Re: New Forum: Mel's Soap Box! Discussion Thread

[Gunny]

Mel, maybe you can answer my question of: "What is the difference between rabbit and horse poo?" tread. I would really appreciate the knowhow before I do something really not good for my garden. Thank you

[RoOsTeR]

Mel, maybe you can answer my question of: "What is the difference between rabbit and horse poo?" tread. I would really appreciate the knowhow before I do something really not good for my garden. Thank you

Gunny, to avoid confusion and for sake of discussion, you should be able to find the information you need in the link I posted in the thread you started asking this question.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t14694-what-is-the-difference-between-rabbit-and-horse-poo#151508

[Lavender Debs]

Well, I think you have to start with not using steer manure, as Mel says in his original post.

The only reason cited was because it was from a slaughter house... that doesn't make any sense to me why cow/steer manure from feed lots would not be acceptable if it's composted.

My $0.02

I read about a weird frenzy over not getting GMO products in the home or garden. I'm not going to touch on how difficult it is to get GMO seed as a small gardener, but GMO products are a whole different ball game. Bagged fecal matter, from cows, bulls or steers IS a GMO product. Agro business grows the corn that is fed to the beef and dairy cows that produce the fecal matter. It is a secondary product. This is in my top 5 reasons for not putting it into my garden anymore. I am trying to figure out how to get it out of my chicken feed on a small lot with a smaller budget.

Just in case you wonder what else is in the top 5 reasons for not using bovine fecal matter: #5-shipping, #4-chemicals and antibiotics, #3-salts, #1-animal cruelty.

[Turan]

I am trying to figure out how to get it out of my chicken feed on a small lot with a smaller budget.

I buy local grown organic barley or wheat according to the prices. They do fine with that plus lots of greens and a few meaty bones.

Someone I know who raises organic eggs for the restaurants gets her pelleted feed shipped from Payback in Oregon. Rogue at grange coop has an organic line of feeds as well.

[Lavender Debs]

Thanks Turan, that is helpful. I was put off by price in my town.... $17.00 for 50 lbs of regular (GMO) feed that smells sort of like a pharmacy. $49.95 for 20 lbs certified organic.

I tried growing some but could hardly grow a months worth in town. I don't have enough grass for free range. I am interested in raising maggots (gross, I know, but there is supposta be a "kind" that peeps are raising just for city chickens) I have no idea where to start with that or what the environmental impact would be if some of the "feed" escaped.

[llama momma]

How about mealworms?? Don't know how nutritious it is for chickens but you can raise them indoors too. I've seen plenty of info online sometime ago. I considered it for the outdoor birds as fresh winter food. It somehow got away from me and I didn't follow through.

[plantoid]

DEB's .. chook feed .
Feed loads of greens as often as you can , grow more muck worms but try and use a four inch deep covering of rotting carrots and other pulped veg matter plus neat rabbit muck if you can .
My mate had six worm beds , six feet wide by three wooden 27 foot telegraph poles long by two laid down poles high . He ran a herd of 200 breeding rabbits for meat purposes .

He'd layer the veg mater with the manure and work along the beds in sequence . Ok he was selling most of his worm for stabilizing coalmine spoil dump heaps but he had enough to spare to feed 20 odd egg layers .
He grew a massive bed of kale and one of comfrey , then when able also feed his semi free range chooks on that .

His feeding of worms was simple , he'd remove he 1/2" mesh chicken wire coverings off a bed & let the chooks at it.

[Gunny]

An old fisherman's trick for getting maggots is to take a piece of meat and tie it to a string and then tie it up somewhere handy. Get a can and suspend it below the meat. Check every few days and get the maggots that fall from the meat. Replenish meat as needed. Hope this helps a little.

[CapeCoddess]

Bagged fecal matter, from cows, bulls or steers IS a GMO product. Agro business grows the corn that is fed to the beef and dairy cows that produce the fecal matter. It is a secondary product. This is in my top 5 reasons for not putting it into my garden anymore.

Just in case you wonder what else is in the top 5 reasons for not using bovine fecal matter: #5-shipping, #4-chemicals and antibiotics, #3-salts, #1-animal cruelty.

Amen, sistah!

CC

[gwennifer]

...I am interested in raising maggots (gross, I know, but there is supposta be a "kind" that peeps are raising just for city chickens) I have no idea where to start with that or what the environmental impact would be if some of the "feed" escaped.

Hey Debs, check out this article: Soldier Fly Larvae. They work as cheap chicken food, plus they work your compost (meat and fats included). I am intrigued, but scared of being overrun by flies if I procrastinated getting the maggots out and fed to the chickens.

[Kelejan]

My friend who runs a bird rehab centre breeds what she call bugs. I know that is not their proper name, I will have to ask her what kind they are and get some tips. I do know that they are kept in the dark, they are in shallow trays covered with sawdust and that they are further covered with those grey egg cartons. Oh, and they wiggle they are offered to the birds. (I don't blame the critturs.)

She tried to teach me to feed the birds, then finally handed me over to a bird that had been there for some years and knew how to handle greenies like me. We got along fine then.

[plantoid]

An old fisherman's trick for getting maggots is to take a piece of meat and tie it to a string and then tie it up somewhere handy. Get a can and suspend it below the meat. Check every few days and get the maggots that fall from the meat. Replenish meat as needed. Hope this helps a little.

If you put a trash can with about two inches of damp peat and saw dust in it inder the meat , the maggots will cleanse themselves and put a bit of special nitrients into the material which is great for composting .
The maggots cvan be separated quite easily every few days by spreading the stuff out on a sheet of wriggly tin at an steep angle .. they tend to go down to the metal so it's just a case of moving the top stuff off and sweeping whats left into a bucket and then feeding it to the chooks then composting the sweepings.
& adding more peat etc to the trash can .

[Lavender Debs]

Who'da thunk? Put a verb, a subject and a direct object into the you-tube search and you find that peeps have already made the darndest videos.



Thanks all, for your way kewl ideas!!

[plantoid]

That's very simple & excedingly handy , especially if you add bolted on legs to keep the footprint down and make it a lot more stable .

[gwennifer]

Love it. Thanks Debs.

[jazzycat]

Interesting thread. I would just like to point out, since someone mentioned GMOs in cows and someone else mentioned alfalfa, alfalfa has been approved as a GMO crop and has been for some time. I don't know what percentage of it is currently grown that way, just giving you the heads up in case you didn't know.

I could've done without the maggot talk though. YUCK! *gag*

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