There are many upsides to having chickens, like fresh, free range eggs and always having plenty of them in stock, but chicken manure never crossed my mind as an upside. I saw it more as a burden, having to clean out the coop and dispose of the manure. Really, what am I going do with all this crap? Literally. At the time, we didn’t have an actual compost pile. I was mostly just dumping the extra bedding, straw, and manure into a large pile in the back of my property, along with the leaves and brush from fall clean ups and kitchen scraps here and there. How foolish. I’m not sure how I could forget that at the garden center where I work, we sell bags of the stuff, and it’s not that cheap either, considering it’s excrement. If scent is the strongest sense linked to memory, I should have remembered the stuff I was throwing into the back of my property had the potential to turn into Brown Gold.
I first ran into the term Brown Gold reading a gardening book called Crockett’s Victory Garden.
It is a great read that follows the garden through all 12 months with tips on what to plant when, monthly to-do items, etc… He waxes poetic about compost for several pages, even calling his compost bin The Brown Gold Cadillac. Not sure what else he was growing in his garden, but he seemed like an interesting fellow. Anyway, while fresh or “hot” chicken manure is too high in nitrogen and would burn your plants if applied directly, it can easily be composted and turned into this legendary brown gold. From Crockett himself, “Compost as far as I’m concerned, is the gardener’s best friend. It enriches the soil as it lightens it, and at the same time increases the soil’s ability to hold moisture…It contains not only the major elements for healthy plant growth, but many of the vital trace elements as well.” While he isn’t speaking directly about composted chicken manure, adding this nitrogen rich material can only enhance your compost’s richness.
There are a ton of compost bins on the market. Really you don’t need to buy a bin if you can operate a hammer & a hand saw. One can easily be built using wood, metal fencing and some nails. Once set up, all you need to do is follow some simple rules to aid breakdown.
1. The decaying process needs air. The open sides of the bins will allow plenty of air flow, and frequent turning of the bins is also a good practice.
2. It also needs water. Crockett suggest creating a concave center so as rainfall falls into the compost pile rather than running off. If it gets really hot in the summer with out any rain, go ahead and water your compost.
3. Don’t add meat or dairy products to the pile. Not only do they not decompose quickly, but they will attract animals. Also, adding soil and lime every once in a while will help keep the smell down and keep your neighbors happy.
4. Finally, the compost usually takes about 2-3 months to fully breakdown and become usable in the garden. When it is ready it will be a dark brown in color, crumbly, and have a sweet, familiar soil smell.
So, if fresh, free range eggs weren’t enough of an incentive to getting suburban chickens, maybe the thought of turning mounds of fresh chicken manure into the legendary brown gold will be the thing that pushes you over the top. You will be amazed at what it can do for your harvest in the garden.
