I’m no good with crops, but our salad/salsa garden is successful.
If you’re allowed them, laying hens are stupid easy to keep. I don’t do roasters because we have a 5 bird limit in our suburb and honestly harvesting chickens is messy and time consuming.
E: oh, and free range eggs will absolutely ruin you for regular eggs. It’s like the difference in one of your tomatoes and the ones from the grocery.
I’ve had multiple unsuccessful attempts at a garden but two successful attempts with livestock: Pigs and chickens. It’s helpful that they make noise when there’s something wrong.
+1 for free range eggs. Plus there’s no bugs in your yard. Where I live now I can’t keep chickens but I’m allowed to have ducks, so I think I’ll do that in the spring.
Gardening isn’t all that complicated. Plants need water, nutrients and sun. The chicken manure you have is great for a garden. If you have clean wood ashes, scatter them around. Timing when you plant is also important - too early, when the soil is cold may prevent germination, while planting too late may put plants into a dry spell.
Above all, visit your garden for a few minutes each day to see if it needs some action like watering, weeding or bug remediation. Finally, keep your soil loose. Don’t over-till though.
BTW, I do not plow, till or do much weeding because I use a sand and mulch approach. It can sometimes be tricky.