freemotion
Food Guru
Here's something I never thought of.....one of the big, fancier boarding stables I go to every other week to massage horses has a small pile in the back aisle near the hay/shavings storage that looked like aisle sweepings. It never seemed to go away much, so I asked the manager if they threw it out or what they did with it. She said she lets it pile up and sometimes someone comes to get it for their chicken coop.....So I put some lawn and leaf bags in my trunk and yesterday came home with 6 stuffed bags, enough to definitely bed my new turkey pen quite thickly, and hopefully I'll get more for my spring coop cleaning.
I usually have to buy bagged shavings when I run out of fall leaves. It kills me to spend the money on "trash!"
If you find a stable near you that you can glean from, just be sure to ask if the farrier (horse shoer) sweeps his trimmings, including the tips of the nails he cuts off when shoeing, into the pile. You won't want to take that.
My score is a mix of hay bits from throwing bales down, and shavings from the bulk load they get. In the fancier stables, the stalls are always kept "white," so they wouldn't use these clean but darker mixed shavings and hay.
I have another stable I go to that I am going to ask for their hay scraps, too. They should compost nicely with the chicken/food scrap system I am considering, as Vermont Compost Company mixes food scrap with hay.
I usually have to buy bagged shavings when I run out of fall leaves. It kills me to spend the money on "trash!"
If you find a stable near you that you can glean from, just be sure to ask if the farrier (horse shoer) sweeps his trimmings, including the tips of the nails he cuts off when shoeing, into the pile. You won't want to take that.
My score is a mix of hay bits from throwing bales down, and shavings from the bulk load they get. In the fancier stables, the stalls are always kept "white," so they wouldn't use these clean but darker mixed shavings and hay.
I have another stable I go to that I am going to ask for their hay scraps, too. They should compost nicely with the chicken/food scrap system I am considering, as Vermont Compost Company mixes food scrap with hay.