Depends to on the nature of the bedding, or the ratio of dropping to straw. If you are cleaning out once a week then your may have mostly straw, and little manure(have to laugh, I'm not sure you will continue that practice long. Mine get cleaned out about 4 times a year!And it is still mostly shavings, not manure. That's with 16 hens.) If it is mostly straw then based on my experience in PA it should be fine. In the summer I need loads of mulch. I don't turn the bedding directly into the soil, but lay it in paths where it shades soil, maintains moisture, and encourages earthworms, so that by fall I can easily till it in and improve soil for next year. Of course, if you have time, and don't need it right away, then by all means compost it first. Or, if it is mostly manure, then definately compost first.

Hi Garner, The only place I know for sure that carries it is Paulino's at 62nd and Broadway (58th Avenue exit from I-25). (Are you anywhere near there? I don't think I know where you live! When you have time go over to the Who's Here in 2014 thread and tell us your Life Story!) I posted that price in 2011 and I'm sure it's higher by now. Paulino's doesn't list specific things/prices online, so you'd need to call to get a current price. It sounds like a lot of money, but a bale of soil would last you probably three years--or more! It's compressed like peat if you've ever bought a bale of that, so when you take it out of the package (a little at a time!) you "fluff it up" and wind up with LOTS of it! But, Ms. Balcony Person, do you realize how BIG a bale of soil is? Did you look at the copy/past link above? I went out and measured mine, but the bales aren't exactly square so they're hard to measure, and mine is partly used so the height is a close guess too! I got about 19" x 15" x 30"! That would take up a good part of your balcony! I took a pic of my "mostly gone" bale one year when I was trying to show somebody before a swap what it was I was using! This is it by my firewood pile, and it really is almost all gone! The copy/paste pic shows a full bale! If you decide to get some and to go to Paulino's and decide you don't want that much, ask John at the "customer service counter" what good bagged potting soil they have that's as close as possible to Sunshine #1. (I don't think they carry Sunshine in bags!) If you have somewhere to store it, it really is cheaper to get the bale than to buy a whole bunch of separate bags! It keeps forever! If you go there tell John "Cheryl's best friend" told you about the Sunshine Mix! (I try to not use my real name online!) Also, if you go there you'll probably find a big pile of another Sunshine Mix right in front of the store--I think it's Sunshine #5. It's more expensive than #1, and it's virtually the same as #1, and I've never figured out for sure why they try to push that one, except I think maybe they make more money selling that one! Don't get roped into buying #5--or whichever one it is!!! I don't know if Kelly at Timberline sells a baled potting soil or not, or what it is if he does--or the price. But if you're closer to there (58th & Simms) you might want to call to ask. If Kelly does sell a baled soil I'm sure it's a good one! (He's the most knowledgable hort person I know !) It's VERY unlikely that you killed your rosemary with too LITTLE water. They like to go really dry between waterings! If you were keeping it very wet for a while, chances are that the roots were already pretty "unhappy" when you started to leave it dry, and that's why it died. Neglect can be the kindest thing with a lot of plants--and, yes, I still kill plants by overwatering them too!!! Most often seedlings--'cause I'm absolutely hovering over them---to be sure they're doing good!!! And it's not unusual that I'll think to myself that I really shouldn't be watering them yet--while I'm watering them! My seedlings are usually "safer" if I'm really busy out in the yard and don't have too much time to stare at them! But rosemary is one thing you may find yourself buying another plant to replace the one that died! The herb grower at Paulino' when I was there used to have a hard time getting them started. I think I remember she had a really bad percentage of germination when she tried it from seed, and I know she had trouble starting them from cuttings too. It's one of the harder to start herbs! I've never found that out personally--I don't have one! I think it's one of the most disgusting plants I've ever smelled! (Heresy, I know!) So if you have seed go ahead and try it, but don't get discouraged it it doesn't work--and it wasn't anything you did wrong if it doesn't germinate! On the other hand, if you try it and it works--Great Job! Happy growing, Skybird P.S. If you do decide to get Sunshine, I don't recommend adding anything at all to it. I use it straight out of the package. My theory is that if I use the same soil for everything, I know how long it takes to dry and I just adjust the watering for the individual plants based on how dry they like to be before watering.

Have you tried googling "chicken farms+Birmingham, Alabama" to see if there are any local farms you could get the manure from? Also, you need to let it compost for at least a year before you put it on your plants. You won't need as much chicken manure as cow manure, because chicken manure is much richer. Susan

I'm glad someone else thinks it's sandy. Sand is used as a filler because it's heavy. It helps them keep the cost down but I'd like to see a much lower price to the consumer. Why do you think you need compost? Compost is 15x more expensive than organic fertilizer per 1,000 square feet. With the results I get from corn meal and alfalfa pellets, I'll probably never use compost again.