I have a Craig:List page with the word "manure" bookmarked and look at it every few days and sooner or later someone posts an ad for their own chicken/pig/goat/rabbit manure. Quick, painless, and easy,

You will most likely need to know, or find, someone with a pig or chicken farm that is willing to sell the manure that is created there. There may be some garden centers that sell bagged poultry manure as "fertilizer", but even the one I know about is more other waste products from slaughtering poultry.

I saw chicken compost at my local Lowes recently (along with mushroom compost, cow manure, and some other organic compost that didn't seem to be generated from anything specific that they could label the bag with). Maybe you can find some there for your area.

kgkg- why do you need such "powerful" manure???? It will just burn everything you plant!
How bout reading this forum and learn how to compost and improve your soil at a normal pace?
If you have to have it all NOW. Hire a landscaper who will truck in all the soil etc that you need, and plant everything you want!
JMHO Nancy

First off this is my very first post to the Garden Web. I too have been looking for a soil amendment here in NJ. I am trying to grow organically, so I have done quite a bit of research in the past week. First I would like to direct you to a movie on Vimeo entitled Back to Eden. It is over an hour and a half long and a little preachy but it it is full of good advice. This guy used free wood chips to build his soil. I know this works as I have spread wood chips around my woodshed a few years ago. Let me tell you, when you pull back the remaining chips, there is nothing but fluffy black soil full of life. You may need to amend your soil in the first year before you add a layer of chips. I am steering away from most composted commercial manure as I do not see any test results for the presence of pharmaceuticals even though it may be certified for organic gardening. According to a recent dialogue with a rep from a testing facility that certifies amendments as safe for organic use, the waste from conventionally grown animals may be present in said amendments. According to the USDA, 20-70% of antibiotics administered to conventionally grown animals is passed through their urine and feces. Not sure if your shooting for organic or not. I am sure what you really need is a good compost not a fresh manure for, as another poster indicated, fresh manure is "hot" and will burn your plantings. Give Coast of Maine's Quoddy Blend lobster compost a look. It is actually made from composted lobster and these folks claim that their manure producers do not use antibiotics on their animals. There is about 21 Coast of Maine dealers on Long Island. I will be starting a post about bagged compost soon hoping to get some feedback on safe, bagged amendments. Sorry if I went on too long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Back to Eden

One thing to keep in mind with manures is that they may or may not be properly and completely composted if you buy them right from the farm. If they are just piling up manure and not turning it, it may not be fully decomposed to compost, depending on how big the pile is and how long it has been there.

If it's still hot, smells like manure and/or you can see recognizable poop rather than just rich dark humus, it's probably not done and may burn your plants. If you apply that stuff in the fall, it's OK by spring.

If they're turning it and aging it a few months to make compost, it's ready to plant in.

Having said all that, the next point is that generally speaking, compost is compost. By the time it reaches that stage, manure compost is more similar than different between animal species. So look for some good aged manure compost and don't worry about what critters it came from.

A word of warning about pig manure. Pigs can carry roundworms. With people wanting less meds in what they eat some growers are not treating for worms. Back in the day my brother and I acquired the worms after pigs got loose into the garden. Composting may not kill all of the eggs. To this day I cut off any stem/top/bottom that was at soil level especially carrots.

where can i buy pig manure in nj pa or del

I would use goat, sheep llama, rabbit, guinna pig, any pellet manure first before pig or chicken manure which is HOT!

Chicken manure is a lovely, lovely thing, Nancy. Can't be beat!