gmichael403

I have access to both aged chicken manure compost or fresh rabbit compost. Which would you reccomend? Ive read rabbit is mild and will not burn....the chicken is aged. Both are dirt cheap. One over the other...buy both and experiment? Anyone with experience with either? Im a newb..so...trying to learn. Have new young plants and want them to grow crazy this summer! Thanks.

Kat2

I'd start with rabbit; you can use it immediately. If I had access to chicken aged or not, I'd put it in my compost bin; it really is quite "hot" fresh and I hesitate to trust how someone else cooked it.

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gmichael403

Thank you...ive read a lot of positive results w rabbit manure...sounds like ill go this route to be on the safe side.

dekkard

I agree completely regarding the rabbit compost over the chicken manure. Play it safe with your bananas. Good luck.

gmichael403

Thanks..I got some rabbit manure I mixed with the soil..also to put on top of the holes I dug. I made some "bunny brew" to water...results seemed almost instant..leaves grew twice as fast and plants look overall healthier. From what ive read rabbit manure is an exceptional compost.

Mark Dragt

I think the trick with chicken manure is to not over do it. Put it on in small amounts. The bunnie berries can't be overdone. I tried. The worst thing that happened was the tip of the cigar leaf tore itself apart before it unrolled. I have chickens and rabbits. Next year when the plants start growing again I will test both. Two plants of same size, one gets rabbit, one gets chicken. We will see if I can catch some leaves on fire.

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Tytaylor77

Where I live I have an almost unlimited amount of chicken, sheep, and cow manure. The chicken manure I let it age in an uncovered pile for at least a year. The cow I collect the older stuff. I have been testing all 3 to see what seems to do best. Both the cow and sheep is also mixed with a lot of old hay. The chicken and sheep seem to make new growth faster however the chicken it is easy to over do it and causes spots on the leafs and the cigar leaf. The chicken even after a couple years of aging will still burn if you over do it. The cow is more like dirt now and is the main part of my potting mix with a lot of perlite. My favorite so far is the sheep. I have even potted a pup in pure sheep manure and it grew fine. The water running out the bottom looked like coffee each time I watered. It is pelitized like rabbit and in the past when I had rabbits it seems pretty similar. (In my head anyway, I'm no expert and not sure how the NPK compares). Just thought I would share my experience over the past few years with other plants and bananas. Chicken is great and requires less but be sure to use a little at a time.

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Horseshoe_Bayou

Rabbit poop can be used right away, no composting needed. Raising rabbits goes hand in hand with growing bananas. they love the leaves, and bananas love their poop.

crazy banana

All of my banana plants get a full wheel barrow of chicken manure fresh and straight out of the chicken coop / chicken run at least twice a year with no problems at all. They actually do very well, grow fast and so far I have had 21 fruit bunches in 2015.
It would be too strong for other plants though. Tomatoes had a lot of leaves but few fruits, papaya and dragon fruit plants loved the fresh chicken manure as well.

Mark Dragt

How do you apply it? On top of the ground and water in? Or fork it in near the roots? I have pulled small amounts and mixed with the bunnie berries and had no problems. I like the fact that chicken manure has calcium as well. I will use the chicken manure more freely next year and see what happens.

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crazy banana

Yes, top dressing and mulch it over. My mats are too thick to work it in.

wildaboutplants

I have chickens and goats (similar to rabbit poo. I planted some pups that i got from my mom in a fresh compost pile (meaning I'm still adding manure to it daily) and the pups seems to love it. I just add the fresh manure a couple of inches away from the stalk where it doesn't touch. We get a lot of regular rain, maybe most of the nutrients drain off fairly fast?

Worm_Farmer

I would use both, If i had access to both.

Chicken manure can be hot when its fresh. From what I understand, chicken manure has a higher Nitrogen content. My father mixes wood pellets that expand into this chicken manure also a lot of chicken feed makes in into his piles. He will let it age, then put down a lawyer of ages horse manure some straw/hay then the aged chicken manure on top. After which he empty's last years potted plants on top of it all and plants.

If I could get both by the truck load. I would do a think layer of rabbit, then chicken over it. I am more of the lasagna framing method vs mixing it all up.