Well, to a degree yes, when things are decomposing the bacteria that works on that stuff feeds on nitrogen so you will lose some of the nitrogen. if you're really concerned about this then just work the manure into the soil and topdress with the mulch, that way you aren't losing most of your nitrogen and you're still mulching.

Dawson

"However, I read that if you do that you'll lose all the nitrogen and waste the manure."

Basically agree with Dawson. What you read is true but only to a degree. Not "all" or "waste" are true. Truth is nitrogen is highly volatile and evaporates or is used in decomposition all the time be it from manure, soil, plants, or whatever. That is normal. So it always needs some replacement in some form.

But what is normally stated is that you will lose some of the nitrogen through the process of composting. True. Does that mean you don't compost manure before using it in the garden? No way. The scientific recommendation is that you never use fresh, non-composted animal manure around food crops because of the pathogenic bacteria it contains. Per all the research, it should be composted for a minimum of 90 days before using with food crops.

So by composting you are sacrificing some of the nitrogen for the reduced amount of pathogenic bacteria the process kills off.

Dave

I can't really separate the two, so it's either till it in, or topdress it. I normally wouldn't til it in because I've always thought that ties up he nitrogen, and have seen people have bad experiences doing that. I typically just use shredded trees as the mulch, but this is the first year it's 50/50 mulch and chicken manure.

Oh oh I see, well I'd topdress/mulch with the older stuff and let the newer stuff age a bit more then use it. tilling it in is more likely to tie up the nitrogen, just topdress with it and let nature do it the way it's normally done instead of tilling it in.

Dawson

A couple of things to consider. First, as you probably already know, chicken litter is the most potent of the domestic animal manures and the use level should be in tune with fertilizer requirements. You certainly don't need tomato tone or garden tone when you have access to such a rich fertilizer. If you have a 50:50 mix start with that assumption.

Second, the nitrogen component is fairly volitile on the soil surface so you would be better to incorporate it into the soil within a few days of applying. If you have 6 months of composting time neither pathogens or nitrogen drain from the wood chips should be an issue. Many people who compost wood chips for blueberry surface mulch would love to have local source of just 5% added chicken litter to speed the wood chip digestion process. If you had just 5% chicken litter in the mix then I'd just use that compost as a surface mulch but your material is nitrogen rich. If you are too liberal in using it you can very easily create excesses in N, P and K. Certain crops will grow poorly with excess; others will store unsafe nitrate levels in the plant tissue. I recall a farmer who had cows abort from the high nitrate level in his corn silage. He revealed that he had applied a lot of chicken litter to that field prior to planting the corn.