Peat moss in brooder box - GREAT

[bluie]

Quote:
What Bluie said. They type faster than I do!

IF you are raising chickens to 1. raise food for your family, 2. to go Green-er, why would you use up a resource that is going to take thousands of years to replenish?

Why? Because I have no illusions of my stopping the train. You get the politicians to pass laws forbidding its continued use by 99% of the people, and then we'll talk about why I should feel "guilty" or why you should feel self-righteous. Neither you nor anyone else can tell me that they don't use oil and many other non-renewable resources.

I apologize, joebryant. It was not my intention to try to make you feel guilty, I was merely offering my humble opinion about the matter. And, if there was a real, cost effective, alternative to using gasoline in my car (don't get me started on ethanol) or natural gas for heat, I would be the first to convert.

 

[Davaroo]

Thicken up the skins there a little, folks. As another said, this is a discussion and everyone has opinions and comments. None are intended to denounce the things you choose... those are yours to live with - good or bad. Set a good example.

Peat has more than a few advantages and what, to some, may seem disadvantages. It's only well and good that all sides be presented.

I for one am gonna try it. It has been around for a long time and has had a gazillion uses and, as far as I know, it's pretty benign stuff. When Im done, out to the garden it goes.

 

[newbiecaroline]

2 Cents....place a smoke alarm close to brooder.
I moved last year and a new bag came with us which was partially opened...it was put in a shed facing a large window...yes the sun came in and it started to smolder...I just happened across it....it was put out side and hosed...didn't help...bag had to be completely ripped apart and the peat spread around on ground and hosed for a long time to put it out.
In Wales they have hills that burn all year round....due to the depth of the peat...the fire just flares up on another part of the hills....fire/heat down under smoldering.
Be careful.
I am curious however because peat just floats on water for the longest time before actually getting 'wet'....where is all the feces going till it soaks in?

 

[Chick_a_dee]

PEATMOSS IS GOD-LIKE, we used it as bedding for our horse who had SEVERE HEAVES, and it cleared up the irritation that shavings was doing to him.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I'm not sure what you mean by "...it started to smolder...", but if it were wet and composting, i.e., reaching a temperature of 170 degrees F, it had a long way to go before reaching the temperature of 400 to 600F for combustion to occur. I've seen barns burning because of stored wet hay reaching those temps. It seems to me that all the chickens would be dead long before peat moss reached compost stage with poisonous gasses and 170 degrees heat in the coop.
The only things that I'd fear having peat moss in my coop would be electrical sparks and smokers; however, it might possibly ignite from an electrical spark faster than what straw or wood shavings would.

Edit: Sorry, I forgot to answer your question about what happens to the damp poop.
When they're scratching it gets turned under and is absorbed by the peat moss, and the peat moss seems to be drying out very quickly, at least I don't see any moist spots. I've no idea of what it or shavings or leaves or paper would be like as deep litter of six-eight inches though with lots of hens and poor ventilation. I only have a couple inches in the brooder box 18"x48" with ten small chicks. And believe me, they're much happier, busy scratching, and in a much more sanitary environment than what they were on filthy kitchen paper towels. Plus, I'm safet from my wife because there is no smell now whatsoever. In fact I might live long enough to get their coop(s) built and get them out of the living room.
BTW, I'm not planning to empty/change the peat moss; maybe next week, if I see it's needed, I'll add another inch on top of what's there now.

 

[d.k]

* I love it for sand amendment here in Florida-- but this year it went from 5 to 12 dollars a bag and last I checked it was up to almost 15!!!!!

 

[joebryant]

d.k :

* I love it for sand amendment here in Florida-- but this year it went from 5 to 12 dollars a bag and last I checked it was up to almost 15!!!!!

$15 ? OUCH ! I've had two bags, one open, under the garage's four-foot eaves for several years; they're left over from when I was planting rhododendrons. $15 a bag now; that's pretty steep. What the heck though, I've already spent over $700 on these ten blue Orpington chicks, and it'll probably be more than a thousand by the time I finish all the ten easily-seperated modules for the two-section coop I'm building that can be two 4'x8'x8' high sections or one 8'x8'x8' when put together as one unit. All walls, floors, and roofs can be removed as individual sections should the need arise.
BTW, I incubated 15 blue Orpington chicks, five blue, five dark blue, and five splash. I gave away the five splashes. Probably five of the ten remaining will be roosters that I'll have to give away, so I'll end up with five hens. Uhhmmm, that's at least $200 per hen, and all my so-called-"friends" are telling me that they won't pay $80 for a dozen eggs so I can recoup my "investment". *@$^%$# cheapskates, maybe I can sell them as "super-organic", cage-free, ...​

 

[d.k]

* Yeah, I'm way more spendy for my one mutt hen than she's surely worth $$$ value wise, and the yard, too-- but that's were all the fun and love is!!!!! Wouldn't catch me paying 15 for dish soap or mopping cleaner!!

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Peat Moss is fantastic, and if you hadn't noticed.... pine shavings are EXTREMELY flamable, as is straw, hay, wood, grass, ... I could go on, so you're putting a heat lamp over shavings and you think it won't light on fire? it most certainly will.


We used Peat Moss with my horse who has severe Heaves, and it was MUCH better for him, cleaner, smells great, you don't have to change it all at once...because it clumps you can pull clumps of it out, and it kept away Thrush in a horse that was prone to it!

 

[arlee453]

My thought exactly was - OK, so peat moss is flammable but pine shavings AREN'T

I would think the bigger concern would be if the moss got damp and began to spontaneously combust. I also think that scenario is highly unlikely in a brooder full of chicks constantly stirring up the peat as they scratch through it, and with a human checking on them periodically.