"Homegrown" Fertilizer

We've been working to get the Spring garden work done and get seeds and transplants in the ground. One of the things that we begin to think about is fertility of the soil.  We are always trying to better the soil and feed it liberally with compost. We also use hay/leaves to mulch around the plants to suppress weed growth. Those hay and leaves, over the course of the growing season, decompose and provide prime conditions for earthworms!

Those earthworms thrive in the rich, moist organic matter.  They aerate the soil with their tunneling and their castings (poop) provide fertilizer for our growing plants.  Speaking of fertilizer, we have a whole flock of birds that daily make it for us.  Our chicken tractors out on the pasture provide places where many of the chickens sleep at night.  Consequently, they poop, fertilizing the grass beneath them.  Each day I push the tractors one length and over the course of time, a big portion of the pasture is fertilized, producing green grass that the milk cows enjoy.

We also have a hen house where many of the hens roost on roosting bars.  In the hen house, the poop accumulates and composts.  It will pile up 6 inches deep.  It doesn't smell nice.  Below you can see the piles of chicken litter underneath the roosting bars.  On the bottom right you can see a hen with some missing feathers. She's molting right now and not looking too pretty, but she'll look great once her new feathers come in.

Homegrown Fertilizer

A couple of times a year I'll pull a wagon into the hen house with a big blue tub and shovel all of the composted chicken manure into the tubs and I'll pull it into the garden area.

Bucket 'o Poop

Now this stuff is 'hot' so I don't add a lot to the soil, because it will burn your plants, but I'll take shovelfuls and spread it over the tops of the rows in which I'll be planting and work it in real nice.   

Chicken manure worked into the soil does several things: It gives NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus & Potassium) that will give your plants a boost.  It gives organic matter that improves your soil quality, It also increases the water carrying capacity of your soil, which is beneficial in hot, dry areas.  In researching, I learned that a single chicken can produce 2 cubic feet of composted chicken manure in a year!  Wow, that's a lot of poop.

To me, a chicken, pound for pound is a great addition to any homestead.  They give you eggs, meat and manure.  Homegrown fertilizer made by your chickens is also beneficial in that it doesn't cost a dime!