Misers Among Us!

[Rozzie]

In many different threads, we have bits and pieces of ideas about how to SAVE $ while engaging in raising or keeping quail.

I thought it might be useful for us to gather many of these ideas together.

So, how do YOU go about saving your hard earned $ while keeping your birds healthy, well-housed, and happy?

Let's take care to play nice here.

Edited to add:
I have some things I will share later. I want to let someone else go first, though.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Used old Reg size file cabinet file holder- the metal rods. Used ends and cut them off to use as the latches for the Breeder pens. Use them with threaded Eye Bold to secure. Love that set up and was free odds and ends around here. But now I will have to buy some more bolts.

All the wood used in pen and brooder making was scrape wood from other projects or left overs. Most expensive part is the 1/2'' x 1/2'" hardware cloth and I buy that by the 100' roll to save money and have on hand for other projects. But I am running low on 12" now.

Tarps instead of a solid building to enclose the pens in. For now.

I started using empty kleenex boxes for sand boxes but they peck through them in about a week. Cut down litter pail to use as dustbaths, or old plastic shoe boxes. Plastic works best.

PVC Feeders - Cut holes into and wood ends for feeders in Growout pen and Breeder Cages. I have quite a mixture of feeders.

Empty water bottles (sturdy- Wal Mart) ) with the popbottle water cups. Great for outdoors.


Sorry but what you get for a few dollars, around here cost Big Bucks at flea markets, Craigslist, garage sales. Nothing is cheap here. I might as well buy new. I can however buy OLD quail cages, for $25-$35 each. I can make new cheaper.

 

[Rozzie]

I've used cut down pieces of bike innertubes to make handles. Screw down with a scrap bolt or two leftover from other projects.

Also, of course, the old standard single piece of scrap wood that swivels on one screw. Have to be careful with that one to make sure you close it tightly.

My birds love odd pieces of firewood to hide behind.

Just finished taking out all of the wood pellet bedding from a big pen (4x4). Sifted it through a wood /wire screen (1/4 inch hardware wire) & picked out any big chunks of stuff. Tossed it back in & topped with a light layer of fresh wood pellets. Saved the cost of 2-3 bags of bedding. I'm going to do that with button quail bedding from now on, too. There is no reason I can't recycle that by running it through the coturnix pen (or the rabbit or cat litter pans...)

 

[Hooligan Farm]

My pen is inside, whats a cheap and easy maintenance bottom?

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
55GAL FOOD BARRELS CUT IN HALF... PLACED UNDER THE PEN TO CATCH POO THEN SLID OUT AND TAKEN OUTSIDE TO BE HOSED CLEAN

 

[Rainwolf]

Quote:
depending on cage size you can use the political signs (coroplast board)
cut and make corners, fold, use a glue gun with no glue to melt the corners together.
voila you have a tray any size shape you want for free.

*to make bigger then one sign overlap edge and use glue gun with no glue to melt together and form one board.

 

[JJMR794]

A Big Way For Being Miserly If Available In Your Area Is To Shop Around For The Best Feed Prices. While I Wont Compromise On Quality Feed Or Content Analysis I Shop Or Have Shopped Almost To The Point Of Violent Frugality. This Yr I Was Able To Cut Total Feed Costs By 40-45% All While Maintaining Quality Feed That Suits My Standards. And It Doesnt Stop There... I Continue To Shop For Best Prices Within Reason-- Its An Ongoing Process. And I Shop Like Mad For Materials To Build Pens With As Well. Many A Handy Piece Of Surplus Materials Can Be Found On Craigslist And Places Of That Nature. I Recently Picked Up 12 8ft Landscape Timbers Locally For 5 Bucks From Craigslist... Never Used In Perfectly Fine Shape.

 

[Rozzie]

Don't forget the FREE section on Craigslist. Also, if your area has a Freecycle, don't forget about that.

 

[JJMR794]

Knowing Where To Look For Bargains Is An Invaluable Tool As Well

Used Building Material Stores, Craigslist, Dollar General Store, Big Lots, Livestock Auctions Are Some Of My Favorite Places.. All Of Which You Can Find Either Surplus / Used Materials To Build With Or In The Case Of Livestock Auctions You May Even Find Ready Built Pens For Cheap..

Planning... When I Build Ground Pens I Plan And Build In "units". Each Unit Is Meant For A Specific Purpose.... Ie Pheasant Breeding Pens, They Are Built With The Design In Mind That The More Common Walls They Share The Cheaper, Easier, And Faster They Are To Build... (keep Biologic Isolation In Mind Here... Thats Why The Units Are Speces Specific--- I Would Never Build A Pheasant Pen Using Common Wall Techniques With A Chicken Pen) Many Of My Pens Are Speces Specific And Combine As Many Back To Back And Side To Side Pens As Possible. The End Result Is Less Material And Work.

Also The More You Can Reuse It The Cheaper The Expense You'll Have To Buy It... I Brood In The Sterilite Tote Bins. I Shop Big Lots And Dollar General Stores For Best Prices On Them. They Are Reuseable Many Times Over And The More Times I Reuse The More Value The Dollars I Spent On It Have. For Bedding I Use Old Towels(reuseable) Until Spraddle Leg Is No Longer A Concern, Then I Switch Them Over To Newspaper... I Have Everyone I Know That Eats Eggs Or Subscribes To The Newspapers Save These Items For Me-- Its All Free. I Also Shop Both Big Lots And Dollar General For The Best Prices On Poly Tarps When I Need Them, Zip Ties, Hinges, Door Latching Mechanisms, Etc, Etc, Etc...

Remember My Led X-mas Lights For Winter Laying? Big Lots... Week After Christmas! Suuuupppppper Cheap

Same Is True Of The Light Timers I Use. Also You Can Get The Small Undercabinet Flourescent Lights There Which Work Great For Rabbit Hutch Type Pens... And Finiky Speces (my Butlers Wont Lay Under Anything Other Than Full Spectrum Flourescents) They Usually Have Bleach As Cheap As You'll Find It Too, And For Sterilizing/ Cleaning Bird Care Items You Wont Find A Better Substance Than Bleach. Oh Yeah, The Detergent I Use On Those Towels In Last Paragraph... The Cheap Stuff From Dollar General--- Babies Dont Care They're Just Gonna Poop On Them Anyways... When Laundered Those Towels Get Hung Out To Dry On My Clotheslines, Rather Than In My Dryer Which Uses Electricity.

Miserness/frugality Is Not An Afterthought, It Is A Way Of Life.

 

[Robo]

For cage materials I go around construction sites and new buildings and pick lumber out of the dumpsters. Once I even found an old baker's rack in the trash and picked it up. I put wire over it that was once lining a deck to keep animals out. For rabbit bedding I collect sawdust from all of my projects, and I pick pine and cedar branches off of trees to hang in cages to keep the smell down. Instead of putting poop in garbage bags or cans I pile it in the woods and then put it over my garden. I also put egg shells under my seeds. I save the hides off of the animals that I catch trying to get a free meal. When I see wood chips on the side of the road I stop and shovel them up to use as bedding. I use big cardboard boxes from Christmas trees or TVs as brooders. I also go behind the guy stocking eggs at Walmart or Krogers to pick up the big cartons that they ship eggs in and then put into smaller cartons. When I cover my pens on the ground to get shade I use old bed sheets. When I see old Christmas trees laying around I pick them up and strip them bare to use the leaves to cover the scent in my brooder shed. When I make breeder cages that need to be moved a lot I use bicycle tires. For my chickens I use lawn clippings for bedding instead of straw. The list can go on forever.