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'Organic' farmyard manure

allison.dayallison.day Posts: 5
in The potting shed
I am an organic gardener. A friend recommended I use Vitax 6x poultry manure on my veg. I normally wouldn't touch intensively farmed poultry manure but this was outlawed in 2013.  Are the 'enriched' cages for hens better as far a traces of hormones and chemicals in their manure?  I have asked Vitax whether the hens are free range but am waiting for a reply.

Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Whether hens are free range or not doesn't stop them having hormones and chemicals in their manure. All animal manure including human has traces of hormones which we excrete naturally. Everything on this planet is made of chemicals so you would need to be more specific about which chemicals you want to avoid. The chemical composition of manure is of course influenced by diet as well as any medication taken. The soil that hens range on will influence things like metals in their diet which they ingest during natural feeding.
  • allison.dayallison.day Posts: 5
    I have a blood condition, chronic thrombotic thrombocytopenia which is exacerbated by pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and hormones fed to animals etc so I have to be very careful what I eat. 
    I grow my own fruit and veg to avoid any of these, and I wondered whether this particular farmyard manure would be safe for me to use.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited July 2020
    Hi @allison.day As others have said, all animal-based manure will have homones in it.  Because you have such highly specific needs, I think you would be better off using an inorganic fertiliser, such as Growmore, to ensure that there are no animal or plant based hormones being introduced.  Anything labelled 'organic' risks hormones being present, whether they are naturally produced or introduced by the grower/breeder.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Organic chicken manure won't have artificial hormones in it, and all organic chickens have to be allowed to free range, it should contain less pesticides/fungicides than conventional but I wouldn't say it will be free of them since organic farming has a fair list of things allowed as well. And there is some allowance made for conventional ingredients in organic fodder.
  • allison.dayallison.day Posts: 5
    Wise words!  Thank you both for your comments and I think I'll stay away from any product that I'm not 100% sure of.
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