Chicken manure is high in nutrients, so it makes a great natural fertilizer for your garden.

According to Commercial Meat and Egg Production, industrial hens produce about a quarter pound of manure per day. That number was calculated from the amount of feed consumed by the hens.

But because these souped-up hybrids are bred for maximum production (under controlled environmental conditions), they consume more feed than heritage breeds — and probably produce more manure.

Eliot Coleman tells us that one of his reference books from the early part of the 20th century, Morrison’s Feeds and Feeding, says that 200 chickens (presumably pre-industrial chickens) produce about 8,500 pounds of manure per year. That works out to about 0.116 pounds of manure per chicken per day, or about half of what modern sources estimate for industrial birds.

Stay tuned. We’re working on advice about how much chicken manure to use in your garden.