Nutrient losses from manure stacked in fields reduces the value of the manure as a nutrient source and can contaminate groundwater. The objective of this study was to measure the effectiveness of easily available materials with low nutrient content or solubility to minimize nutrient losses from manure stacks. Twelve manure stacking pads (3.05 by 4.24 m) were built to capture all runoff and leachate. There were 4 treatments with 3 replications in a completely randomized design: chicken manure only (control), manure with a compost base, manure with leaf mold on top, and manure with compost base and leaf mold on top. A tipping bucket with counter measured volume of runoff from the pads, and sub-samples of the runoff were collected to determine concentrations of nutrients, including N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn. The mass of nutrients lost was calculated by the volume of runoff and their concentrations collected from December 2, 2004 to April 13, 2005. The leaf mold on top and compost on bottom treatments significantly reduced the amount of nutrients lost compared with the untreated manure stacks. However, the combination treatment with leaf mold on top and compost on bottom provided additional protection and significantly reduced the amount of nutrients lost compared with either of the treatments alone. An example of the treatment effect on total N lost: manure only, 15.3 kg lost (25.7% of N in stack); compost on bottom, 11.5 kg lost (18.6%); leaf mold on top, 9.1 kg lost (16.8%); and leaf mold on top with compost on bottom, 6.1 kg lost (11.2%). Our results suggest that using compost and leaves may be effective at reducing nutrient losses from manure stacked in fields.