Hi, yes you can scatter chicken pellets on your site, but not too many, only use as advised on the tub, I usually put some on my beds in spring, a couple of weeks before planting, just remember it isn't really a fertilizer, but a soil improver, so I would also add something like growmore fertilizer, {this is usually the cheapest} or vitax Q4, which is a bit more expensive, but does have some trace elements, which growmore doesn't have, Derek.

I must disagree with you Derek that chicken manure isn't a fertilizer. It does contain NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and potassium), albeit in lesser quantities than Growmore.

Poultry manure contains about one half of the amount of Nitrogen, (important for leaf growth) that Growmore does and about one third of Phosphorous and Potassium.

The important thing is that chicken manure is organic and Growomore is synthetically made. If you can get the Chicken manure at a good price I would go for that option every time. You must be aware though that you will need to double up on the amounts compared to Growmore. Both are slow release fertilizers.

Hi Myron, what I should have said is that it isn't a very good fertilizer, more of a soil conditioner, although I agree it will add some nutrients I would rather use growmore as the fertilizer, and the chicken pellets as conditioner, Derek.

And the downside to chicken manure is that it stinks when in an enclosed space, which I found out to my detriment when I dug some into my citrus plants that were in my conservatory... It took ages for the smell to go, LOL.

Thanks Derekm and Myron. Your comments are duly noted and I will get cracking getting the site ready for planting in the spring. :)

Thanks snoopdog. Thought I'd remove top layer of soil as got lots of dead conifer needles, bark bits and sawdust which could stop moisture getting through?

My experience of chicken pellets is that it will mainly provide nitrogen for leaf growth. I would suppliment it with bonemeal as an organic fertiliser for healthy roots to the plants and for flowers. The soil also needs humus replacing and this could well be done with garden compost, leaf mould or a propriety soil conditioner.

Two things I've found useful with chicken pellets: the smell lasts for less than a week in summer, so can be timed to irritate your neighbours or avoid your own parties; also it's quite a good border additive on clay soils as it breaks up the clagginess. Whether it breaks it better than a lorryload of manure though I'd doubt. And that only smells for a few days too!

One extra thing to say - don't plant immediately after you've dug in the chicken pellets. They do improve the soil for growing, but the neat pellets shouldn't be in contact with plant roots unless they've been slacked first. I'd also reiterate Bulbaholic's advice - you need organic humus rich material as well, such as garden compost or composted animal manure or other composted materials. Note that 'general purpose compost' usually means potting compost, and won't do anything very much for the soil, but is, obviously, useful for potting up plants!