Poultry manure

The second component for synthetic (on straw basis) compost preparation is poultry manure. Broiler’s manure is used generally; contained on a bedding of sawdust, seed peelings and straw cut into small pieces.

Poultry manure on straw

Poultry manure on sawdust
The chicken’s excrement must be dry (humidity not higher than 40%), friable, with no clods or rubbish. This kind of manure will be easily applied, uniformly distributed and mixed with straw, and as a result, the substrate becomes more uniform and hence, more qualitative.

The optimal nitrogen content in poultry manure 3.5 — 5 %.
The minimal nitrogen content in chicken’s excrement suited for use is 2.5%.

Storage of poultry manure under a shed on a concrete platform

Storage of poultry manure in a special room
The chicken’s excrement is stored under a shed on asphalted or concrete floor.

Because of the loss of nitrogen, it’s undesirable to store fresh poultry manure for more than 1 month. Moreover, long-term stored poultry manure represents favorable conditions for the multiplication of yellow-green mold, especially when the manure’s humidity is high.

In literature, it is mentioned that there’s a possibility of using layer hens’ manure of cellular content. Despite the fact that the composition of this manure is similar to the composition of broiler’s manure, no one works with it in practice. The reason for this is that the watery manure of layer hens is hard to uniformly apply to and mix with the straw to obtain a uniform mass of substrate. «Greasy» areas appear in the compost, they are a constant source of ammonia, which adversely affects the crop.

Poultry manure with cellular content

Poultry manure with cellular content
Layer hens’ manure can be dissolved in water and used along with recycled water, but this technology requires additional work.