Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

Hmm. Well, in today's Tropical Chickies episode of "Bad things the so-called First World does to the Global South" -- you may be interested to know that post industrialized wealthy countries export millions of metric tonnes of plastic waste to developing countries, much of it illegally.

https://grist.org/equity/rich-count...o-the-developing-world-as-previously-thought/

Of course, a lot of it ends up in the ocean and other completely inappropriate places. However, some plucky people in the Global South are finding very good uses for it. In India, companies are recycling it into affordable shoes. Here in Ecuador, construction material companies are manufacturing "eco wood" by hyper compressing plastic trash into very dense and strong boards, vigas, columns, flooring, "tiles" etc. My partner and I just invested a bit of money in some for building a water tower, and it's great stuff. Anything built with wood in a tropical rainforest is a termite/mite/wasp/ant hotel unless constantly treated with chemicals -- and even then, they get in. Not to mention toxic molds and mildews. Bamboo does better and can be treated with lime or boric acid, which are better choices environmentally. But I'm all about using the plastic waste stream and this "eco wood" is really strong and durable. So... It depends on the plastic.

I love my earthbags/cob coop but I'm definitely planning to build another coop with the eco wood. And quickly too, with these baby roos growing fast.

Besides, what we call wood is really trees. And more of them need to stay in the ground.
View attachment 3536905
^"eco wood" made from compressed plastic trash

Why does it say "Redmi Note 8 AI Quad Camera" in the bottom left corner of the photo?
I'm going to guess Xiaomi is taking advantage of you.

 

[notabitail]

Sure you can join the rooster club, when and if he gets to be a rooster.

I think he is a rooster.

 

[BDutch]

Want to know more about the environmental impact of materials?
https://www.materialepyramiden.dk/
Its a Danish site.

 

[Shadrach]

I had a few red mites + mite eggs in it in the second year I had chickens. The mites and eggs were all sitting under the bark of a roost/branch and in a large crack in another roost. Threw away the branche, cleaned everything. I used diatomaceous earth. Dusted the girls with it once (very carefully). And used it as a paint on the roost and in the inside of the coop. Hoping that the eggs I missed would die from the DE.
I reapply the DE 2 x a year.
Never had a infestation after this one, that was just starting to develop.

Ad a preservative I use a natural, black fungi paint. It needs linseed oil applying it and needs more oil every two years.
This flimsy coop I bought is 11 years old now (used it as a rabbit hunch first). It started to leak etc.. Made a new larger roof on top snd needed to make several other improvements. Also made an extension to it. This coop is not good quality and I am surprised it hasn’t fallen to pieces. The roof really is a life savvier.

PS, I wil always prefer wood over any kind of plastic because of the environmental pollution and in general plastic I find plastics ugly. But I use it too, because plastic is often very convenient.
Recycling it, is a good thing. I didn’t say the recycled plastic coops are a no go. It’s just not my kind of thing.

There is also lots of greenwashing going on in the so cold ‘ocean plastic’ products. But wood isn’t always good/what they say it is too (unlabelled/false labelled tropical rainforest).

PS2
I have no problems with damp in my coop.

I can pretty much guarantee that anyone who has had a red mite infestation in a complex built wooden coop still has them. That's why people burn their wooden coops in the UK and many places in Europe. Even with some of the more effective chemicals red mite once they taken hold are almost impossible to get rid of.....unless you have a plastic coop of course.

 

[Shadrach]

I think he is a rooster.

Nope, he's a cockerel if he's male. You'll know when he's a rooster.

 

[Shadrach]

Want to know more about the environmental impact of materials?
https://www.materialepyramiden.dk/
Its a Danish site.

That's just the CO2 costs. There's a lot more to environmental impact than that.

 

[RoyalChick]

I don't know about the eco wood but the recycled plastic coop i have can be recycled.

Yes - the lumber I use can be recycled too.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Size is the only current drawback as far as I can see for those who insist that a hen needs four square feet in the coop. Why people have got stuck on this standard leaves me banging my head in frustration. Look at the roosting pictures I've posted in the thread. That is what four square feet in the coop per hen looks like when there are only five chickens and Henry counts for two. Most of the roosting space is wasted.
Again it's ignorance gone viral. If the chickens get out during the day they don't need all that space in the coop. What they need is space and shelter in the run and for many the run is almost an afterthought.

Gonna poke in here with a question, been reading this thread a bit (was actually a goal before I even joined BYC to read this whole thread, don't remember how far I got...).
How much space do you plan for if the chickens are out all day? Almost every one of my chickens is out from 9ish in the morning to 5-7 in the evening. I have things I don't really call "coops" they're more like runs/pens, and I don't feel their over-crowded but am always conscious to keep the numbers low. But if I let the chickens decide which pens to sleep in (leave them out till dark and just go close doors) they sometimes cram as many can fit on the perches.

Because I can't find my picture of them crammed on the perch on my phone here's a random one

 

[RoyalChick]

Want to know more about the environmental impact of materials?
https://www.materialepyramiden.dk/
Its a Danish site.

That is interesting. It doesn't differentiate between new and recycled (eg on the sheet metals).
I was surprised by concrete which I thought had a much greater CO2 footprint.
I don't see the kind of recycled plastic we are talking about on there unfortunately.
I would love to see a more comprehensive analysis covering total environmental impact.

 

[notabitail]

Nope, he's a cockerel if he's male. You'll know when he's a rooster.

But...
If all chickens usually roost, does that not make them ROOSTers?