How to Ferment Chicken Manure into Organic Fertilizer and Other Uses Explained

Chicken manure is a relatively high-quality organic fertilizer, and the various trace elements it contains can meet the nutritional needs of plants during growth. So how is chicken manure fermented into organic fertilizer? Are there any other uses for chicken manure?

1. How to ferment chicken manure into organic fertilizer

Choose a well-ventilated place on high ground, preferably more than 500 m downwind from residential areas and chicken coops. Pile up the cleaned chicken manure with bedding material, then put the chicken manure into a manure pit to soak and compost, or cover the surface with soil for heap composting. Generally, under high-temperature weather it takes about 10 days, and under low-temperature conditions about 2 months, for fermentation to be completed.

Because chicken manure generates high temperatures during fermentation, it easily causes nitrogen loss. Therefore, before fermentation, add an appropriate amount of water and 5% superphosphate, and the fertilizer effect will be better. After chicken manure is fully decomposed, it becomes a high-quality base fertilizer for crops, or in fruit tree planting it is often applied in winter as a base fertilizer used throughout the year.

2. What other uses does chicken manure have

1. As feed

Method 1: Fresh pure chicken manure can be used as feed after ensiling, to feed cattle, sheep, and some can also be used to feed pigs. Mix fresh pure chicken manure with chopped forage grass, fruit and vegetable waste, or potato, sweet potato vines, grains, etc., and then ensile. Among these, ensiling with non-legume forage grass is best. During ensiling, keep the moisture content at 40%-75%, add corn and other grains, and add an appropriate amount of ammonium hydroxide to improve the digestibility and palatability of the forage and chicken manure silage. After air-drying fresh chicken manure, ensile it with fresh corn at a ratio of 30%, then feed it to beef cattle. It can almost rival soybean cake and corn silage, and its crude protein content is relatively high.

Method 2: Spread fresh chicken manure inside a plastic greenhouse to dry, with a manure layer thickness of less than 15 cm, stir it with a spike-tooth rake, and at the same time blow air with a high-speed blower. After the chicken manure is dried, crush and process it into pellet feed, which can be used to feed cattle, sheep, and poultry, generally with an addition amount of no more than 20%.

Method 3: Fresh pure chicken manure can be directly used to feed pigs and fish. When feeding, add it according to the different effective components contained in different chicken manure. For example, young chicken manure contains relatively high crude protein and can be used as concentrated feed, while laying hen manure contains more ash, so attention should be paid when adding it. When feeding pigs, directly add fresh pure chicken manure at a ratio of 15% of the daily feed grain. On average, 1 pig can consume the manure of about 8-10 adult chickens. When feeding fish, add it directly into the fish pond.

2. As biogas

Chicken manure is one of the raw materials for biogas fermentation. In particular, chicken manure with water can be used to produce biogas. Build a small or medium-sized fermentation pit, and after 10-20 days of fermentation, biogas can be produced. Biogas can be used for daily heating, and the biogas residue can be used as fish bait or fertilizer.

The chicken intestine is short, and the feed eaten is not fully digested and utilized. A large amount of nutrients is excreted with the feces, so chicken manure contains very many nutritional elements, and its uses are also more extensive. Farmers can make use of this raw material according to their own farming conditions to increase income.