# Chicken manure



## BCFENCE

How good is chicken manure on pasture and alfalfa feilds, I may have a good source for it and im thinking about using it, Thanks for any advice.
THOMAS


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Thomas, We used some in Va. back 10 years ago on both pasture and hay fields. It has a lot of nitrogen in it and will really make your hay jump. Our only side effect were weeds. Not sure of any other side effects other than that. People used to give it away but now they are selling it. You could smear some on a rock around here and make grass grow!


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## MikeRF

Is it layer or broiler manure you have access to?
We have a layer barn and can consistently average 5 ton/acre hay crops with no commercial fertilizer. Downsides are 
a) with its paste like consistency it is very difficult to spread even and thin enough to achieve approx 3 ton to the acre (too much will burn even an established crop).







we have found too much nitrogen from manure can make alfalpha stems slower to dry down.
c) it is believed that poultry carcasses have been the cause of botulism cases in horses. We make sure to keep all carcasses out of the manure pile but if you are buying in, that potentially would be a concern.


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## BCFENCE

You know i dont have a clue, I imagine from what ive been told it would be better for my crop ground and cow pasture.

THANKS THOMAS


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## UpNorth

I would apply it as soon as you could after you get the hay off. A lot of dairymen will go on alfalfa with liquid slurry right behind the harvesters to avoid potential wheel traffic damage and reduce the burn potential.

I wonder if you could mix the litter with some water to help the application. That could get expensive to haul water, but application probably would be easier.


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## swmnhay

I would think it would be good chit









I don't have any expierence with it but I know it is a lot richer than cattle/hog manure.I would think with the N in it it would work great on pasture.On the alfalfa ground it would be nice to have a grass in it to suck up the N.I would prefer to spread it in fall there would be less chance of burning and it would break down and soak in so there would be less chance of getting any chunks in the hay.Maybe compost/stockpile it and spread in the fall.Probably should test it so you don't burn the ground.


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## haytimer

i agree with swmnhay, around here there is a lot spread on crop ground and it is full of feathers,i would think the feathers would be an issue in hayground...


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## OneManShow

Wet chicken manure does make the grass jump. It is exceptionally hard to get it spread evenly (even with the chicken farmer's manure truck) so we had areas with 5" of chicken manure and no grass. It takes awhile for the dead spots to grow back. We also had to pick-up quite a few carcasses, and feathers were a problem, and the smell persisted longer than I appreciated-too bad our house was down wind from the fields. Have since moved-no close (cheap) chicken manure and don't miss it.

Thinking about dairy effuluent. We have access, but right now we can only get it spread by tanker truck-and ground is much too soft in the spring to run a semi across my nice smooth (well some are) fields. Maybe we'll figure something else out.


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## RCF

Since we are close to Pilgrims Pride and have a fair number of chicken houses in the area it is used quite often around here just not so much by us. We put some on one of our newly sprigged field right after planting and it seemed to help out. The litter that we spread was dry and it spread pretty evenly but it did have some feathers in it. test every batch it always seems to be different and not all the nitrogen is immediately available its 1/2 of it the first six months then 1/2 of the half and so on. Also horse people don't like hay fertilized with it.


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## BCFENCE

RCF said:


> Since we are close to Pilgrims Pride and have a fair number of chicken houses in the area it is used quite often around here just not so much by us. We put some on one of our newly sprigged field right after planting and it seemed to help out. The litter that we spread was dry and it spread pretty evenly but it did have some feathers in it. test every batch it always seems to be different and not all the nitrogen is immediately available its 1/2 of it the first six months then 1/2 of the half and so on. Also horse people don't like hay fertilized with it.


What did some of your tests show if you dont mind telling.
Thanks THOMAS


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## Production Acres

Litter is a very good product. you get a lot of benefits from the litter that you don't get from fertilizer - ie organic matter, micronutrients, slow release fertilizer, etc.

problems with litter, 
1. lots of freight.
2. stinks
3. you must not use a wheel rake on your hay or let the tedder get in the dirt. you will flip the manure up into the hay and it will stink and you will have lots of animal rejection on nice looking hay.

litter is about 50-50-50 per ton of product


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## ont hay producer

The field that got dosed with chicken manure/ wood chip the previous fall produced over twice that of a field that got nothing from 2nd cut the following year. There was more alfalfa growth and a boost in the grasses that caused the yield. Very pretty in a big square that was sold for 6.5 cents a pound picked up to a dairy fellow.


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## enos

Broiler manure will definitly give grass a jump. We used it for years till the chicken factory shut down. Grass grows fast to get away from the stink. Turns your fields a nice shade of radioactive green. Hard to dry crop. Stinks. Burns the grass if applied to heavy or not washed in right away. I went to using a lime spreader for putting it out at about 12 yards per acre. Spread it in the summer once, had search and rescue out looking for the body that must be rotting in the July sun to smell that bad. Sometimes baling is tricky, my tractors don't have a creeper tranny First time using it I took over 200, 60 lbs bales per acre off. Bales almost touched in the field. PITA picking with the bale wagon. Did I mention the stink, pretty bad, Been around $hit of different types all my life, only time I ever puked loading, or was that because of the party the night before?
Oh yes, good way to get bad neighbors to move.
Smells a bit
Enos


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## BCFENCE

Beging to think i live to close to people to use it, LOL.
THOMAS


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## OhioHay

We have used litter(broiler, layer, and turkey) for the last 3 years on timothy and orchard grass hays. Overall I like the product. We try to spread before a rain to kill the smell for neighbors and to save from losing nitrogen in the air. One interesting thing that happened in 08, we spread after first cutting. The second cutting tested really high in phosphorus. Actually too high. The phosphorus/calcium ratio was greatly out of wack and some sheep customers complained about trying to balace rations. Now we only appy in the fall or preferable early spring. We use commercial nitrogen after 1st cutting then. The litter handles all our P and K needs for the year.


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## vhaby

I really enjoyed reading all the comments made on this topic so far, and yes the odor of freshly applied broiler litter is horrible. Once I visited a friend's place to try my luck fly fishing for perch, etc. On exiting the car, I had to ask what died on the place. Oh! I had broiler litter applied to my grass a couple of days ago, he responded. The only animal manure that may be worse smelling, in my opinion, would be hog manure that passed through slatted floors and was caught in containment areas beneath.

Here is a table that shows the average nutrient contents of broiler litter (BL) and the range of values for these major plant nutrients that samples of broiler litter were found to contain.

*Nutrient content of broiler litter*
*Nutrient, Average, and Range*
------------lb/ton-----------
Nitrogen (N), 62, 34- 96
Phosphate (P2O5), 59, 22-142
Potash (K2O), 40, 13- 99
Calcium (Ca), 35, 13- 98
Magnesium (Mg), 8, 3- 34
Sulfur (S), 6, 0.2- 13

From the ranges shown, broiler litter varies tremendously in all nutrients. If you want to know what amounts of nutrients are applied, it is necessary to collect a representative sample of the batch of BL hauled to your place before it is spread in the field.

In broiler litter, phosphorus is nearly as high as is the N content. If broiler litter is applied at rates sufficient to satisfy the total N needs of grass forages, the soil phosphorus level will increase. In the past, broiler producers used to apply all their produced litter on their own few acres, and the soil phosphorus level went extremely high. When fertilizing with broiler litter, it is best to apply rates that will satisfy the phosphorus needs of the forage, and then supplement the grass with N and potassium, if economically priced, to obtain the recommended levels of these nutrients.

Excess phosphorus in runoff from fields can contribute to eutrophication in water and cause fish kills. Eutrophication is a process whereby water bodies, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow-moving streams receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth (algae, periphyton attached algae, and nuisance plants weeds). This enhanced plant growth, often called an algal bloom, reduces dissolved oxygen in the water when dead plant material decomposes and can cause other organisms to die.

Advantages of broiler litter:
Contains other nutrients in addition to N, P, and K
Slow release of nitrogen
Contains calcium compounds that maintain soil pH
Organic matter increases water and nutrient holding capacity of soil

Disadvantages of broiler litter:
Variable nutrient content within and between batches
P level exceeds forage needs
Odor (temporarily makes unpleasant neighbors)
Not always available when needed or desired


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## BCFENCE

Thanks, Thats some pretty good information.
THOMAS


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