Wind Breaks

[tdgill]

how do you search out discounted ruined hay/straw

 

[Brick243]

Katy... I just put some round bales around some of my pens a few days ago.

 

[joyous]

Here is a picture of what we did. We stapled a heavy tarp to the south side and top of the run. The run is shielded from the west and north my the barn and coop. Used tons of staples, top of run is covered with wood and wire, and stapled to that too!

 

[txchickie]

Tarps are not an option here (I live in the 2nd or sometimes 3rd windiest city in the US

) they will get shredded, so I do stacked straw bales. I can find tons of sucker rod at the dump, so I bring it home and drive it a few feet in the ground with a t-post driver, and then wire the straw bales to the sucker rod in the ground. It works well and they don't fall or blow over.

 

[tdgill]

I gotta find some straw bales cheaper than $5.

 

[patandchickens]

To find cheap rained-on hay or straw, I'd either ask at feedstore if they know anyone, or phone up local guys with 'hay/straw for sale' ads at feedstore and in paper and online and explain that you are looking for crappy bales for a windbreak. Make sure you've thought through how the bales will be delivered/moved/handled, if you're considering the big ones.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat, expecting the hay guy this very afternoon, who because he lives just down the road from us is willing (for a surcharge <g>) to drive his tractor down here so he can deliver 700-lb big squares right into the door of our barn onto a dolly for us to wheel into place. Of course that is real horse hay, not rained on

 

[tdgill]

stupid question coming up

ok, if I find rained on hay don't i have to keep it out of reach of my chickens because of them eating possibly moldy hay? or is it just an issue with them breathing mold - like in a closed environment in a coop