Substrate amendment and tolerant species choice are key factors for successful restoration of mining wastelands containing heavy metals. Pot experiments were conducted in order to study the effects of different proportions of composted chicken manure-amended copper mine tailings on growth of three legumes (Cassia tora, Sesbania cannabina and Crotalaria juncea), soil microbial biomass, and activities of catalase, alkaline phosphatase, urease and dehydrogenase. A quantity of composted chicken manure (0, 8, 16, or 32 g) was incorporated with 4 kg mine tailings as the plants' potting substrate for the MA0 (CK), MA8, MA16, and MA32 treatments, respectively. Soil microbes are important components for maintenance of soil biological activity and affect the soil nutrient dynamics, energy conversion, and animal and plant community structure. The activity of soil enzymes is an important index of soil fertility and is often used to indicate remediation effects on polluted soils. In this study, with increasing proportion of chicken manure in the substrate, the shoot biomass and root biomass of the three plant species increased. In the same chicken manure treatment, the relative shoot biomass of the three species was C. juncea > C. tora > S. cannabina, but the root biomass did not differ significantly among the species. With increasing proportion of chicken manure, the total phosphorus content of the three plant species increased, and the total nitrogen content of C. juncea increased. The relative total nitrogen content in both the roots and shoots of the three plant species was C. juncea > S. cannabina > C. tora in the MA16 and MA32 treatments, the relative total phosphorus content in the roots was S. cannabina > C. juncea > C. tora in the MA8 and MA32 treatments, and the relative total phosphorus content in the shoots was S. cannabina > C. tora > C. juncea in the MA8 and MA32 treatments. The soil microbial biomass carbon for the three plant species was boosted by amendment with chicken manure. Among the species, the soil microbial biomass carbon of C. juncea was significantly improved compared to the control (chicken manure absent; CK) (P < 0.05). In the MA32 treatment, the soil microbial biomass carbon for C. juncea was 177.56 mg/kg, and the soil microbial biomass nitrogen of C. juncea was 9.08 mg/kg. The soil urease and dehydrogenase activities for the three legumes were boosted by amendment with chicken manure and were highest in the MA32 treatment. Of the three species, the soil urease activity of C. juncea reached 1.52 μg · g^-1 · h^-1, and the soil dehydrogenase activity of C. tora reached 0.26 μg · g^-1 · d^-1. Significant positive correlations existed between soil microbial biomass carbon and substrate total nitrogen and available phosphorus. Significant negative correlations existed between soil microbial biomass carbon and substrate available copper and zinc for C. juncea. Significant positive correlations existed between soil urease and dehydrogenase activities and substrate total nitrogen and available phosphorus with growth of S. cannabina and C. juncea, and between soil dehydrogenase activities and soil microbial biomass carbon with growth of C. tora and C. juncea. Significant negative correlations existed between soil urease and dehydrogenase activities and substrate available zinc with growth of C. tora. These findings indicate that the MA16 treatment (an amendment rate of 250 parts tailings to 1 part chicken manure) is a suitable method for chicken manure amendment of copper mine tailings, and Crotalaria juncea might be a preferred plant for ecological restoration of copper mine tailings using such treatment.