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Post by spike2 on Mar 26, 2017 15:01:41 GMT -5
Of which I have none BUT I live within spittin distance of a huge chicken farm. Now people are always complaining about the smell of chicken poo. Yeah, let the sun come out after a gentle rain and good lord and butter . . . whoo eeee. Well today the people that complained learned that yes it can get worse. HUGE pile of poo caught on fire. The chickens were all fine, the poo was in a huge pile outside. But nothing the smell of freshly burning chicken poo. May the wind continue to blow south!!
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 26, 2017 16:38:02 GMT -5
EUUUU I only have ten hens so not such a problem here. I never knew chicken poo could burn. Yuk.
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Post by spike2 on Mar 26, 2017 18:21:54 GMT -5
Well they do have over 30,000 chickens there so that is a lot of chicken poo. They sell to Perdue.
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Post by martywny on Apr 11, 2017 9:28:22 GMT -5
We have a large chicken farm here producing Eggland's Best eggs and I never noticed any smell or manure piles around it. They have about 1000 acres or so but I don't think they spread any manure, must have someone hauling it off for processing into fertilizer. I would love to get some for the garden!
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 11, 2017 9:48:31 GMT -5
I would love to get some for the garden! Stop by or call them and ask! We had a horse farm not too far from us, when we had the orchard. They were thrilled to let us take a flat bed trailer full of manure any time we wanted. They even loaded it for us with their backhoe!
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Post by martywny on Apr 11, 2017 10:34:13 GMT -5
We had a horse farm not too far from us desertwoman There is a horse farm about 10 miles from me and they are selling composted horse manure for $20 a yard pick up and $30 a yard delivered. I want to get some for my raised beds because you can plant right in it. I would mix it 50/50 with topsoil I think.
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 11, 2017 18:20:54 GMT -5
Wow. I guess times have changed martywny. We got ours for free!
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Post by gardendmpls on May 16, 2017 5:55:46 GMT -5
Our chicken coop didn't have an odor until we used straw instead of hay on top of the snow, so they could walk comfortably in the winter. The straw, mixed with everything else, made an impenetrable layer where water pooled. We are now digging out the layer of straw/dirt/poop and replacing it with sand so we can sit by the chickens again and enjoy breathing deeply.
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Post by brownrexx on May 16, 2017 9:42:48 GMT -5
We just moved our entire chicken coop and their outdoor run back about 12 feet to a new area. The outdoor run was about 6 inches deep with compacted chicken poop. It didn't really stink and it just looked like dirt but we knew otherwise and it was just not sanitary.
It was a muddy horrible job but both us and the chickens are so happy with the finished job. They have totally new soil and grass under both their pen and the 2 outdoor runs and their coop is now clean and fresh again. Spot went broody and we bought her some fertile eggs last week. She continued to sit on them and didn't bat an eye while hubby picked up the entire coop with his skid loader and moved it.
Hubby got his garden tractor and dug up all of the yucky poopy, compacted soil and took it to the compost pile and we raked and planted grass in that area. The chickens promptly proceeded to start eating the grass seed. Grrr. Well I'm sure that they didn't eat it all so hopefully it will grass over soon.
It was a big mess to do this job but it was very satisfying to have such a nice clean area and now I can concentrate on gardening.
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Post by gardendmpls on May 16, 2017 21:37:25 GMT -5
Wish I had your space. Chicken coop will have to stay put.
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Post by Mumsey on May 17, 2017 5:26:36 GMT -5
Speaking of manure, there are a couple of those hog confinement setups not far from us. From time to time you see big huge tanker trucks with spray things on the back end. They take the sludge from the holding area and spread the manure on fields. It's stinky to get behind one of those on the road..... Poop is big business.
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 17, 2017 9:32:29 GMT -5
I laugh every time I deliver to this area in Deptford where they built some upscale homes right across from an area that reeks of manure, esp in the summer.
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Post by brownrexx on May 17, 2017 9:38:06 GMT -5
they built some upscale homes right across from an area that reeks of manure, esp in the summer. It probably reeked of manure before they built the homes too and after they built them the residents probably started complaining. That's what happened around here. The area where I live is pretty rural and sometimes it smells like manure when the farmers are spreading it but I just figure that they were here first and I am grateful for farms so I just keep the windows shut and run the AC. People want to live "out in the country" but don't want smells, bugs, weeds in their grass, skunks, no sidewalks or street lights, etc., etc. It drives me crazy.
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 17, 2017 11:20:08 GMT -5
Yes, that place reeked long before the houses were built, and actually, where the houses were built was a farm area when I was growing up (as were most of the developments in the area). The pig farms in Deptford were notorious, and we always knew when the winds were coming from the east! And, later, in that same area, the infamous Kinsley landfill created constant unpleasant aroma.
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Post by brownrexx on May 18, 2017 8:30:05 GMT -5
We had a chicken surprise this morning. We let our chickens free range almost every evening for several hours. We let them out about 4 pm and then they return to the coop for bed just before dark. One of us goes out and closes up the coop for the night and lately hubby has been doing that.
Last night I went out just before dark and watered my garden plants and then came in and got a shower. Then we sat down and relaxed together and watched some TV. I thought that hubby took care of the chickens while I was in the shower.
This morning hubby opened the connecting door to the garage and said "were you outside this morning?" I said "No, Who put the chickens to bed last night?" fully believing that it was him and that he had forgotten to close out outside garage door when he came back indoors. He says " Oh, I guess that I forgot to close the door"
A few minutes later he returns to the house and says "to answer your question about who put the chickens to bed - nobody!"
They must have gone to bed in their coop, got up and hopped out the open door again this morning and are outside now digging and taking dirt baths under the bushes. Everyone was OK. No predators visited. Spot is still sitting safely on her eggs. Whew.
Since it is supposed to be 90 degrees again today they will probably spend most of the day laying in the shade which will be nice for them and I will be home all day so I will be here in case any dogs try to get them.
In the several years that we have had chickens this is only the second time that this has happened. The other time, we didn't forget them, we just didn't latch the one door securely and it blew open so they let themselves out. We came out to go to work in the morning and found our chickens pecking around in the yard!
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