Muzzy
Well-known member
I'm impressed!
The $15k price tag seems cheap for the labor and material it saves.
The $15k price tag seems cheap for the labor and material it saves.
Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road
- Thread starter jblnut
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
The poo picker upper is more of a poo sorter. There are usually three layers to poultry bedding after the birds are gone. The top layer known as the cake has all the chicken poop and other junk in it. The second layer is usually nice dry clean bedding, the third layer on the very bottom is moist and tacky. All that needs to be removed is the cake layer that contains the poop. This machine skims the poo off the top while filtering any good bedding back out. It is a great way to save money on bedding by not cleaning the barn out every flock.
If/when the barn does get totally cleaned out down to the bare concrete floor a combination of your suggestions is exactly what is done.
They are mid 20's new and can be had in the low teens used but this particular one was right at $15k when my neighbor picked it up. A machine like this one will need to find it's way onto the farm, it is awesome !!!
This is the beater that helps break up the top cake layer of poop that I want to pick up.
This is the shaker conveyor that brings the clumps into the wagon. You can see some clumps on there that will be removed from the barn. Any good bedding is small enough to fall through the holes and back to the ground.
The Poultry Housekeeper can't get much closer than 2' from the wall and after about 5 minutes of shoveling it seemed there had to be a better way. I threw this blade together with some scrap I had laying around. It pivots on the round pipe so it'll stay flat on the floor all the time.
In use. I had to make two trips around the barn for it to get it all. I'll call it a very functional prototype. It needs a little work but the concept is a good one.
After two trips around it looks pretty good. MUCH easier and faster than a shovel
I went over the windrow of bedding with the Housekeeper and it picked up all the cake and junk with ease. I love having the right tools to do the job.
This is the shaker conveyor that brings the clumps into the wagon. You can see some clumps on there that will be removed from the barn. Any good bedding is small enough to fall through the holes and back to the ground.
The Poultry Housekeeper can't get much closer than 2' from the wall and after about 5 minutes of shoveling it seemed there had to be a better way. I threw this blade together with some scrap I had laying around. It pivots on the round pipe so it'll stay flat on the floor all the time.
In use. I had to make two trips around the barn for it to get it all. I'll call it a very functional prototype. It needs a little work but the concept is a good one.
After two trips around it looks pretty good. MUCH easier and faster than a shovel
I went over the windrow of bedding with the Housekeeper and it picked up all the cake and junk with ease. I love having the right tools to do the job.
red
Well-known member
Surprised there's not a farmers coop or even a rental available.
Or it might be cheaper to paid someone to clean it?
(compare to interest on a loan)
While we all love our "toys" (I mean machines) 15-20k for a machine being used 3 or 4 times a year is a lot of cash.
Maybe able to score one on one of the auctions sites?
BTW your son is NOT making a mess.
He's investigating how that box makes tissues and he will get to the bottom of it.
There are a few growers that own them together but that opens a whole can of worms with who pays for what when things need to be maintained or repaired. There are potential disease issues going from barn to barn and other issues as well. It'll get used 6.5 times a year but it's still not a lot. Our corn planter was close to $100k and we use it for a grand total of 10-12 days a year so $15k for something used 6.5 days a year doesn't seem too bad
Leo sure is goofy. He's been a thumbsucker since he was a few hours old and we're trying to break the habit with a binky/nook deal. He hasn't quite figured it out yet.
red
Well-known member
There are a few growers that own them together but that opens a whole can of worms with who pays for what when things need to be maintained or repaired. There are potential disease issues going from barn to barn and other issues as well. It'll get used 6.5 times a year but it's still not a lot. Our corn planter was close to $100k and we use it for a grand total of 10-12 days a year so $15k for something used 6.5 days a year doesn't seem too bad
I should have known better.
(was going to use honey from old hive for a new bee package and I didn't cause it might spread disease or parasites)
Yep, definitely cheaper than loosing a flock of 46k birds.
OOBER
Well-known member
Cool, I didn't realize it was a poo sorter, I thought it just scooped it up. The pictures of the screens and clean windrow make a lot of sense.
I would guess the bedding is not cheap when you have to buy that much.
ford33
Well-known member
I miss seeing the chickens in the barn. I guess you are an empty-nester now.
When is the next flock of chicks arriving?
What are you doing differently this time?
How many of the 46,000 chickens made it to the end of their stay with you?
When is the next flock of chicks arriving?
What are you doing differently this time?
How many of the 46,000 chickens made it to the end of their stay with you?
I think it is around $1,500/load and there were three loads brought in with two more going in before the next flock.
Next flock is scheduled to come in April 2nd. We'll be doing some ventilation things differently now that we have a handle on how it all works in the barn. There are a few other little things to do differently but for the most part there is an easy way and a hard way to do it all and I think we found the easy ways already .... we just need to get better at them.
We ended up with 94.9% making it all the way. I've been told this is really good for the first flock and for having the chicks from the young hens like we did.
We finished cleaning out the chicken coop this morning and Mama Bear and I headed to town in the hand-me-down man van. We stopped at Menards and loaded it down good !!!
I remember being able to fit 8' stuff in here before but I don't remember having to push the front seats all the way ahead !! I had NO room to move up front on the way home !! She was fine cuz she's little and laughed at me all the way home. "Shoulda just pulled the trailer" she kept saying. Gosh I hate when she's right .... which is often ...
6 sheets of 3/4" MDF, 25 2x4x8', 4 gallons of paint, a months worth of groceries and a bunch of farm stuff from Mills Fleet Farm. It was quite the load !!
I think it took the weight quite well
My dad repossessed the saw horses I borrowed from him 4 years ago so it was time to build a set for myself. They look all dumb in the picture but they are quite square and such in person. They'll serve their intended purpose just fine.
Not that I don't have enough going on but the girls in the house think it'd be a good idea to build a castle bunk bed deal. I can't say no to any of them so here we go. The idea is to make it look similar to this without the slide. We'll see how similar it is when I get done with it ....
I remember being able to fit 8' stuff in here before but I don't remember having to push the front seats all the way ahead !! I had NO room to move up front on the way home !! She was fine cuz she's little and laughed at me all the way home. "Shoulda just pulled the trailer" she kept saying. Gosh I hate when she's right .... which is often ...
6 sheets of 3/4" MDF, 25 2x4x8', 4 gallons of paint, a months worth of groceries and a bunch of farm stuff from Mills Fleet Farm. It was quite the load !!
I think it took the weight quite well
My dad repossessed the saw horses I borrowed from him 4 years ago so it was time to build a set for myself. They look all dumb in the picture but they are quite square and such in person. They'll serve their intended purpose just fine.
Not that I don't have enough going on but the girls in the house think it'd be a good idea to build a castle bunk bed deal. I can't say no to any of them so here we go. The idea is to make it look similar to this without the slide. We'll see how similar it is when I get done with it ....
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Love the photos of the chickens moving day! And the cleanup afterward, pretty cool. I couldn't help but wonder how much of a temperature shock it would have been for them as they were loaded up on the trucks.
That's great that you had a 94.9% survival rate on your first try!
That's great that you had a 94.9% survival rate on your first try!
STClurker
Well-known member
a follow up question if I may (maybe a stupid one), what did you do with the chicks that didn't make it?
The ones that don't get to the finish line get composted in a mix of old steer bedding and new soybean straw. They'll disappear in a few months. Now that we have some poultry manure I'll be using that to compost the mortalities. I will be hauling the compost pile out this spring with the rest of the manure.
Growlertdi
Well-known member
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. compost is compost..
good plan.
good plan.
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Man, that hurts my eyes with ALL of that pink!
It is what is recommended and and it makes sense to us. Easy, cheap and effective.
Mama Bear picked the colors out. I think it's gonna be white with purple trim and some pink accents. She is the creative one and I'm fine with that ?!
No kidding. That is the bunk bed were modeling after but there will be WAY less pink. I don't know how anyone could sleep in a room with that much pink !!Man, that hurts my eyes with ALL of that pink!
If she leaves me alone in the shop too long it may end up looking like this .....
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Ummmmm.... I think you forgot something.
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Haha, that one looks great!
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Sounds like it. The site he linked from looks like something some firewalls may block out. Here is what he posted...
Attachments
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Oh hell, I'd take this any day over the Pepto-Bismol explosion.
Been a busy few days !!
I got the rusted bottom step cut out of the bus after the door was mounted. I think we're going to end up tearing the rest of the steps out to add a step. An extra step would make it easier for the little people to get in and out.
We went to an auction to try our hand at spending some money on Thursday. We came home with a pallet full of goodies. We were after a few of the bins in the center with all the hydraulic cylinder stops. It's gonna be really nice to get rid of all the random pieces of angle iron and hose clamps we use now !!
On the way home we stopped and picked up a 3pt PTO driven spreader. We'll need it to spread some stuff on the bedpack before the little chicks come in. The product helps keep the ammonia levels down I've been told.
We also stopped and ordered a brand new Lewis Brothers DB-4 Housekeeper to clean the barn out. Looks like this ....
I started the 884 to move it out of the way. She's a bit cold !!!
I got the rusted bottom step cut out of the bus after the door was mounted. I think we're going to end up tearing the rest of the steps out to add a step. An extra step would make it easier for the little people to get in and out.
We went to an auction to try our hand at spending some money on Thursday. We came home with a pallet full of goodies. We were after a few of the bins in the center with all the hydraulic cylinder stops. It's gonna be really nice to get rid of all the random pieces of angle iron and hose clamps we use now !!
On the way home we stopped and picked up a 3pt PTO driven spreader. We'll need it to spread some stuff on the bedpack before the little chicks come in. The product helps keep the ammonia levels down I've been told.
We also stopped and ordered a brand new Lewis Brothers DB-4 Housekeeper to clean the barn out. Looks like this ....
I started the 884 to move it out of the way. She's a bit cold !!!
ford33
Well-known member
Post a picture when you use the PTO spreader. It is not clear how that works. Where is the bin that holds the material to spread?
Muzzy
Well-known member
Nice work! Looks like you guys have the money spending part of the operation down pat.
Gotta spend money to make money. The Housekeeper and the spreader will save a TON of time compared to the ways other guys do it. The Housekeepers run about $200 each time you'd have to rent one. It'll take a while to pay for itself but we have a couple other growers interested in renting it already. It all helps.
We started working on the bunk bed today. Mama Bear modeled it in 3D in Inventor where she works so we had all the dimensions to cut everything the correct lengths the first time.
A neat trick to draw circles is to use a wrench of the correct length. Put a screw in the center of the circle to use as a pivot and put the pencil in a corner of the open end of the wrench. Works great !!
To avoid having the cutout fall to the floor we screwed a few pieces of scrap plywood to the cutout. It kept it solid so it didn't tear the corners out when I was cutting out the rounded corners.
The core of the princess castle is assembled.
Still needs a 1/2" piece of plywood for the top bunk. The opening is where the steps will meet up for the top bunk.
Inside out view !!
A neat trick to draw circles is to use a wrench of the correct length. Put a screw in the center of the circle to use as a pivot and put the pencil in a corner of the open end of the wrench. Works great !!
To avoid having the cutout fall to the floor we screwed a few pieces of scrap plywood to the cutout. It kept it solid so it didn't tear the corners out when I was cutting out the rounded corners.
The core of the princess castle is assembled.
Still needs a 1/2" piece of plywood for the top bunk. The opening is where the steps will meet up for the top bunk.
Inside out view !!
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
It might take 5 guys to move the bed in the house when you're done. You should have made it out of balsa wood.
Monday we headed back out to the frozen land of North Dakota to work on the networking/cameras at the dairy we're installing a 60 stall robotic rotary at. There were 7 of us total out there this week working on various things !! Busy busy !!
Last time we cooked pizza and then fries on the same pizzazz ... that took too long so we brought another one along !!
So clean you can eat off the rotary deck ..... at least for another week or so !!
Mini breakfast sausages cook up real nice on the pizzazz !!
This is the separator pit. The machine on the right is a manure separator. It separates most of the solids from the manure and pumps the liquids out to the lagoon for storage. The solids get used for bedding. It is a wonderful system that works great and saves a ton of money on bedding for the dairy !! On the left are a pair of floats to keep the manure at a constant level. The green pipe on the far left is a 2' diameter propeller that sticks into the manure to keep it agitated and viscous. The silver pipe in the center is a pump that pumps the manure to the lagoon when needed. The large green pipe on the right is a pump that sends the manure to the other end of the barn. The automated scrapers in the barn scrape the manure into a channel that this manure is flowing through and it carries it to this pit and dumps back in through the hole in the middle.
40hp motor that powers one of the pumps. There are 4 40hp motors, 2 30hp motors and 2 20hp motors that are part of the manure system in this barn. Kind of nuts really ....
The bull was in a pen on the other side of this well. The cows stopped to chat him up on the way by
When I got home I opened a few boxes that arrived while I was gone. Leo wasn't immediately impressed with my new purchases. It was as if he was saying "Dad I thought you were going to start buying Milwaukee stuff ?!?!?!"
He came around eventually once I explained that I got all three tools for less than a bare tool Milwaukee or DeWalt 1/2" impact. I have other Ryobi stuff and none of it has failed so may as well add to the fleet instead of switching platforms ....
Last time we cooked pizza and then fries on the same pizzazz ... that took too long so we brought another one along !!
So clean you can eat off the rotary deck ..... at least for another week or so !!
Mini breakfast sausages cook up real nice on the pizzazz !!
This is the separator pit. The machine on the right is a manure separator. It separates most of the solids from the manure and pumps the liquids out to the lagoon for storage. The solids get used for bedding. It is a wonderful system that works great and saves a ton of money on bedding for the dairy !! On the left are a pair of floats to keep the manure at a constant level. The green pipe on the far left is a 2' diameter propeller that sticks into the manure to keep it agitated and viscous. The silver pipe in the center is a pump that pumps the manure to the lagoon when needed. The large green pipe on the right is a pump that sends the manure to the other end of the barn. The automated scrapers in the barn scrape the manure into a channel that this manure is flowing through and it carries it to this pit and dumps back in through the hole in the middle.
40hp motor that powers one of the pumps. There are 4 40hp motors, 2 30hp motors and 2 20hp motors that are part of the manure system in this barn. Kind of nuts really ....
The bull was in a pen on the other side of this well. The cows stopped to chat him up on the way by
When I got home I opened a few boxes that arrived while I was gone. Leo wasn't immediately impressed with my new purchases. It was as if he was saying "Dad I thought you were going to start buying Milwaukee stuff ?!?!?!"
He came around eventually once I explained that I got all three tools for less than a bare tool Milwaukee or DeWalt 1/2" impact. I have other Ryobi stuff and none of it has failed so may as well add to the fleet instead of switching platforms ....
ford33
Well-known member
The size of these dairy operations and their automation is amazing. How many people operate the barn with the cows?
Whilst returning something we borrowed from a neighbor I spied something in their yard that I thought could be useful for me. After a bit of haha'ing and negotiating we decided to loaded it onto the skid loader trailer.
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It is a 4 row 30" spacing corn planter. We'll be able to replant small areas as needed if some corn does not come up for whatever reason. Oh, and I'll use to plant sweet corn as well
[/url]It is a 4 row 30" spacing corn planter. We'll be able to replant small areas as needed if some corn does not come up for whatever reason. Oh, and I'll use to plant sweet corn as well
XJSuperman
Well-known member
Ah ha! I made it to the end. Just a ways south of ya in central Iowa, but I can now say that everything I know about chicken barns I learned from jblnut and his GJ thread Out On Quaker Road.
It's turned into quite the lengthy read over the last few years !!
I was down your way last summer when we went to the Deere dealer between Ames and Nevada to bring home my International 884 !! It was rainy and crappy the whole trip so we didn't get to snoop at all the nice land down that way
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Mother Nature decided to dump some snow on us and the poor little 2WD Ranger just wanted nothing to do with it. It moved about 40' and it was all over. Stuck in the snowy mud.
When I got out to the chicken barn this morning this drift greeted me at the South door. Pretty impressive that it is exactly where I need to get in !!
We spread the Poultry Litter Treatment on Saturday. It is suppose to help tie up any ammonia that comes out of the bedding so the little chicks do not get blinded by it.
There is 500lbs in the KingKutter spreader. I don't have any pictures of spreading it but it went down very nicely and very fast.
These tubes drop feed onto cardboard trays for the little chicks to eat off of and last time we thought they dropped too much and a lot of feed got wasted.
OMG lowering them all down 1/2" - 3/4" sounded like a good idea but after almost an hour of actually moving them we were getting sick of it !! They are all moved now and shouldn't need to be adjusted again. I hope
We are all about work smarter not harder and this seemed to be a good way to put down the cardboard feed trays !! I'm trying something new here ... click the picture, it should bring you to a YouTube video !!
Roughly 2:30PM 46,000 more little chicks showed up !!!
Annnnnnnd I had to make a trip to dad's place to bring the Deere 7400 and the big strap back ....
The chick delivery semi backed into the worst possible spot in the whole yard and got stuck. I had to take a 6mph run the length of the strap to break him loose !!
Mama Bear picked up the little people from daycare and brought them out to the barn before supper. Alyssa made a friend
When I got out to the chicken barn this morning this drift greeted me at the South door. Pretty impressive that it is exactly where I need to get in !!
We spread the Poultry Litter Treatment on Saturday. It is suppose to help tie up any ammonia that comes out of the bedding so the little chicks do not get blinded by it.
There is 500lbs in the KingKutter spreader. I don't have any pictures of spreading it but it went down very nicely and very fast.
These tubes drop feed onto cardboard trays for the little chicks to eat off of and last time we thought they dropped too much and a lot of feed got wasted.
OMG lowering them all down 1/2" - 3/4" sounded like a good idea but after almost an hour of actually moving them we were getting sick of it !! They are all moved now and shouldn't need to be adjusted again. I hope
We are all about work smarter not harder and this seemed to be a good way to put down the cardboard feed trays !! I'm trying something new here ... click the picture, it should bring you to a YouTube video !!
Roughly 2:30PM 46,000 more little chicks showed up !!!
Annnnnnnd I had to make a trip to dad's place to bring the Deere 7400 and the big strap back ....
The chick delivery semi backed into the worst possible spot in the whole yard and got stuck. I had to take a 6mph run the length of the strap to break him loose !!
Mama Bear picked up the little people from daycare and brought them out to the barn before supper. Alyssa made a friend