A rather awkward fertilizer opportunity

[Plantinyum]

So, prepare for this one! I found a bunch of very old bags with bones in the forrest. The nylon bags they were dumped into have pretty much degraded or are degrading so this should have happened at least 4-5 years ago.
The bones themselves also look old, they are all the same and look like the bones u get in chicken legs, i can quess they are from chickens.
I wonder if i could or should take the bones and hammer them and use them as a bone meal fertilizer. Are there any risks with deseases with old bones? Again ,they are all the same tipe, no spines and other nasties, they just look like someone just cooked a bunch of chicken limbs and discarded the remains.
Is this a good opportunity ?

[elouicious]

definitely was not expecting this read this morning!

Assuming if the bones have been out for that long they are already very clean and somewhat blanched?

I think the only concerns would be from contamination of things like sauces (if it was a wing bbq) or if the chickens were raised with some hormones or additives that would be retained in the bones and persist in the ultimate fertilizer

Sounds like #1 wont be a problem but #2 is much harder to assess

[pagnr]

Are there any risks with deseases with old bones?

Do you mean plant diseases or human / animal diseases ?

Fertilisers like Blood and Bone probably pose a slight risk due to the amount of microbes present, even though they are not disease organisms.
There is usually a positive benefit to plants from those type of microbes, but you can also over do the application and overwhelm the other soil organisms.
As for Humans the best advice is to handle them with mask and gloves and avoid inhaling or ingesting the dust.
If the bones are dried you won't be expecting much biological benefit from them, just the minerals, mainly Calcium and Phosphorous.
You may be able to heat them up to sterilise and destroy any cooking additions.
It would be better to grind the bones as finely as possible to release the minerals.

[Plantinyum]

As i remember they had a pale colour to them, they looked porous also so they may actually be quite older than what i assume. The black garbage bags that they are in, the thicker ones are degraded, dunno how much time it takes for them to dessintegrade like that though.
Bones looked clean and old, i doubt it that any souses or stuffs from the cullinary will still be remaining, i am just worried about desease, thought by the shear appearance it doesnt look like they were from deseased animals.

If someone is discusted by this, i am sorry, i would also be if they were fresh u no....

[Plantinyum]

Are there any risks with deseases with old bones?

Do you mean plant diseases or human / animal diseases ?

Fertilisers like Blood and Bone probably pose a slight risk due to the amount of microbes present, even though they are not disease organisms.
There is usually a positive benefit to plants from those type of microbes, but you can also over do the application and overwhelm the other soil organisms.
As for Humans the best advice is to handle them with mask and gloves and avoid inhaling or ingesting the dust.
If the bones are dried you won't be expecting much biological benefit from them, just the minerals, mainly Calcium and Phosphorous.
You may be able to heat them up to sterilise and destroy any cooking additions.
It would be better to grind the bones as finely as possible to release the minerals.

I would assume that plants would not be phased by animal deseases, i am mostly worried about myself lol. Yes if i approach to mess with them i will wear gloves , even thought once added to the soil i will be regularly in contact with them with by bare hands.
Yes i will have to try to grind them as fine as possible, they may be quite brittle, they looked like so....
Yes i want them for the whatever minerals there are in them, i know that organics and other biologically active things are long gone ...

[Vegan Potato Man]

Make them into biochar if you're concerned about any exposure risk imo

[pagnr]

I would assume that plants would not be phased by animal deseases, i am mostly worried about myself.

I don't think there is a big disease risk either way. Plants are not affected by animal diseases, but an animal carcass will produce large amounts of decomposing bacteria that can affect plants by their large population , ie dead grass under a dead animal on the lawn.
Heavily oversupplying animal wastes manures, more so in containers/ pots could be a problem.
In soils, the native bacteria should deal with it.
Main risk is inhalation ingestion of bacteria and dust, including when you are grinding to powder.
Otherwise I can't see the dry bones being a big problem if decomposing bacteria are not active.

The Biochar seems a good option. It might make the processing easier too.

[Galatians522]

Bone char and bone ash are both good sources of phosphorus and calcium fertilizer and have been used for thousands of years. The only disease that I am aware of that can survive the firing process is Mad Cow. I don't know if chickens can cary a form transmissible to humans. That would be good to check on. I save my cleaned bones in the freezer and toss them in the bonfire every few months. Chicken bones are especially easy to crush after that. Bone char will be black and comes from a lack of oxygen in the firing process. I like bone ash a little better it is white and was exposed to oxygen. The firing also makes the minerals more available. I would absolutely go for it here in the US, however, we don't have mad cow.

[Plantinyum]

Thanks for all the replies! I will go the fire pit way and burn them, then grind them. I also do not think that mad col affects birds, that is if the bones are from a bird but anyway they are too small to be of cows. I will go there and picture one or two of them, if someone can id them for me ,it will be nice .
Also how do i go about burning them, start a big fire and dump them all in or should a have a slow burn bbg fire and bake them one by one?

[Galatians522]

I just start a big bonfire and spread the bones ontop so that heat and oxygen can ge to all of them. By the time the fire has burned down to ashes, so have the bones. You can pick the bone out, but its easier just to crush them up with the wood ash. Usually chicken bones are so brittle by that point that you have to be careful not to crush them with your fingers.

If you want bone char for some reason, it is made the same way as charcoal--by heating under low oxygen conditions (such as in a metal container). I think the ash has more available nutrients, and is a better fertilizer. The char does have some special applications in industry, though.

[Plantinyum]

Thanks Galatians522 ! I was intending to make bio char as well so i will make the two in one day. I hope as the bones are so old that they can burn themselves without adding additional wood to the fire, after i start it that is....