Monday, April 29, 2013

Baby, it's cold outside

NEWSPAPER has wonderful insulation properties, a fact much appreciated by the feather riot here at the Jan Juc Surf Farm.

Keeping the hens warm and comfortable during these chilly nights is an important task as it will ensure they keep up their egg production now we are into autumn's home straight.

On Sunday, the old newspaper and straw in the hen house was removed and fresh newspaper was put in to line the floor . Now summer is over, it;'s also used to line the open-floor wire section. Then, a fresh pile of hay was placed on top, causing the chooks to do delirious with delight as they bounced about, eating seeds and insects from the bale.


Ledger looking for unwary insects before fresh straw went into the chook run

Fresh straw was also strewn about their run and seeing the hens stand neck deep in some parts where they had scratched the hay into a pile was hilarious - I'd have taken a photo except I was digging itn the potato bed at the time.

Newspaper is an excellent ingredient in the recycled / sustainable garden - it's cheap, effective and when saturated with chook manure can be easily recycled through the compost bins.

Ditto the straw.

Another bargain has been a $5 paper shredder fro the op-shop.

Now all the old bills, circulars and some non-coated junk mail can be converted into composting material - much faster and more efficient than standing over the bins tearing it up by hand. The shredded paper can also b good chook house insulation if you run out of straw.

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