Does anyone use chicken feed as an organic fertilizer?
It is small enough to go through a spreader. The 20% protein versions have 3-4% nitrogen and there are versions that do not contain medicines. It is also half the price per nitrogen unit than typical "Organic" fertilizers.
A typical 28% protein (4-5% N) feed:
Crude Protein (Min) — 28%
Lysine (Min) — 1.60%
Methionine (Min) — .55%
Crude Fat (Min) — 2.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) — 5.0%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) — .90%
Calcium (Ca) (Max) — 1.25%
Phosphorus (P) (Min) — .80%
Salt (NaCl) (Min) — .20%
Salt (NaCl) (Max) — .50%
Sodium (Na) (Min) — .20%
Sodium (Na) (Max) — .50%


Ingredients: Plant protein products, grain products, processed grain byproducts, animal protein products (fishmeal), calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, molasses products, salt choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, niacin, biotin, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, ferrous carbonate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, zinc sulfate, copper oxide, cobalt carbonate, ethylenediamine dihydriodide.

i just can say that this is totally new for me, so thanks...
cheers,
sally.

I'm curious why you're asking about it. Do you just happen to have some, or can you get some on the cheap?

I didn't research any of the ingredients, but my knee-jerk reaction to it is -- for my yard and garden -- to steer clear of it. There are other products, all with recognizable and pronounceable ingredients, that can be applied with a spreader.

You can apply dry molasses, feed grade molasses (which is corn coated with dried liquid molasses), alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, worm castings, corn gluten meal, and more. One note about corn gluten meal: I found it drifted less when I applied it by spreader along with my rock powders. (More on rock powders in the linked article below).

I'm guessing you're familiar with organics since you're on this forum, but maybe you haven't had opportunity to check out the Natural Organic Library (http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/faq/). Lots of good info in the Library, including acceptable fertilizers for a 100% organic program.

Check out this article on fertilizing: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garde ... ion/id/71/

There are several other articles under "Organic Fertilizer".

Happy Gardening!

Chicken feed is perfect as an organic fertilizer. The only hesitation I would have would be if it had a lot of preservatives in it. It does have some, but I would go ahead and use it if the price was better than Purina rabbit chow.

One of the major complaints on organic fertilizer is cost.
Looking for alternatives to the synthetic options, I am using chicken feed that contains a high percent of protein. Protein is typically 5-6% nitrogen so my 24% protein feed contains 4.2% nitrogen.
Costing out the price per lb of nitrogen:
Synthetic 16-16-16 at $12/50lb bag is $1.50/lb nitrogen
Corn Gluten 9-0-0 at $26/40lb is $7.22/lb
Natures Guide Fall 3-0-5 at $14/40lb is $15.55/lb
Rabbit Feed 16% protein at $16/50lb is $9.33/lb
Chicken Feed 24% protein at $17/50lb is $8.50/lb

The advantage of chicken feed is it is crumbles and goes through a spreader easier.
As Howard states too much nitrogen is used by Neil and the Syn's so I apply at the same spreader setting as the old synthetic recommendations for 15-5-10. The theoretical quantity of nitrogen applied is then 4 times less.

It certainly doesn't seem to be a balanced fertilizer though and there's a lot of sodium which the soil doesn't need.

Hi Sandi,
You are kidding aren't you??

Did you review closely the major ingredients?
96% of the ingredients are:
Plant protein products, grain products, processed grain byproducts, animal protein products (fishmeal)
You can not get more organic or balanced than that!
Salt? lost in the first rain.

January 28, 2012
Now's the time to apply organic fertilizer everywhere.
I plan to apply 20 lbs of chicken feed and 20 lbs of corn gluten meal per 1000 sq ft on everything this week.

Bob, you do understand that all protein is not the same, and they do not break down at the same rate, or even at all under certain circumstances. I know this from dealing with animals with digestive difficulties. I am sure it also translates to soils, too.
I think that is what Sandi meant.
I will stick with corn gluten and molasses. It has the added benefit of giving my dogs something to do, licking it all up until I yell at them and make them come in. "But, Mom. The yard is full of treats!" ^-^

Bob, as Howard says, "You're in charge of that research." Keep notes, take photos. And you might set aside a control area just to see how it compares.

Hi Cookie,
Breaking down at different rates may be a good thing for the protein, slow feeding!
Speaking of feeding the dogs, I learned I cannot use bone meal under my plants or my Golden will dig them up. I lost half my pansies this fall!

Hi Northwesterner,
Unfortunately, I have used the chicken feed on my whole yard and garden since last summer. No "control" area available unless you compare my yard to the rest of the neighborhood. I have the greenest yard on the block now.
Arguably some may say it is full of grassy weeds but I feel anything green is good. No weedkiller on my yard since we purchased it 2 years ago.
I must confess I have replaced the corn gluten with molasses because I bought a big bag with about 20 lbs remaining at a garage sale for $2.
Can I load photos on this site? I see file addition option below. Does this include photos?

Not all of the forum pages are quite the same, but if you can see a place for loading photos (upload attachment), you can do it. Keep in mind a full-sized photo is going to be a monster on the page, so if you have software to reduce it to about 800 - 1000px wide you'll spare your page readers from needing to scroll sideways.

As an example I've uploaded a cardinal photo from last winter that I just saved to a small size for posting here.

You can also save photos to someplace like flickr or photobucket or picasa and link to it. Use the Img link at the top of the page and you can post a link for people to follow.

Here is the yard fed with chicken feed for 12 months.