Composting...

[gtaus]

Very mice work there! U wanna come help me frame out a couple windows in my coop we didn't get to do during winter when we were rushing to get it done before snow/rain hit hard!?

Glad you liked the corrugated metal panel raised beds. IF you wanted to make it look really nice, then why not pay the extra money for some nice wood. I just used whatever scrap lumber I had sitting behind the garage, so looks did not matter much to me. But, from what I know about growing plants, they really don't care what the looks of the raised bed are either. More importantly, I spent some money on good black rich top soil that I mixed 1:1 with my homemade chicken run compost. The plants exploded in those raised beds and I could not have been more pleased last year.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Glad you liked the corrugated metal panel raised beds. IF you wanted to make it look really nice, then why not pay the extra money for some nice wood. I just used whatever scrap lumber I had sitting behind the garage, so looks did not matter much to me. But, from what I know about growing plants, they really don't care what the looks of the raised bed are either. More importantly, I spent some money on good black rich top soil that I mixed 1:1 with my homemade chicken run compost. The plants exploded in those raised beds and I could not have been more pleased last year.

Yeah just built new coop and after my run collapsed I had to have one of those built so funds are no more!

 

[gtaus]

The chickens fed on the alfalfa free range from spring until early fall , then were cut from that activity so the alfalfa could be cut for hay and stored loose and dry for winter feed . I did some plowing for the garden for him with a round nose long handle shovel . The hens were under feet so bad picking earth worms it was difficult to accomplish anything .

Sounds like good memories. I used to till up the garden every spring with my walk behind tiller. Somewhere along the line I switched over to growing everything in raised beds and using the Square Foot Gardening concept. That has worked better for me because I now live on a lake and the native soil is mostly sand. So, I end up having to buy good topsoil for the raised beds. Much cheaper to fill up a few raised bed then to fill up the entire garden with good soil.

 

[gtaus]

Yeah just built new coop and after my run collapsed I had to have one of those built so funds are no more!

Sorry to hear that you were forced into a rebuild. I know that the price of lumber, where I live, has gone up so much from when I built my coop 3 years ago, that it would now cost me 4X-5X more. Wood is so expensive, that I look for lots of alternatives before I buy any lumber. And, like I have said, I am using scrap lumber these days as much as possible to cut down on the cost of my projects.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Sorry to hear that you were forced into a rebuild. I know that the price of lumber, where I live, has gone up so much from when I built my coop 3 years ago, that it would now cost me 4X-5X more. Wood is so expensive, that I look for lots of alternatives before I buy any lumber. And, like I have said, I am using scrap lumber these days as much as possible to cut down on the cost of my projects.

Thank u...yep I'm doing same!

 

[Percheron chick]

Glad you liked the pictures...I was lucky enough to have my phone in my pocket while it all unfolded so snapped a few photos.

The pile(s) are pretty sizable...10 hay bales long by 3 deep by 3 high...I need to get around to digging out a tape measure and getting some proper dimensions.

That's 66 bales. Ouch! You obviously aren't paying Colorado hay prices.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

That's 66 bales. Ouch! You obviously aren't paying Colorado hay prices.

With the cross sections (since it was built modularly) it’s actually somewhere north of 90 bales. Plus the hay I use IN the compost as a carbon source. It’s a lot!

I’m lucky enough to have a small scale local hay producer, so these bales grow less than a 15 min drive from where they now sit.

He sells me last years stale bales that are no longer good for animal feed for $5 each. I also plan to buy a few 5-6 hundred pound old round bales from him this summer as run material.

The bales are easy to work with, it turns a local waste product into something useful, and puts a few bucks in the local economy - and it’s great exercise!

 

[gtaus]

He sells me last years stale bales that are no longer good for animal feed for $5 each. I also plan to buy a few 5-6 hundred pound old round bales from him this summer as run material.

The bales are easy to work with, it turns a local waste product into something useful, and puts a few bucks in the local economy - and it’s great exercise!

I don't understand the economics of your transaction. If a bale of hay cannot be used as animal feed, how is it still worth $5.00 a bale? And then you go on to say that it is a waste product? It's great that you reusing local products and putting some money in your local economy, I just don't understand how a waste product (last year's bale hay that cannot be used as animal feed) is both worth $5 a bale and also a waste product at the same time.

I will admit, that is has been over 20+ years since I bought either straw or hay bales, and back then I think I paid about $2.00 a bale for fresh product. I know, times have changed. But last year I was out at our county landfill, loading up a trailer full of free wood chips, and they had a number of moldy bales sitting out there free for anyone to take. Obviously, not good for feed, or even bedding due to the mold, but maybe good for composting. But that was truly a waste product that had been discarded.

I did like your hay bale composter system in the pictures, just did not realize that old hay would cost that much. As for myself, I am not composting at your level of operations, but I am using all free organics that I can get and/or make at home - wood chips, grass clippings, and leaves for the most part. This winter I used paper shreds I make at home in the coop as deep litter and that has worked out well. All in all, I'm making way more compost than I can use just from my chicken run composting. Just not at your level.

 

[TJAnonymous]

That's 66 bales. Ouch! You obviously aren't paying Colorado hay prices.

Heck, I felt we were pretty lucky in Arkansas but I'm still paying $6/bale. That's quality bermuda (60 lb square bale, fertilized with no scrub) off the field. If you buy it from the barn, it's $7/bale. Before inflation, gas and fertilizer price hits (not sure what it will be this year with the price of gas....).

So figuring that you are looking at old hay....that *might* still be a decent price depending on how much hay goes up.

Still, I would think wood....with all it's crazy pricing right now....would be cheaper than paying for 90 bales at $5/pop

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I buy fresher bales for $6 each, which feels like a steal up here in the Northeast (TSC sells bales for $13-25 each). $5 for the older ones, that are not feed grade but probably bedding and whatever else older hay is used for, doesn't seem unreasonable, although I could see negotiating it down if it was a concern.

I figure that with the cost of doing business in these parts, paying a few extra % to actually HAVE a local hay guy instead of 150 new neighbors is worth it.

I need to dig up a tape measure and get the dimensions on this composter...I don't think wood have been competitive for the size. Even when I was getting free pallets on the regular, just the cost in T-posts, screws, and zip ties would have added up fast on something this size.