Pine shaving storage? ideas?

[jwood]

i have a local pine wood mill in my area and they sell their pine shavings for cheap! I can get 2 yards for $18. Judging on what TSC is selling their bags of shavings for i think its a pretty good deal to get it at the mill.

Since i would be loosing the convenience of bags getting it at the mill how do i need to store the shavings? My coop is 8X8 and i plan on using the deep litter method but I'm guess 2 yards wont fit in my coop without drowning my hens in shavings!

indoor storage is not possible and putting it all in containers would be too much. Would a large wooden bin with a lid be ok? Would the shavings "go bad" at all? I'm assuming if they are kept dry i shouldn't have any issues?

any ideas on how to store that much (or pics of how you do it) would be helpful!

Thanks!

 

[Folly's place]

If they are dry it should be okay. How about a platform and tarps? Mary

 

[aart]

For 2 yards you'd need a bin approximately 6 feet x 6 feet x 6 feet. (source)

How will you pick it up or do they deliver?

Definitely off the ground and waterproof cover....might get some critter living in there.

Wonder if you could get a big crate from an ATV/Snowmobile dealer?

 

[CrazyTalk]

For 2 yards you'd need a bin approximately 6 feet x 6 feet x 6 feet. (source)

How will you pick it up or do they deliver?

Definitely off the ground and waterproof cover....might get some critter living in there.

Wonder if you could get a big crate from an ATV/Snowmobile dealer?

6x6x6 is 216 cubic feet, which is 8 cubic yards. A cubic yard is 3x3x3. Two cubic yards would be 3x3x6.

A cubic yard stored as a cube is roughly 3'9" on each side.


As to the pricing, it depends on whether their stuff is compressed or not.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...g;-flake-premium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft

The standard $5.49 tractor supply bag is 2.5 cuft compressed, or 8 cuft once unbagged. $18 gets you almost exactly a yard (unbagged) at that price, and its already stored in a compressed (smaller), waterproof form.



2 yards in an 8x8 coop will get you roughly 10-11" deep. (2 yards is 54 cubic feet, your coop is 64 square feet)

 

[jwood]

I'm in Canada so our bags of shavings are TSC are a bit more ($6.29) per bag. Although they are a bit bigger at 78 liters instead of 70.8 liters. I didn't realize the bags expand that much...so I thought it was super cheap at the mill.

We have a trailer that we could pick up the loose shavings and I doubt they are compressed.

Not too sure what i'll do. There are 1529 liters in 2 yards...so it would take me i'm guessing about 6 bags to get that much after expanding...about $42 after taxes.

I guess for the $20 extra its worth having it in the bags....as long as it truly expands the way they say. on our bags in Canada it just says it "may expand 3x"

 

[aart]

Quote: Ahh yes, thank you! Nice breakdown of pricing too.