Types Of Manure To Use In Compost?

Question

I have seen the page you offer lots of animals safe and not safe to use manure from for a compost. We have chickens and rabbits which were mentioned for safe, however I was wondering about ducks? We will be getting a goat or 2 at some point and saw they are also a good source, however I had seen somewhere else that pig manure was not, but you show it is safe. Why would there be discrepancies on this one?

Answer 1

Poultry manure is safe to use in composting if done correctly to eliminate the pathogens that could infect the litter. Here is more about the safety of composting poultry manure:

https://www.extension.uidaho.edu/publishing/pdf/cis/cis1194.pdf

The issue with pig manure is that, besides possible pathogens such as E. Coli, listeria, or salmonella, pig manure may also contain parasites that could survive composting. If a sustained heat at 140 degrees F is maintained for several weeks, as well as regularly turning the compost, and other specifics outlined in our article, the compost should be safe to use. The caveat is many home composting operations rarely follow those explicit instructions.

Many sources say it is safe to use on ornamental gardens, but not on edible gardens as a precaution. Our article that you mention does not make that stipulation and I am going to bring that to the attention of our editor. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. 🙂