Tim Challenger wrote:

> I've got a small free-range egg/chicken farmer round the corner.
> If I can get him to give me some of his animal's muck, say from the stalls
> or whatever, can I use it on the garden? In the compost? Or am I wasting my
> time? Does it have to be rotted like horse manure? What about diseases,
> are there likely to be any problems?

It depends on what you are planting. Chicken manure is much to potent for most
vegetable gardens. However, I once helped a friend of mine with his new
garden. He dug a trench about 18" deep and laid a layer of chicken manure on
the bottom, put a bit of the soil back an and mixed it up a bit with the
manure, then filled in the trench and planted raspberry canes and asparagus. He
had a tremendous crop of raspberries the first year and outstanding asparagus
the next spring. His theory was that the plants would grow fast to get away
from the shit :-).