Cow and chicken muck mix

[JMTHORNLEY]

Anyone done this successfully? I have the option of more chicken muck this year and was thinking about mixing it in with my scrapings. Then once the first dressing pre-silage has gone on have some more and mix that in with the shed muck when I clean out for spreading in the autumn

Was going to pile it next to the cow muck and mix it in bucket by bucket? Am I losing it or would this work well?

 

[TripleSix]

Onto grassland?

How worried are you about botulism?

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

I don't think it's a real concern. It's a layers unit and all comes out on a conveyor each morning, it is something I have thought about though

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Rocket Fuel .isn't it about 30% N

 

[johnspeehs]

Layers will be grand , should be no carcasses in it = no botulism, that’s assuming they are decent operators who don’t throw the dead hens into the muck.
A guy here lost 150 + dairy cows recently, the source of the botulism was a crow that went through the harvester.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Most of my American friends LOVE their chicken litter and cowshit mix.
Over there it's apparently quite available and cheap, as said it would pay to know your supplier but sounds like you've got that sussed out.

Probably better to smack the grassland with both at the same time, as the N will eat your C otherwise, and who wants that?
Good way to get your fertility up

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

That's settled it then, I'll be having a few loads over the winter and mixing in as I go. It's an outdoor midden I'm a tad worried it'll turn to slop though?

 

[Boysground]

When we had a breeder unit here we often mixed fym and chicken muck. It does dilute the chicken a bit so less chance of wheat falling over.

Bg

 

[aled1590]

Used to do it on grassland in may for 1st cut silage end of June until next door stopped keeping broilers. Rocket fuel and no problems. Used a west dual spreader so chopped it well

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

Used to do it on grassland in may for 1st cut silage end of June until next door stopped keeping broilers. Rocket fuel and no problems. Used a west dual spreader so chopped it well

Will be going through a Shelborne so should get same result. What application rates do people work on?

 

[pine_guy]

Will be going through a Shelborne so should get same result. What application rates do people work on?

4t/a will burn it off. Well the layer on slats muck I use on grazing ground does.

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

4t/a will burn it off. Well the layer on slats muck I use on grazing ground does.

Going onto a hungry new reseed from @Great In Grass so will try and get 1.5/2T P/A?

 

[neilo]

Someone local does it, tipping his chicken (layer) muck in the slurry pit and mixing it in, before tankering out. Grows some grass, but blaming it for near wiping out his clover. Maybe putting too much on though?

 

[Coximus]

good stuff but go easy on it - i was offered some Free and at the ratethe guy wanted rid of it i would of been applying 4x the N rate for the NVZ im in.........

put it on your poorest ground, it really gets the grass flying in spring, Pity I cant have more but I dont have equipt to incorporate it so disease risk and burn risk too high for me. Can really fix up poor pasture though.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

That's settled it then, I'll be having a few loads over the winter and mixing in as I go. It's an outdoor midden I'm a tad worried it'll turn to slop though?

Have you got some old silage sheet, I put a rain roof over mine in the winter, just a holey old sheet with a double row of tyres along the edges.

 

[DrDunc]

I use this for spreading hen muck. I found West and shelbourne side flingers left it too uneven, thick beside the rotor and barely there are the extremity. Meant the grass got stripped and burnt badly.

Rear discharge with floor chainscwere fine in fresh stuff, but if it has sat and become gloopy they leaked it everywhere. The Marshall beaters also have big paddles at the bottom which throw the stuff out. The Bunning and Ktwo I hired always left as strip of stuff that ran out the back not spread. The Marshall only does that if you open the slurry door too high when the hen muck is near liquid.



I used to try and mix hen muck with cow dung to thin it out so the grass didn't get scorched. It needed a good bit of shoveling with the loader bucket to get it mixed well, and worked best with well rotted "cheesy" cow dung.

I don't see any advantage of mixing with cow dung any more. It's a lot of work to compensate for not having the right machine to spread it.

I've found it's far simpler to just put straight hen pen on at a lower rate. The Marshall spreader makes this job simple. I put about 2t to the acre in spring, though if ground is needing p and k, it'll get about 3t to the acre now.

One thing I've found with hen pen that isn't often discussed is it's effect upon pH. I have fields where I must use cow dung for fertiliser now as the pH is getting to high following years of using hen muck on it.

You will kill out clover if you're too heavy handed with the application in the spring. Clover doesn't like too much nitrogen, and hen muck is teeming with nitrogen.

 

[Dyffryn]

What should I be paying for laying hen muck? Per tone straight from shed.

 

[Coximus]

Depends on your are. Alot give it foc. If you need it price it on the npk

 

[pine_guy]

What should I be paying for laying hen muck? Per tone straight from shed.

I pay £5/t loaded in my spreader, layers on slats.

 

[Princess Pooper]

If this is going on grassland, for goodness sake keep an eye on your potash levels. (A legal requirement to soil test regularly before applying manures now anyway).