Chickens are usually found on almost every homestead, sometimes even in the city. We all know about raising chickens for fresh daily eggs, however there are many other benefits that arise too. For example, in earlier posts on this blog I talked about the deep litter method and also how to compost chicken manure in 18 days. In line with the later, why don’t we take a look at how to make chicken manure tea for your seedlings.

What exactly is chicken manure tea? Well as you probably guessed from the name, it is liquid fertilizer that is made from using chicken manure. The tea itself has a high nitrogen content, as a result of using the chicken manure to make it. It is important however to note that, only aged manure that has been left to sit for at least 6 months, can be used when brewing this tea. This reduces the risk of burning your plants or their roots, as well as helps eliminate most of the harmful pathogens.

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Here’s What You’ll Need:

aged chicken manure
water
burlap sack or old t-shirt
brick or heavy stone
5 gallon plastic bucket with lid
long wooden stick or paddle
gloves (optional)

I love that the actual production process is pretty straight forward. A lot of patience is required though, first the 6 to 12 months to age your manure and then the 7 days or so actually brewing the tea. During the brewing process, although the tea is basically left to sit, you are still required to give it a good stir every day. It’s very easy to forget to do this, so what I tend to do is place the bucket somewhere that I can see it daily.

Why use chicken manure tea for your seedlings? This is the best natural alternative to using liquid fertilizer, to give your seedlings that extra boost after they have used up their initial seed nutrient allocation. The best plants to use it on are tomatoes, asparagus as well as watermelons. Also known as the heavy feeders. It is not recommended that you use it on your root vegetables such as carrots or even your greens which includes kale, lettuce and spinach.

You can get the full recipe & instructions on the Cape Coop blog, here….