MANAGEMENT
Management of chicken manure The correct handling of birds’ manure and in general of any species results in a series of advantages and by not doing so, we are contributing to the contamination of the environment since it is a waste that contains some elements that can contaminate the territory.
Figure 1 – Presentation of a static biopile in layers of sawdust compost.
Figure 2 – Mesh of sawdust substrate, dry leaves, and laying hen feces.
Figure 3 – Temperature reached during the composting process (68 °C).
Jínez MT, Ávila GE and Fuente MB Centro de Enseñanza, Investigación y Extensión en Producción avícola de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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The laying hen produces an average of 150 to 200 g of fresh feces, which is considered a source of pollution due to the high content of nitrogen and phosphorus and contains a large amount of moisture. Proper management of chicken manure can reduce odors and destroy pathogens. The beneficial effect of using manures of different species including birds has been known for some time. Until the end of the 19th century, agriculture mainly depended on manures to obtain good harvests; however, this rapidly changed with the production of chemical fertilizers. With natural gas sources, cheap and abundant for the synthesis of ammonia, chemical fertilizers became so afford-
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able that manure was displaced; but due to current organic, ecological or sustainability trends, organic fertilizers have once again become important1. Previously, animals were raised free-range, spread over large areas of land, with an immediate and economic incorporation in situ of their manure to the land where they were grazing. Currently, with large production facilities, livestock tends to be centralized in smaller areas. Although this procedure is more efficient from a productive point of view and implies lower costs with a more adequate disease control and prevention, it leads to the accumulation of large quantities of manures which are far from the ag-
