Chicken manure

In past years we have had to buy in manure for the allotment. Well, that problem and expense is now behind us. Our hens and ducks produce plenty of fresh manure on a daily basis for us. It is mixed with wood shavings (and sometimes shredded paper) which we use as bedding in the hen and duck houses. The ducks pee an awful lot more than the hens with the result that the bedding is rich in ammonia. It all makes for a good, slow release manure.

We learnt by trial and error last year however that creating an open top compost bin in which to store the muck from the hen and duck houses is not so good an idea if the hens can get into it. They end up kicking it out onto the ground and then spreading it around again. The bottom corner of our allotment was therefore in need of a clean up. I spent this morning digging up the manure the hens had kicked onto the ground and took it over to one of the main beds where I left it in piles. The hens then kindly spread it across the bed for us.

Yesterday we built a new compost bin using wood salvaged from some pallets. The bin now sits on the path outside the allotment so the hens can't get to it. We will fill it gradually and any other allotment holder on our site can help themselves to the contents.