Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?  (Read 5396 times)

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« on: September 18, 2014, 02:09:49 pm »
Hi
I use straw/miscanthus pellets for the horses but didn't like them for the poultry but need to keep my midden to a minimum. I use easibed for the chickens with shavings in the next boxes but wanting to use straw for the ducks. Anyone know where I can pick some up and not get stung for delivery prices? I can get to Glasgow/Edinburgh.TIA

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2014, 07:57:44 pm »
Just straightforward straw LF?   There's a farm on the road between the Kincardine Bridge (M876 junction) and Skinflats (the village before Grangemouth) that sells hay and straw at reasonable prices. Perhaps not on the way between Ed and Gla, but if you're passing by along the M9, convenient enough.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2014, 08:22:56 pm »
hi, thanks-I could use normal straw available locally (and probably will) but the idea with the pellets was to have a smaller muck heap. the miscanthus/hemp/rape is more like a chaff and supposedly more absorbent than plain straw.Wood shavings are more absorbent than straw but take ages to rot down and I also market my muck to gardeners so wood products are not so great. Solway do it but delivery is high.

bloomer

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • leslie, fife
  • i have chickens, sheep and opinions!!!
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2014, 08:27:02 pm »
i buy the hemp chaff stuff they sell for horse bedding at the agri merchants, its more expensive than shavings but much easier to use/compost can't remember the brand name though...

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2014, 09:04:20 pm »
which ag merchants? :) I haven't yet tried the one at Forth, I should ring them.

bloomer

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • leslie, fife
  • i have chickens, sheep and opinions!!!
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2014, 09:12:42 pm »
i use the big one in stirling, macaskies i think its spelt but its possibly worth you trying lanark...

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2014, 09:38:25 pm »
Lanark don't have it, they have a good range of stock but IME, ordering stuff in is a bit hit and miss. Its no biggie, I was just wondering-I was disappointed with the pellets for chickens (great for horses though) as if they get even a little wet, they stain the eggs and I have all white egg layers now. I don't go out of my way to sell eggs these days but its nice to be able to if asked.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2014, 09:49:53 pm »

Oh I see - I misunderstood your initial post, sorry!

We previously used Hemcore bedding for the chooks and ducks, but haven't been able to get hold of it this year (I think the company went bust?). However, we switched to Aubiose horse bedding, and as far as I can tell, that's just the same stuff.

We did try "flaxcore" for a bit, which is more like chopped up straw, but TBH it's not as good as the Aubiose.

We haven't tried any pellet style bedding yet though, so do tell more!
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2014, 11:07:51 am »
the pellet bedding swells up (its cat litter basically)-to start the horse beds off you water them a bit. comes in straw, miscanthus or wood. tbh the nicest pellet bed I've used was wood (aquamax) as you get more for your money and is white-its a bit of a jump for me to get used to horse beds being dark.


straw/miscanthus is supposedly more absorbent than wood and its very easy to muck out and economical (less waste-also doesn't blow about like shavings/straw). Older pellet beds can get a bit dusty. its also marketed for poultry but I didn't get on with it (its heavy when it gets wet and even a small spot of damp discoloured the eggs). I've not yet found something I like better for the chickens than easibed with some woodash underneath but obviously ducks are a bit different and I haven't decided whether free draining is preferable to absorbent for them :)

HesterF

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Kent
  • HesterF
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2014, 12:01:30 pm »
I had the same problem when Hemcore went out of business so bought a whole pallet of Equisorb instead which is chopped flax. Worked out a lot cheaper per bale than buying one bale at a time through a merchant, even with delivery - £6.15 plus VAT per bale inc. delivery and the bales are big, probably two small straw bales in volume once it explodes out of its packaging. So not as cheap as you can get standard straw for but it rots down brilliantly (better than shavings for sure) and is more absorbent than straw. I'm just ordering my second pallet having only three bales left of the first but they've lasted since January (mind you that clearly is dependent how many houses you have but I've nine decent sized ones plus the broody type runs) and I've just found I don't need to clean them out anywhere near as often. Even if the bedding gets mucky, it doesn't get wet unless it rains into the house so it's dry muck which doesn't smell or give off ammonia.

shygirl

  • Joined May 2013
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2014, 12:43:59 pm »
harbros sell some sort of chopped "straw?" bales marketed for chicken coops - big standard size bales.

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2014, 02:08:28 pm »
thanks for the heads up Shygirl, they've just taken over Millers so its a possibility.


HesterF thanks for that, the dryness is what I like about easibed so if the hemp/flax does the same thing that would be great. Just the three bigger houses, the duck house and a few little ones which won't be in use over the winter anyway. I think I may need to order some more release pen netting from Solway anyway, so may order some bales from them to try.

Stereo

  • Joined Aug 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #12 on: September 19, 2014, 03:33:13 pm »
I find plain straw gets matted really easily and the birds don't seem to rake it about as much as wood chip. I've just bought a bale of Bedwell Equinola with is chopped OSR straw. I got it for nest boxes as it has tea tree in it and I thought the bugs might not like that so much. It's quite course so I might also try it for litter on the floor instead of wood chip. Only a fiver or so for 20kg.

I think that it would compost far quicker than wood chip too.

lord flynn

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: hemp/ramp/miscanthus straw-Central Belt?
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2014, 04:31:22 pm »
Stereo, although I'm not sure what concentration is safe, tea tree oil is toxic to chickens (and to cats and dogs)-I expect if its marketed as bedding its fine but just fyi. if tea tree oil was safe to use against red mite, we'd all be using it (as an aside, I do work with sheep scab mite and red mite-essential oils do kill them but neat, essential oils aint that nice to everything else. on US forums people have tried tea tree oil and caused neuro problems in their chooks).

 

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