Bob Trow

Timothy Norton wrote:Box Elders are all over my property.

The most popular type of mushroom that grows on them is not one that I intentionally exposed them to. Golden Oyster Mushroom LOVES box elder. It just keeps flushing. It gets obnoxious because it outcompetes some other species I have tried to grow. It is good eating though!

Oh, awesome! Thank you. I’ll do some research on how to go about doing that. I just cut down a huge box elder and have tons of wood. No one wants it though because they don’t consider it good for firewood.. Same with the Spruce trees, unfortunately.

Thank you.

Hello, I’ve never inoculated wood logs to grow mushrooms (I also have zero experience growing any kind of mushrooms), but I have a bunch of spruce logs and box elder logs from trees that were just cut down. I’d like to find some use for these trees so they don’t go to waste. Would I be able to use these logs for growing mushrooms? Any recommendations on types for these logs?

Thank you.

In case anyone is wondering about the sh*t shelf set up. I like it because I have detachable doors for the bottom. If I have a sick or injured chicken or, new chicks to introduce, I can put them underneath the shelf to isolate them from the flock until everyone gets acquainted.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Timothy Norton wrote:I have found in my own local climate that straw is good for nesting boxes and that is about it.

Old straw is okay as long as it is not full of fungus/spores/dust. That can have ill effects on your chickens breathing. I think that old hay in the run would be acceptable but perhaps not in the coop where air flow is less.

That is true, Tim.  But Tractor Supply sells some very tight bales of clean straw: It is actually good enough to grow mushrooms in, so you know that there is no funky stuff in it.
What else I like is that this straw is chopped fairly fine, so it does not mat. [No long straggling length that get full of poop.]
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/greenway-farmstraw-fine-shred-animal-bedding-gwfsf20-1643695?store=194&cid=Shopping-Google-Local_Feed&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_campaign=&utm_content=Local_Feed&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAqNSsBhAvEiwAn_tmxen_-2I6U1PH736Th5vf6z3RFgQxPQeV1QLazfNOlZmlb4mbn5tilhoCrJAQAvD_BwE
This said, I use pine shavings for the floor and straw for the laying boxes: Straw is a bit warmer [but my coop his insulated and has a small ceramic heater, so it rarely goes lower than 40 F in there].
The pine shavings are easier and cheaper to remove and use as mulch in the garden once it is soiled.
But my discovery for this year is the poop shelves:
I made their roosting bars and about 6" below, I placed shelves: pieces of fairly thin plywood on which I placed a sheet of PVC [like they use in showers and bathtubs]. Once a week, I can scrape the poop into a couple of homer buckets and I empty them in next year's garden or put it on top of mulch, under the fruit trees. By doing this, I can easily keep their floor bedding clean for months [like 4-5 months]. I am due to clean it this week, but not because it is full of poop. No. It has gotten very dusty as they walk in an out with dirty feet.
Also, to keep the poop relatively dry, I sprinkle on the shelves some PDZ. It is a product to lower the ammonia in horse stalls:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/sweet-pdz-stall-refresher-25-lb-5065990?store=194&cid=Shopping-Google-Local_Feed&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_campaign=&utm_content=Local_Feed&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAqNSsBhAvEiwAn_tmxZL5Oci_dMYr0CpCdD4tcUJUbn-CgHYWZ-KSu71Ja4kczo4GMxB0FxoCBKYQAvD_BwE
At first, the chickens were trying to eat it and I was worried, but  they don't: I think it is hard for their beak to pick a fine dusting off a flat surface. a bit like trying to pick up a coin with very short nails.
Their roost are made of 2" X 4" and are slightly tilted: I discovered that by tilting them, they hang their claws over the high side, which means that their fluffy buns are in a straight row. This way, the piles of poop are also in straight rows, making them easier to scrape off.
This way, I keep all my birds nice smelling, dry and warm in the winter and I save myself a lot of work and money.
The eggs I sell are also cleaner, although I have a couple of girls who will deposit one right in the poop, once in a while! Those just can't be sold!

The poop shelf! Or as I call it, the sh*t shelf. I’m a huge fan of this idea. Mine is full of fine pine shavings and then I use a sifting shovel to sift out just the poop, leaving the unsoiled pine behind. Works pretty well, but takes a bit more effort.

I use 2x6 for my perches. My reasoning is simply that it gets so cold here in Wisconsin I want their toes covered completely by their feathers.

Thank you for sharing!

Richard Hanson wrote:Keep in mind most farms use an herbicide to keep the weeds out of the hay field. I've composted old coop straw in the past and it had a detrimental effect on my plants. As in, killed everything in the garden; The herbicide can take up to three years to break down. Serious. I put up a post here regarding that experience. I was going to use Alfalfa this year, but that was $28/bale, so I baled on that and picked up the straw yesterday for the chickens.

It seems to be okay in the nesting boxes.

Yes! This is a huge concern of mine because I’m composting the straw. This straw in particular comes from an organic farm so I know it hasn’t been sprayed. I pulled the bales out of his barn loft. I just don’t know how old they are….

Thank you!

Thank you! I don’t think I saw any mold, but I’ll take a closer look. Thank you for the replies!

Hello, I use straw in my run to keep the chickens out of the mud in the winter. I also use it in the coop for warmth. I got some bales from a farmer yesterday and when I got them home to have a look, they look kinda old.. Is it safe to use older straw in the coop? Should I be worried about anything? Thank you.

Thank you all for the replies and helpful information. I’m excited to get started. I just finished my chicken coop, we have 12 chickens. They are giving me plenty of raw material to work with for composting lol. If I can get their bedding to break down enough, it will go into my hugels as well. I think this year will be a small test year. I’m also up North in Wisconsin so, we’ll see how weather impacts the garlic/hugels. I’ll keep you posted. It will probably be at least another month before I start getting them built. Lots of other work to do yet. Thank you.

Hi Robin,

Thank you for that input! It’s very encouraging. I was starting to wonder if I should just plant them traditionally in the ground. Do you mind me asking how long your hugels are? Or, their overall size? If I can get enough seed stock ideally I’d like to plant 600 cloves this Autumn, but I’m not sure how big/long my hugels will need to be to accommodate that many cloves.

Thank you!

Hello,
I’m new to Permies and new to Hugelkultur. I have about 1.5 acres and it’s full of trees which were planted by the previous owner. I plan to keep most of them, but I also plan to cull about 20-30 to make the property more usable. I don’t want the trees to go to waste so I was thinking of using them for Hugelkultur.
The trees are a mix of Box Elder and Spruce trees.

I would also like to start a garlic farm, so I thought it would be a neat idea to start a farm using Hugelkultur.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with hugels and garlic? Are there any podcasts, YouTubes, or books you would recommend? Im sure there’s a wealth of information here as well and I do intend on reading through.

Thank you for your time.