INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kabhyper1]

Here is the start (stupid rain!) of 1of 2 A frame tractors. It's footprint is 8' x 7-1/2' and its 5' tall at the peak. It will be covered in 2"x4" welded wire fence. With the back half cover in steel siding for a shelter. They will first work up an area for our garden then they will be moved out to an area of our hay field to finish growing out. Hopefully the rain holds off a little while longer so I can finish at least one today!

Awesome! Any pips yet on the eggies?

 

[raisinemright]

Awesome! Any pips yet on the eggies? 

Nope I haven't candled them but no external yet! The kids and I did get to put one section of fence on the tractor and then it rained again lol. I think an hour long project is going to take a afternoon or two!!

 

[ChickCrazed]

Not sure what to do other than make a compost pile that your chickens can get to scratching in.

But so that it does not happen again you might look into premier ones hay feeders. it is a set of walls that minimizes the round bale waste.

LOL this was WITH a hay feeder! Horses are such pigs and SUPER wasteful! I need to get a slow feeding net to thwart them next year in addition to the feeder.

It would be the biggest compost pile EVER. It is easily the size of a very large shed. I just don't have enough space to keep it! I'm going to have to light it up and take the risk I guess

If the ground would stay firm for more than a day (never going to happen) I could haul it by tractor to the back of the property and dump it there, but it would take about 20 trips and I only get about 24 hours of dry ground every 14 days or so.

 

[ellymayRans]

I agree with the compost idea! Organic fertilizer too!

We till ours into the garden.. we don't have large livestock though but we still pile it all year then the following in the garden it goes.

I'll ask my mom what they do. They have cattle & horses.

You said hay! My bad. We do that with straw. Hay has too many seeds, not good for putting in the garden directly.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

I have a general livestock question for those of you that keep large livestock. I have a TON of wasted leftover hay from the round bales I fed the horses all winter. The grass won't grow through it since it is so deep, I pushed it into several huge hay mountains. There is so much that I am nervous to burn it, I feel it could get out of control quickly. I called the fire department and they were no help, basically said not to burn it because they have had so many field fires start this way, but they didn't have any options for getting rid of it. What do you guys do? It would take me a year to bag/throw it away. I don't know what to do with it!

It is pretty gross stuff, they peed and pooped on it all winter so I can't see anything consuming it at this point, I need to get rid of it!

LOL this was WITH a hay feeder! Horses are such pigs and SUPER wasteful! I need to get a slow feeding net to thwart them next year in addition to the feeder.

It would be the biggest compost pile EVER. It is easily the size of a very large shed. I just don't have enough space to keep it! I'm going to have to light it up and take the risk I guess

If the ground would stay firm for more than a day (never going to happen) I could haul it by tractor to the back of the property and dump it there, but it would take about 20 trips and I only get about 24 hours of dry ground every 14 days or so.

too bad you don't have the space to compost it -- that was my vote too!

 

[raisinemright]

LOL this was WITH a hay feeder!  Horses are such pigs and SUPER wasteful!  I need to get a slow feeding net to thwart them next year in addition to the feeder. 

It would be the biggest compost pile EVER.  It is easily the size of a very large shed.  I just don't have enough space to keep it!  I'm going to have to light it up and take the risk I guess   If the ground would stay firm for more than a day (never going to happen) I could haul it by tractor to the back of the property and dump it there, but it would take about 20 trips and I only get about 24 hours of dry ground every 14 days or so.

Just burn it. It's i am assuming to wet to blaze up in flames so it will just smolder for a day or two. Wet hay/straw is not the easiest thing to keep burning. Just keep a hose at the ready. Good luck!

 

[ellymayRans]

Here is the start (stupid rain!) of 1of 2 A frame tractors. It's footprint is 8' x 7-1/2' and its 5' tall at the peak. It will be covered in 2"x4" welded wire fence. With the back half cover in steel siding for a shelter. They will first work up an area for our garden then they will be moved out to an area of our hay field to finish growing out. Hopefully the rain holds off a little while longer so I can finish at least one today!

I spent this morning at our local RK and called the Bloomington one and neither have the 1×2 welded wire! You say you're using 2x4..is that ok?

 

[hanakimi]

I have a general livestock question for those of you that keep large livestock. I have a TON of wasted leftover hay from the round bales I fed the horses all winter. The grass won't grow through it since it is so deep, I pushed it into several huge hay mountains. There is so much that I am nervous to burn it, I feel it could get out of control quickly. I called the fire department and they were no help, basically said not to burn it because they have had so many field fires start this way, but they didn't have any options for getting rid of it. What do you guys do? It would take me a year to bag/throw it away. I don't know what to do with it!

It is pretty gross stuff, they peed and pooped on it all winter so I can't see anything consuming it at this point, I need to get rid of it!

I don't have large animals but what about seeding it with edible mushroom spores. I swear i watched a tv show on mushroom growing and it had them in straw with urine as the growing medium and i was teasing my siblings that eat mushrooms what they were raised in.

 

[raisinemright]

I spent this morning at our local RK and called the Bloomington one and neither have the 1×2 welded wire! You say you're using 2x4..is that ok?

It will be for my meat birds to grow out in.
I have seen coons pull chickens through chicken wire before. If they want in not much will stop them. This is built just to contain the birds. I don't have to many predator issues. If I had a roll of hardware cloth instead of the fence I would have definitely used it instead. But this should work for me.

 

[kabhyper1]

Quote:
That sucks. Just keep an eye on the silkie eggs, they are almost always early hatchers. If they don't hatch early, then they are super late. lol I have no idea why.