DIY Pine Shavings

[WV_Chicken]

So we took our christmas tree down last night and I had a great idea. I guess it goes to show how chicken math infects a person. I came up with the idea of buying a wood chipper so I could shred up our christmas tree and use the pine shavings for bedding, then I could offer to pickup anyones trees for free. Then I'd have free shavings. Then the wife shot it down by saying, "Yeah spend $1000 to save a few dollars of shavings." LOL

 

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

Just think of all the recycling you would be doing, and free shavings to boot, IDK, I'd go for it! Isn't chicken math grand! I would have a hard time selling the idea to my husband, but I'm sure he'd come around eventually hehehe.

 

[abhaya]

lol just think of all the money you could make selling shavings to people!!!!!

well at least I tried

 

[Judy]

Best see what you could get for free first. It used to be fairly easy around here to stock the woodpile by offering to cut up and remove fallen or cut down trees. Not any more. People are using their wood.

 

[greenSearcher]

Now stop and think! No one has included the cost of fuel to run the chipper.

I have a chipper that has set idle for 2 years now. I got it with the idea of chipping all the wood clearings from when they cleared the land, and the year they built the house I did chip up about 3 cubic yards of chips, but since I just haven't felt up to the noise, effort and gas.

So here is the question, can I chip the mesquite and use it for bedding? Are the thorns sufficiently chopped up to not damage the chickens and second is mesquite too aromatic (like cedar) for their good health? I still have a two story stack of wood, primarily mesquite at the back edge of the cleared 2 acres, and we have been burning from it now for the third winter. (DH gets to buy 1 full cord of wood - cut, delivered and stacked a year and after that the check book vanishes. I told him once we have cleaned the dead wood form the whole 5 acres we can think about buying more cord wood)

But chicken math... applied to everyday living does provide great solutions. "For sale, CHEAP! The best, fully natural soil amendment, cherished by the avid gardeners. Only $5 for 2 cu ft. Check calendar for availability."

 

[thechickenchick]

Quote:

Oh my goodness!! Are oyu related to my husband by any chance? That is his exact logic

 

[kristim23]

OMG, do all husbands share this way of thinking?? Mine just said yesterday, hey , I found this portable shower thing and it heats the water! ???????????? We have a camp with plumbing!!! And a water heater!!!!

That being said, if you could find one for cheap/trade on CL or something, and you know in advance where you would get the wood, why not? Especially if you know of areas where a lot of logging/timbering is done, they usually leave TONS of branches, etc. behind, all you have to do is ask the property owner, they may be happy for you to take it. Worth looking into!

 

[HorizonSon]

I must be a complete idiot... But... I thought shavings, not chips, were much more ideal for bedding. To the extent that I thought chips were a bad idea... Am I losing it?... I know I sure as hell would not want to lay in bedding of wood chippings.

 

[WV_Chicken]

A good chipper will have settings to adjust the size it makes.

 

[FireTigeris]

All pine is bad for animals to breath anyhow...

not sure about firs (Frasier firs are very popular trees)

I just put the whole thing stand and all in the run...