Recent content by esselstyn

  1. E

    Composting with chickens

    Excellent idea. Will do. The pile represents about 12 pickup loads of arborist chipps, three loads of spoiled hay, and two loads of horse manure. My hope is that the area will be ready to plant by spring, but I really have no idea. There are more chicks (18 total) than are in that frame, so...
  2. E

    Composting with chickens

    The chicks are showing up to work.
  3. E

    Best breeds for hot humid climates?

    Combs have a high surface area to volume ratio and good blood flow, which allows them to shed heat. I'm in south Louisiana and have some young buff orpingtons and bielefelders. The orpingtons are handling the heat better than the bielefelders.
  4. E

    Gosling

    Yes, they need to be able to submerge the entire bill and they'll want to submerge their head to clean their eyes too. So it will need to be deep enough for that. And yes, they're going outgrow that brooder in a matter of days.
  5. E

    Gosling

    Those are maybe 6-8 days old. Definitely not six weeks old. They'll need clean water they can submerge their bills in to clear their noses. If the water isn't deep enough, their nasal passages can get plugged up. That might cause sneezing.
  6. E

    Composting with chickens

    Thanks for sharing your experience! It's always wet here, so compost is never dry. Wood chips break down fast, probably < 6 months without adding any high nitrogen materials. The pile is set and full of bugs and worms. It's probably already reduced in volume by 1/3rd. Nineteen chickens will be...
  7. E

    Composting with chickens

    How so? The pile is almost entirely plant materials (wood chips, tree leaves, etc).
  8. E

    Composting with chickens

    I do hope for more! That's the goal, to have the chickens turn it and add the manure that is needed. I have added a couple yards each of horse manure and spoiled hay to get the nitrogen up a bit before the chickens start their work. Hopefully they also glean a good portion of their food from the...
  9. E

    Composting with chickens

    I'm preparing an area of current sod for a future garden. I am currently accumulating a large pile of arborist wood chips and I will put chickens in the area once I have enough of the carbon-rich chips. My expectation is that the chickens will get a fair amount of bug and worm food out of the...
    • esselstyn
    • Thread
    • arborist chips chickens compost
    • Replies: 14
    • Forum: Gardening
  10. E

    Using Chickens For Fertilizer?

    The carbon in the straw bedding will help balance the nitrogen in the poo. I use wood shavings and duck poo as mulch on plants and have never burned anything. Tilling the poo into the soil will have the same effect. That said, if you're worried about germs from the manure, composting first would...
  11. E

    "Healthiest," Fermented Feed?

    I think the question is probably difficult to answer --- fermentation is such a variable process. How long is the fermentation? What is the starting yeast population? What is the temperature at which fermentation takes place? How variable is the temperature? All of these factors (and others)...
See more
Back
Top Bottom