Chicken Manure on the Lawn (Smart or Stupid?)

If done following the proper procedures, applying chicken manure to your lawn can improve its color and overall health. However, applying any type of manure in the wrong way can leave your lawn dry, dead, or lead to stunted growth. Given the risk, is it worth using chicken manure as lawn fertilizer and, if so, how do you use it correctly?

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Is Chicken Manure Good for Grass? (The Short Answer)

Chicken manure can be an excellent, inexpensive fertilizer, but it needs to be properly composted before application. Composted or “finished” chicken manure is high in nitrogen and phosphorus – both necessary nutrients for your lawn. However, unfinished chicken manure can create high levels of ammonia when exposed to heat and moisture leading to a hot, burnt lawn.

The Impacts Chicken Manure Can Have on a Lawn

As mentioned in the short answer above, chicken manure, when properly composted, can be a welcome amendment to your soil. If handled improperly, however, chicken manure can kill your lawn. Below are the effects chicken manure can have, both good and bad, and the situations that lead to those outcomes.

Chicken Manure Application Can Lead to Greener, Faster-Growing Grass

Chicken manure is a great source of nitrogen and phosphorus. It can also supply some of the potassium your lawn needs. While your lawn will grow fine for quite a while without the addition of fertilizers and compost, as long as you don’t rake and collect your leaves and lawn clippings, giving your lawn a nutrient boost once or twice a year can help it grow faster, greener, and recover from damage more quickly.

Further, long-lasting and slow-to-decompose fertilizers like composted chicken manure or any other type of composted manure and plant matter can encourage better root growth and improve the overall health of your soil.

Chicken Manure Can Lead to a Greener Autumn and Winter Lawn

In addition to improving the color and health of your lawn in the warm growing seasons, the application of fresher chicken manure can result in a lawn that stays greener in the cold seasons. The trick here is to only use chicken or horse manure added to brown or “cool” matter (like fallen leaves) and ground fine in a ratio of no more than 1 part manure to 1 part brown or “cool” matter.

This is then applied to your lawn in a fine, even layer after your lawn has gone dormant for the season. The cool weather means that your lawn won’t overheat as the chicken manure breaks down, and your lawn will be fed all winter and well into the spring.

Fresh Chicken Manure Applied Directly in Summer Can Lead to a Burnt Lawn

As mentioned above, you only want to apply fresh chicken manure to your lawn if it has gone dormant. If you are applying in spring, summer, or any part of the warm growing season, then you want to apply “finished” (aka well-composted) chicken manure.

Fresh chicken manure, when combined with the long, warm, sunny days of summer can cause your lawn to overheat or struggle due to heat stress and the ammonia caused by the chicken manure breaking down quickly. While chicken manure is much safer for your lawn than manure from cows or pigs, it can still harm your lawn if applied too thickly, too often, or at the wrong time.

Chicken Manure Can Be Composted With Leaves and Lawn Clippings

Chicken manure, like horse manure, breaks down enough to safely use any time of the year within just 5 to 6 weeks. Not only that, but you can combine chicken manure with leaves and lawn clippings to reduce waste and create a more complete, cooler type of compost for your lawn.

Healthy Chicken Manure Compost Can Support Soil Health

If you make sure your chicken manure lawn fertilizer comes from a healthy free-range flock or any flock that has some type of grazing ability, it could help improve your soil and provide more trace nutrients than other types of more commercially-available fertilizer.

Chicken Manure Contains Fewer Weed Seeds Than Other Manure Types

Even if you choose to use manure from chickens that have grazing opportunities, you can expect fewer weeds to sprout from anywhere this manure is used. This is true even if the chicken manure was applied without being composted first.

Chickens, unlike cows, are more likely to break down seeds internally during the digestive process. With cows, pigs, and even horses the manure will contain many types of seeds that have passed through their system relatively undisturbed from the time of consumption.

How to Spread Chicken Manure on a Lawn (Step by Step)

There are three different answers to “how to spread chicken manure on a lawn.” The first involves dry, well-composted manure and the second creates a liquid slurry or “tea” from the manure that often leads to a more even application.

The final method involves using fresh or “green” chicken manure compost in the winter in places where temperatures have reached a consistent 45F or below and will remain there for several months to come. Instructions for all methods can be found below.

How to Spread Loose and Dry Chicken Manure Compost or Pelleted Chicken Manure Compost on a Lawn

Step One – Choose the Right Composted Chicken Manure – To be considered well-composted chicken manure, the chicken manure will need to have sat in a hot compost pile for a minimum of 12 weeks, though 24 weeks is preferable as this should result in the lowest possible chance of weed seeds germinating from this compost. Commercial manure or compost pellets are another option, though they may contain fewer nutrients due to the high-heat nature under which most of these products are created.
Step Two – Calculate How Much Chicken Manure You Will Need – 1 pound of composted chicken manure can be applied over 5 square feet. You can use more (up to 2x this amount) if it has been more than 6 months since you last fertilized your lawn, or if you are applying the compost just before or during winter while your lawn is dormant.
Step Three – Grind or Break Up Your Chicken Manure – Using a manure or bedding fork, gloved hands, or another tool capable of tearing and shredding up any large chunks, break up the chicken manure and bedding into pieces no larger than 2” in diameter. If you are using a commercial chicken manure flake or pellet product you will not need this step.
Step Four – Rake Your Lawn – Now that your chicken manure is prepped, you need to prep your lawn. To do that, rake your lawn with a light rake or leaf rake to loosen up the thatch layer and create more space for the chicken manure and bedding to settle into.
Step Five – Scatter The Chicken Manure By Hand Or With a Spreader – Using gloved hands or a manure spreader, evenly sprinkle the chicken manure lawn fertilizer over your lawn. If using a pelleted product, you may also be able to use a seed spreader to get good results.
Step Six – Water the Chicken Manure Compost Into Your Lawn – Once your lawn has been evenly coated with chicken manure, you should water it in. Apply 1 to 2” of water to your lawn as evenly as possible. This can be accomplished by setting your sprinklers to the lightest non-mist setting and allowing them to run for about 15

How to Create a Chicken Manure Compost Tea and Apply it to Your Lawn

Is chicken manure good for grass, even when added to a compost tea? Absolutely. Creating a compost tea with chicken manure is one of the easiest ways to add chicken manure to your lawn soon after it has been collected. I also find this to be an easier way to handle manure without worrying about sprinkling the right amount on the right places of the lawn. Below are instructions on how to make and use chicken manure compost “tea”.

Step One – Collect Your Materials – The easiest way to make compost tea is to get a large bucket or container you can use to water your lawn and make the compost tea directly in this container or several of these containers. You will then need some sort of cloth sack, such as a burlap sack or old pillowcase with holes no larger than 1/4”. Last, you will need chicken manure and water.
Step Two – Create the “Tea” – Fill the sacks with about 1 cubic foot of manure per 4 gallons of water. This ratio can change a bit, but your goal should be about 1 part manure to 2 parts water by volume. Allow the sack to soak in the water, completely submerged, for up to 3 days. After 3 days, remove the sack and you should have a pale brown liquid.
Step Three – Apply the Compost Tea to Your Lawn – Apply this liquid to your lawn as you would regular water on a deep-watering day. The goal will be to water your lawn evenly with about 1” of compost-tea water plus 1” of standard water before or after. You can repeat this process once every 3 months if you feel that your lawn needs additional fertilizer at that time.

How to Add Green Chicken Manure to Your Lawn for a Greener Autumn and Winter Lawn

Green chicken manure is also known as “raw”, “fresh”, or “unfinished” chicken manure. No matter which name you choose, it all means the same thing: this is chicken manure that has gone from the coop to your lawn with only grinding as a possible intermediary step.

Step One – Choose the Right Time of Year – Green chicken manure should only be applied to your lawn in the cold half of the year if you live in a place where your lawn will be dormant for at least 3 months. Only apply this type of chicken manure to your lawn after your lawn has gone dormant and temperatures are consistently below 45F. It is also ideal to do this type of fertilizer routine in the early morning.
Step Two – Calculate How Much Chicken Manure You Will Need – A general rule is that you should apply one pound of green chicken manure/bedding for every 5 to 10 feet of lawn, depending on how much you will be relying on the chicken manure as a fertilizer.
Step Three – Grind or Break Up Your Chicken Manure – Using a manure or bedding fork, gloved hands, or another tool capable of tearing and shredding up any large chunks, break up the chicken manure and bedding into pieces no larger than 2” in diameter.
Step Four – Rake Your Lawn – Now that your chicken manure is prepped, you need to prep your lawn. To do that, rake your lawn with a light rake or leaf rake to loosen up the thatch layer and create more space for the chicken manure and bedding to settle into.
Step Five – Scatter The Chicken Manure By Hand Or With a Spreader – Using gloved hands or a manure spreader, evenly sprinkle the chicken manure over your lawn.
Step Six – Water Your Lawn Well – Once your lawn has been evenly coated with chicken manure, you should water it in. This means applying 1 to 2” of water to your lawn as evenly as possible. This can often be accomplished by setting your sprinklers to the lightest non-mist setting and allowing them to run for up to 15 minutes.

Things to Be Careful of When Using Chicken Manure as Lawn Fertilizer

Compared to most other common types of manure, chicken manure is a safe and effective lawn fertilizer with little potential to damage your lawn. However, there are a few conditions under which chicken manure could cause some trouble. Below are the 4 major don’ts of using chicken manure to fertilize your lawn.

Don’t Cover Your Grass Completely – While you do want to add an even layer of chicken manure to your lawn, you don’t want to shade out your lawn with it. Anything less than an inch of composted chicken manure added in an even layer to your entire lawn should be fine. If you cannot see at least 80% of your lawn after scattering the manure and watering it in, you may have used too much.
Handle Chicken Manure Carefully, Even if it Has Been Processed – Never handle chicken manure with bare hands or skin. You may also want to use a respirator if handling a large amount of chicken manure, even if it has been processed. Dust and fumes from fresh and composted manure can irritate the lungs and may even lead to respiratory infections if not handled carefully. Always wear protective gear, especially if you are susceptible to these types of illnesses.
Do Not Apply Fresh Chicken Manure on a Hot, Sunny Day – The easiest mistake to make when applying chicken manure to your lawn is to spread raw, unfinished, or “green” chicken manure directly to a lawn in the middle of summer. This can lead to major lawn damage.
Carefully Choose Where You Get Your Chicken Manure – While chicken manure is unlikely to be contaminated by weed seeds or disease, improper handling during the composting period or unsanitary conditions can result in either type of contamination.

If you get your manure from a local farm or backyard coop, be mindful of any local outbreaks of disease as using the manure from an exposed bird can spread the disease to wild birds, especially if the manure has not been properly composted.

Further, if the manure was mixed with other types of compost (especially weeds or end-of-season scraps) and has not had enough time for these other components to heat up and break down, your lawn may end up infested with weeds and other volunteer plants.