|
Post by mikemurphy on Jan 6, 2009 20:52:43 GMT 8
I take sustainable to mean replacing what you use so it doesn't ultimately become scarce or non-existant. I guess by breeding we replace the chooks we eat, but the chook feed is probably using up raw materials and energy. We pump water from a creek, which uses petrol for the pump and we don't replace the water. On the other hand, we have lots of trees on our property, which is probably contributing to the atmosphere and helping with the ozone layer. We try to be self sufficient. We use the eggs for food, hard boiling them and using them for salads, sandwiches etc, and pickling them. We use the manure to feed our compost bins to grow vegetables and fruit trees. And we eat some of the chooks, mostly roosters we don't want and any hens that are not up to breed standard. We sell chooks and eggs and use that money to buy other food and vegetables etc. I'd love to heard from someone who knows how to use chook manure, or eggs, to generate power! We are totally solar powered, but we always have times during winter when a little extra power would help. And is there any way chook manure or anything chook related can be used to replace wood for the stove and the fireplace?
|
|
|
Post by horses7 on Jan 8, 2009 22:07:09 GMT 8
Good on you for being solar powered, I am very interested in trying to go solar at our place but trying to convince OH about it is proving to be harder than I thought, but will keep trying
|
|
ducky
New Member
Posts: 19
|
Post by ducky on Jan 11, 2009 10:22:05 GMT 8
I wouldn't use chook manure for burning as it is high in ammonia and would stink. You would be releasing the ammonia into the atmosphere which would also be nasty. Chook manure is good for the garden with the high level of nitrogen which can promote good growth.
|
|
|
Post by rap on Feb 9, 2009 20:08:45 GMT 8
RE chook manure for fuel. John seymour book self-sufficiency ,isbn0-7513-6442-8 page 249 . How to build a methane digester using differant types of animal waste including chook.Half cubic foot chook poo can produce 300btu of gas.I hope you find this of interest .He was great author 1 of many self sufficiency books he wrote.
|
|
|
Post by lakelands on Feb 9, 2009 21:29:21 GMT 8
sounds like a good author to add to the list. I would love to be completely self sufficient however setting anything like that up involves getting OH to do the work and somehow don't think that's going to happen any time soon lol
|
|
bax
New Member
Posts: 6
|
Post by bax on Mar 20, 2009 9:16:08 GMT 8
I have been trying to find ways to utilize the chook manure we get out of our coop. My immediate concern is that it is very high pH and that is a hard problem to rectify once the soil pH has been raised (one of my lecturers said she'd been treating her alkaline soil for 10 years with elemental sulphur, and had only adjusted the pH level by about 3 degrees).
I'm yet to experiment with this, but my thoughts are that it would be easier to treat the manure with elemantal sulfur while it is neat and conduct pH tests on it to see if you can make it softer on the soil pH before applying it to the garden.
My next brain wave was to also texture the manure while treating it's pH but using a cement mixer to blend soil from the area of the garden you intend to apply the manure to, aswell as a variety of decomposed vegetative material you might have handy
As I said, I've yet to implement any of these schemes, but if anyone is have trouble with high pH due to the use of poultry manure, I thought this might give them some ideas for solutions
|
|
|
Post by Duck Diva on Mar 20, 2009 11:47:51 GMT 8
Hi Bax, Ive been putting the litter from the duck pen into the wormfarm. It is straw and duck manure. The worms will process the manure so its alot milder in the form of castings. Good stuff. Cheers, Wendy
|
|
|
Post by plink on Mar 20, 2009 13:05:37 GMT 8
I've just started using my chook poo in the compost tumbler along with lawn cuttings and shredded newspaper. So far it's looking pretty good, but really won't know until it has been added to the garden.
|
|
|
Post by beck on Mar 20, 2009 14:05:17 GMT 8
Hi i would love to hear more about the solar power too Mike it sounds interesting and i would love to go that way if we did re build !! can you also have electricity just in case you need a boost or is it a choice of one or the other ?? oh and i put all my chooky stuff in 2 compost bins that i have out the back but sometimes there is more poo than there is compost bin and i just dump it in the garden away from the bushes in a empty spot sadly my dog usually crawls out of there later grubby S O B
|
|
|
Post by plink on Mar 20, 2009 15:17:55 GMT 8
Try the following web sitefor solar power installation. You might find it interesating and helpful. My B/inlaw is getting his house in Rockingham done in the next couple of weeks. www.sunconnect.com.au/
|
|
|
Post by rap on Mar 20, 2009 22:37:00 GMT 8
Mikemurphy you might find this of interest www.small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-living.com/fantastic_farms.html - 17k - GO TO SMALLFARMS BLOG Mar 1, 2009, DIY Methane Generator Methane from manure? Make biogas energy with a DIY methane generator. Free plans. Build a small scale waste to energy biogas digester: from school project to small farm or community. Permalink -- click for full blog post
|
|
bax
New Member
Posts: 6
|
Post by bax on Mar 21, 2009 9:19:06 GMT 8
To my knowledge, solar power systems are more of a supplementary system. When they generate surplus energy it is returned to the grid and you are re-embersed for the energy by "Synergy". If there is a short fall in energy production, then you draw power from the grid to sustain household electrics. From the poeple I've spoken with on this topic, I have gotten the impression that the costs all balance out overall, and the only real cost is installation and maintenance
|
|
|
Post by mikemurphy on Mar 21, 2009 12:16:09 GMT 8
We are a long way from grid power and it would have cost us around $15,000 to connect. The solar power system we installed cost approx $35,000 of which the Government gave us back $17,000 in rebates, so we are totally solar for a few thousand dollars more than it would have cost us to connect. We use gas for two fridges and a stove and we heat our water with a combination of a solar system in summer and wood stove in winter. In winter we sometimes have to run the generator to top of the batteries if there have been several days without sun. Also, I have my shed connected only to the generator so that when I run my bench saw and other power tools it is not drawing from the batteries, and we also run the generator if we are using a lot of power, like doing the ironing or vacuuming while the washing machine is on. We usually use high power appliances like the microwave when the batteries are full and we use it only for heating, not for cooking. All our appliances are low energy rated. Our house is solar passive with high clerestory windows which allow cool air to flow through in summer and our 30cm thick rammed earth walls keep us warm in winter and cool in summer without air conditioning. In winter the house is warmed by an island wood fire in the lounge room and the wood stove in the kitchen. As for chook manure, we have a series of big compost heaps into which we put anything the chooks wont eat, garden clippings, chook manure usually mixed with straw, shredded paper and anything else that seems appropriate. We turn them regularly and once the heap (which is surrounded by wire mesh) is full, we wet it, warp it in black plastic and let it cook for several months. It is usually full of worms, slaters and all sorts of other creatures when we finally fork it onto the vegie beds or around the fruit trees, and even then we usually mix it with white sandy soil, of which we have a lot.
|
|
|
Post by rap on Mar 21, 2009 22:14:08 GMT 8
Mike sounds like you really do live the good life .Your place sounds terrific apart from the tiger snakes you make us all envious. Never seen blue meat on a chicken before it must look a bit strange . I know some one who cooked a seagull .They said the meat on that was black. I don't remember if they ate it or not didnt sound very appetizing.Any way i hope you like your Chicken Tonight. ;D
|
|
|
Post by Duck Diva on Mar 22, 2009 8:33:20 GMT 8
Sounds great Mike, you and your wife are living out our retirement dream Alan and I plan to live out in the stix somewhere in the Denmark/Walpole area, pottering in the garden and breeding gorgeous chookies! Ah well, only another 30 years
|
|