Hello from SC

[Lauras mini homestead]

You're not the only one trying to grow in sand. I can think of one Texas member doing that right now. Right @baymule

Adding lots of organic matter is the way to go but it can take a while to get it to a usable soil. Hopefully you are composting that chicken manure with other things. That's powerful stuff, compost.

There are two big issues with sand. It drains really well so it can dry out pretty quickly. Mulching can help with that but you'll probably have to water a lot. And sand does not contain many nutrients the plants need, not like clay or loam. Compost and decayed organic matter help with both of those.

 

[Lauras mini homestead]

I am new,to chickens. My 4 hens are only 4 months old. I use straw in the run. I dont know how to use their poop yet for my gardens. Do ya compost straw and all?
I need to get a compost bin.

 

[Lauras mini homestead]

from East Central Illinois! We supposedly have great black soil, but I keep amending my beds from my horses and chickens. One nice thing---people will read and answer your posts here. Posts get lost at BYC bc of the numbers of members. What kind of chickens do you have? I have Easter Egger and Silver Laced Wyandotte hens and I fight daily two Dark Cornish roosters that get to go to freezer camp tomorrow.

 

[Lauras mini homestead]

I have 4 hens. They are buff orpingtons. I had ordered 4 female chicks, when they arrived in the mail, i had received 5. Turned out one was a rooster. Last week I rehomed the rooster, and it was very hard on me and just sad. Im not zoned for roosters. He started crowing, so i rehomed him. The man who took him said he had several chickens, and he wanted my rooster to breed buff Orpingtons. He was a good rooster. Tmrw is a week, and my little hens are still lost without him. The hens would always follow the rooster. Anyway.. very sad about rehoming the rooster.
I use straw in their run. I need to get a compost bin.
Do you compost straw and all? How soon can it be used in the garden?
I live in sc, and we had to do several raised beds. We had truck loads of top soil delivered. We then added peat moss and black kow to the soil. I also use blood meal and liquid fish fertilizer.
With tomatoes, i also tried epsom salt a few weeks ago. I have 25 tomatoe plants, and bout 6 plants the leaves are drying and curling up.
When i got the chickens, i got them for pets, and for eggs and to learn how to use their poop in the garden.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have fun with this one. The local Master Gardeners put this video together to show how to make compost. I especially like the ladies' dance moves.

There are different ways to make compost, it can be as simple as that video or it can get pretty intense. The basic idea is that you mix greens (nitrogen) with browns (carbon), keep it slightly moist but not wet, and it breaks down into compost. If you get the perfect ratio of greens to browns, keep it at just the right moisture, and turn it a lot you can get compost in a month or so. If you do it like I do, not worry too much about the greens/browns ratio, seldom turn it, and mostly depend on rain for moisture, it can take a few months.

One guy on this forum buries his, his area is so dry it doesn't break down otherwise. You can get one of those barrel composters, good for relatively small volumes but easy to turn. I use a bin on the ground made from excess brick I found when I moved here.

Chicken poop, fresh grass clippings, and most of your kitchen wastes are greens. Straw, dried grass clippings, and dead leaves are browns. You want more browns than greens but I don't know what the perfect ratio is. I'm a pretty casual composter. There are a few people on here more into it.

 

[lcertuche]

So funny but true!

 

[ducks4you]

I keep horses so I usually wait a year to use most piles. I looked it up--6-9 months for left alone chicken manure (with or without bedding) to be safe. Horse manure is safe after only 4 months. Till it up and smell it. Just like the sites tells you, it should smell sweet. I tilled up some stall leavings last month and DH talked about how sweet it smelled. The pile was a year old.
ALSO, it should be cool when you shovel it. If it is warm, it is still cooking.

 

[valley ranch]

Hi Laura, Glad you came by, you have chickens and everything, look forward to hearing and seeing more.

 

[baymule]

Welcome to the forum! I also have sand. Pure sand like sand dunes at the ocean. I am using wood chips and chicken poop. I make CHICKEN BUTT JUICE! I scoop some fresh poop (4-5 cups worth), put in a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water. I let it set over night and pour a quart into a 1 1/2 gallon watering can, then fill with water. Then I water the plants with it. This gives them a nitrogen boost without burning them.

Chicken compost. I toss bagged leaves in the coop (dirt floor) and let them scratch them to bits, poop on them and dig it out in 3 months, then repeat. Wonderful stuff! You can leave it in as long as you wish and just keep adding to it. I have gone as long as a year without cleaning the coop and run, got LOTS of compost! When I dug it all out, it was smelly at the bottom, I just sprinkled some lime and covered with more leaves. I let my chickens build the compost and dig out as needed. I use leaves, pine straw, pine shavings, pea vines, sweet potato vines, pea hulls, corn shucks and cobs, anything and everything. What they don't eat, they poop on and scratch to bits.