Windbreak Ideas Please

[IamRainey]

Straw bales make such an excellent wind barrier, they build houses out of them. Cheap and long lasting.

Here's another vote for a straw bale. I've got a step-up coop and I got a bale to use as a step to get in there. A year later it's still intact and stable. I can feel low spots and soft spots. I'm gonna have to invest another $7 any day now. But I can't believe how that thing's held up!

When I have to replace it I'll spread it in the nesting boxes and run as bedding or add some of it to the compost pile. Some people even gouge out a hole and plant in them!

 

[azygous]

I had a neighbor friend build a coop out of straw bales. She stacked them five feet high inside a dog kennel enclosure. But look at big truck/trailer rigs transporting bales. I confess I get plenty nervous on the highway when one passes me.

When they build with them, they start with a cement foundation with steel rebar sticking up. The first couple layers of bales get impaled on these. I doubt you need rebar, though for just three layers. I have straw bales stacked near my garden beds for use as mulch and they are stacked about three high and never are affected by the wind blowing them over, although an occasional cow or bear will knock one down trying to use the stack as a back scratcher.