to bring a dead allotment back to life so I'm trying to bring in as much manure and organic material as possible. It's currently like growing on a building site. 

I can borrow a loader and get a good bucket full of chicken muck. It's been stood a month since the cabins were emptied. If I add it now will it be to fresh for planting in spring? I'm mainly thinking of putting it in to long trenches for beans. The previous occupant had ducks and dumped gravel in the mud.....so now it's muddy gravel down 2'!! I was thinking of digging a trench and filling with this hen muck and riddling the soil back into the trench. Will it work or shall I just forget that area this year? I'm going to add layers of the rest of the muck to my compost heap once it's built. 

[jok 3,035]

If I may chuck in my twopence worth, I've had chickens for quite a few years and am adding muck onto my compost heap on a regular basis. However, any bird muck is termed as hot and needs a goodly length of time to cool down before it goes into the garden. Also bear in mind, if your are bothered, farmed chickens,ducks, geese and racing pigeons do have regular injections so you may not want to introduce these to your garden. A great help I've had for soil conditioning are spent Brewers hops. If youv'e a local mini brewer he/ she might be very willing to let you have them just to clear them away. These are also kept composting for about a year. Just my thoughts. Jok.

[Arry 18,510]

If it were me I would spread it and dig it in, chicken muck can be a bit strong, it will be great to revive an area. For a bean trench I would try and source some well rotted horse muck.

Cheers Arry

[micky 3,325]

Our neighbour  back in the 50s swore by Poultry shit and Soot, he said poultry shit should stand two years and Soot for Seven.

 

[DIDO.1 20,804]

I do the pest control at a number of breweries so I can get brewers grain no problem. 

I can get any type of muck I like......cow, horse or poultry.....and a tractor /loader to fetch it with. I'm building two big compost Heaps so the future looks rosy..... 

......but what I need is stuff I can add now that will be fit for planting come spring? All my muck will be fresh ish. 

I can get some of last years cow muck but it's been in a concrete muck store so it's not had much worm activity. It's not bad stuff though.......shall I use this as a basis to my soil this winter as opposed to the chicken muck or will the chicken muck be OK if used sparingly and well dug in? 

Edited December 6, 2017 by DIDO.1

[jok 3,035]

Micky. I used to use soot and admit it was bagged for a hell of a long time, so much so that the bags dropped apart.  In Dido's position I feel that he would be doing the best for the ground by somehow double digging and introducing well rotted cow manure even if it has been concrete housed. I do feel that it would be detrimental at this early stage to use 'hot' muck.on a plus note, would it not be a good idea to set up some raised beds whilst the worst of the ground was being prepared, maybe for next year. Jok.

[DIDO.1 20,804]

1 hour ago, jok said:

Micky. I used to use soot and admit it was bagged for a hell of a long time, so much so that the bags dropped apart.  In Dido's position I feel that he would be doing the best for the ground by somehow double digging and introducing well rotted cow manure even if it has been concrete housed. I do feel that it would be detrimental at this early stage to use 'hot' muck.on a plus note, would it not be a good idea to set up some raised beds whilst the worst of the ground was being prepared, maybe for next year. Jok.

Yeah iv got plenty of raised beds......they just take a lot of filling!!! I can get those big ton builders bags full of nice loam soil off the Lancashire Plain, 4 for £200. Delivered. So iv got that coming. Just a third of our plot is un digg able and I want to work towards getting that usable as well rather than more raised beds. 

I'll use some more of that cow muck then and put a load of brewers grain and chicken muck in big compost heaps

[jok 3,035]

Dido. Sounds like a good plan. You'll be planting before long mate. Jok.

[DIDO.1 20,804]

Winter onions and garlic doing well ?