token
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Post by token on Oct 22, 2016 20:02:59 GMT 10
Hi guys, i put straw into the nesting boxes of my birds but i use wood shavings on the floor.
Wood shavings are absolutely awesome! From memory its called 'the deep litter' process.
It completely deals with odours. The chooks love it, it soaks up excess moisture, the chooks will dig and scratch and have a blast. You only need a couple of inches on a dirt floor.
When it starts looking rough, dump another 2 inches on top and repeat.
The use of wood chips cuts down my work in cleaning coops massively! In fact, all i do is kick the wood chips back where they have scratched them up to a hole in the ground and or where chook poop has clustered (generally where they roost).
The best part of this however is that after a while i end up with a floor level a lot higher than before, and if anyone grows food you know how important it is to make dirt, especially rich dirt. I muck out the coop when this happens, and either throw the partially composted results onto a compost pile for further decomposition, or, i use it as a garden cover, like woodchips.
I have growns brilliant food from such all year round.
I visit a local kitchen maker and woodworker and swap a 6 pack of carlton draught for bags of the stuff. If he runs dry i purchase big bags of it.
I use this stuff as the flooring for raising all kinds of poultry in my brooders. I recently used this on pups as well (but didnt use that stuff for compost or growing food), and it is by far one of the handiest materials i have ever come across.
Give it a try and let me know how things go, hope that helps, cheers.
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Post by Joey on Oct 22, 2016 21:28:32 GMT 10
And keep a glad bag of the stuff in the gear bags as fire starter
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Post by Peter on Oct 22, 2016 21:34:23 GMT 10
From the moment I started reading your post (Token), I thought of how wonderfully this would add to compost. Great to see the local barter trade going on, too.
Joey, I didn't even come close to thinking of it as a fire starter. Is it any good?
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token
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Post by token on Oct 22, 2016 21:35:12 GMT 10
And keep a glad bag of the stuff in the gear bags as fire starter It works good as tinder thats for sure, plus, no fire, then we cant fry the eggs and cook the chicken lol |
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token
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Post by token on Oct 22, 2016 21:38:02 GMT 10
From the moment I started reading your post (Token), I thought of how wonderfully this would add to compost. Great to see the local barter trade going on, too. Joey, I didn't even come close to thinking of it as a fire starter. Is it any good? Im a big believer in bartering Pete, it has its limitations in our current system understandably though, but id love to see it work more out our way. If we can live as free from this system now, hopefully not much will change in many specific societal breakdown scenarios. |
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Post by Joey on Oct 23, 2016 4:27:55 GMT 10
From the moment I started reading your post (Token), I thought of how wonderfully this would add to compost. Great to see the local barter trade going on, too. Joey, I didn't even come close to thinking of it as a fire starter. Is it any good? Just make sure that the shavings are not from "treated" wood, as this releases the nasty chemicals use to treat the wood. |
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Post by jo on Oct 23, 2016 15:33:24 GMT 10
I use a mixture of cane mulch and mower clippings.... wet the mixture down once a week, wait a day to let it dry out and add more... no smell and no flies  |
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token
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Post by token on Oct 23, 2016 15:35:45 GMT 10
I use a mixture of cane mulch and mower clippings.... wet the mixture down once a week, wait a day to let it dry out and add more... no smell and no flies wow, are you in the hotter region of the country? Ive used sugar cane mulch as well as grass clippings but it ends up fouling badly without adding water. |
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Post by jo on Oct 23, 2016 15:49:47 GMT 10
In SE queensland..... have dug a trench around my chicken coop so it is higher than the surrounding ground, I also have a tarp over the "scratching" area so most of it stays relatively dry or dries out quickly when the rain stops and the mulch is fairly thick
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token
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Post by token on Oct 23, 2016 15:54:02 GMT 10
In SE queensland..... have dug a trench around my chicken coop so it is higher than the surrounding ground, I also have a tarp over the "scratching" area so most of it stays relatively dry or dries out quickly when the rain stops and the mulch is fairly thick Yer i thought so bud as here, unless mid summer, we hold the moisture and ive slipped on small patches of clumped grass clippings like they are mud in the coop when i used them. If its dry cut grass it does work but i found cos it clumps together, when they poop, you get clods of it lol. The sugar cane mulch bales worked ok though, it seems the ones i had at least were really really dry and a lot finer than the round bales of straw i get. Have you tried the wood shavings at all? |
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Post by jo on Oct 23, 2016 16:03:26 GMT 10
In SE queensland..... have dug a trench around my chicken coop so it is higher than the surrounding ground, I also have a tarp over the "scratching" area so most of it stays relatively dry or dries out quickly when the rain stops and the mulch is fairly thick Yer i thought so bud as here, unless mid summer, we hold the moisture and ive slipped on small patches of clumped grass clippings like they are mud in the coop when i used them. If its dry cut grass it does work but i found cos it clumps together, when they poop, you get clods of it lol. The sugar cane mulch bales worked ok though, it seems the ones i had at least were really really dry and a lot finer than the round bales of straw i get. Have you tried the wood shavings at all? no haven't tried it yet.... haven't found anyone who sells it round here, I think the trick with the mower is I have a mulcher mower so there is a lot of crunched up leaves, twigs etc mixed in with the grass which helps it to dry out (i hate raking lol) rather than it being only grass clippings |
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token
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Post by token on Oct 23, 2016 18:23:12 GMT 10
Yer i thought so bud as here, unless mid summer, we hold the moisture and ive slipped on small patches of clumped grass clippings like they are mud in the coop when i used them. If its dry cut grass it does work but i found cos it clumps together, when they poop, you get clods of it lol. The sugar cane mulch bales worked ok though, it seems the ones i had at least were really really dry and a lot finer than the round bales of straw i get. Have you tried the wood shavings at all? no haven't tried it yet.... haven't found anyone who sells it round here, I think the trick with the mower is I have a mulcher mower so there is a lot of crunched up leaves, twigs etc mixed in with the grass which helps it to dry out (i hate raking lol) rather than it being only grass clippings Jo, if its working for you i dont want to tell you otherwise bud, but if you did want to grab some to give them a go, take a look at gumtree for bulk buy in a bag youll need a 6x4 trailer to pick up. Or, do what i do and drop into any place that works with wood, cabinetry or otherwise, or look em up in your local directory and ask them over the phone. |
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Post by jo on Oct 23, 2016 19:10:29 GMT 10
Hey Token... bit like prepping hey? What works for one isn't necessarily the best fit for another, I like the fact that for the most part (clippings) only costs me some sweat, petrol and calories and i can access this anytime of the year, I also know it is chemical free and can adjust the amount of green clippings to dry leaves depending on what is going on in the coop too much green and things go a bit mushy... too much dry leaves and the composting slows down and I get flies and smell... I only add the sugar cane if it is really wet weather wise the chooks seem healthy and love to scratch in the mix
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token
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Post by token on Oct 23, 2016 21:28:21 GMT 10
Hey Token... bit like prepping hey? What works for one isn't necessarily the best fit for another, I like the fact that for the most part (clippings) only costs me some sweat, petrol and calories and i can access this anytime of the year, I also know it is chemical free and can adjust the amount of green clippings to dry leaves depending on what is going on in the coop too much green and things go a bit mushy... too much dry leaves and the composting slows down and I get flies and smell... I only add the sugar cane if it is really wet weather wise the chooks seem healthy and love to scratch in the mix thats it mate, if its working for ya, stick with it. |
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