Need some ideas....

[Beekissed]

Your coop could have cost you nearly nothing if you had searched for reusable construction materials.
Be ready to make your chicken flock really pay for themselves, cull vigorously for laying production, let your broodies raise your replacement layers and extra roos for meat.

AMEN.
If I had it to do over, I would have built all of my animal houses out of free stuff. I am going to cull my flock this year, Bee what time of year do you do your culling?

It's best if you do your culling during peak laying times....Feb/Mar. I also cull some in the fall sometimes if I know for a fact that the bird is just old and will no longer lay consistently...but mostly in the early spring, as sometimes birds recovering from summer/fall moulting will not show their true laying abilities.

 

[Blackbird]

Ain't that right, Bee?

I managed to gather all the lumber for that last milk stand from a dumpster.

Our town recently passed a 'law' stating that if someone wanted to put furniture etc. along side their curb during junk days, they had to PAY. Just another way to squeeze money in.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes! Its cheap and it keeps things from being placed in the landfills....both good things.

Grrrrrr! Doesn't that bug the crapola outta ya? I'm sooooooo glad I live in Hicksville, USA!!!! I can put anything I like at the roadside and do...people come swiftly and take it away.

Or I come to their place and take it away......

As a hospice nurse, my job entails driving all over the place...I get to stop for dumpster dives, yard sales, etc. I glean lawn clippings, leaves and free manure for my garden sometimes. I've even stopped and picked up rolls of carpeting to put down under my new gravel.

 

[BarredBuff]

Your coop could have cost you nearly nothing if you had searched for reusable construction materials.
Be ready to make your chicken flock really pay for themselves, cull vigorously for laying production, let your broodies raise your replacement layers and extra roos for meat.

AMEN.
If I had it to do over, I would have built all of my animal houses out of free stuff. I am going to cull my flock this year, Bee what time of year do you do your culling?

It's best if you do your culling during peak laying times....Feb/Mar. I also cull some in the fall sometimes if I know for a fact that the bird is just old and will no longer lay consistently...but mostly in the early spring, as sometimes birds recovering from summer/fall moulting will not show their true laying abilities.

I thought so, wasnt sure. Thanks.

 

[Denim Deb]

Shhhh...

That's why you do it a night!

But you didn't hear that from me, you know...

I have managed to get a few things, but normally, I'll ask the homeowner. That way, no one can say anything. Normally what I grab are pallets. I use them for hay storage, but I still need a few. This year, all I was able to grab was a small table. I've been wanting one that size. It needs a bit of work, but is nothing I can't handle. Last year, I was able to find a door which was the perfect size for my tack shed! I've been looking for an old glass "screen" door, or door from a shower w/no luck. I wanted it for making a cold frame.

As for construction sites, there's not a whole lot of building going on around here. And, actually that doesn't bother me. There have been so many developments built around here in the last few years that many farms have disappeared. The farmers can get more money selling out than they could farming the land. But, it's almost impossible to buy land for farming on. Even if you do buy land that was farmland, often times, it's been rezoned as residential or commercial.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, Deb...I wish you lived close! I have four shower doors in my building right now and I've also got three old screen doors. I was going to build a little lean-to greenhouse with these items but my focus changed this year and I won't be using them at all.

Just things I picked up in my travels......

 

[Farmfresh]

I belong to a "recycle" group (Yahoo) called Freecycle. You should check it out to see if there is one near you.

You simply post what you have, what you are looking for or what you have seen on the curbside. Things are magically taken to where they are needed.

We have gotten rid of a ping pong table, old (and I mean old) carpet, extra brick that was a result of having my chimney repaired and lots of misc and furniture.

I even found a bed liner for my utility trailer on there.

 

[Ohioann]

Grocery shop early in the day. That way you get first pick at the reduced items. Today I picked up a "family" pack of boneless pork chops (9), mushrooms and doughnuts at greatly reduced prices. Meat and mushrooms were "use today or freeze" and doughnuts (for DH) were on the day old shelf. I repackaged the chops into serving size for the two of us and vacuum sealed them for the freezer. The mushrooms I cooked up and froze in portions for adding to soup or stew later. The doughnuts my hubby will process . I bought the vacuum sealer several years ago on sale at Target and I love it. I would recommend one to anyone. the bags can be a little expensive but I get the roll and make just the size I need.

 

[Denim Deb]

I belong to a "recycle" group (Yahoo) called Freecycle. You should check it out to see if there is one near you.

You simply post what you have, what you are looking for or what you have seen on the curbside. Things are magically taken to where they are needed.

We have gotten rid of a ping pong table, old (and I mean old) carpet, extra brick that was a result of having my chimney repaired and lots of misc and furniture.

I even found a bed liner for my utility trailer on there.

Thanks for the tip! I checked it out, and there's a group near where I have my horses. So, I'll be looking into it more. I have a ton of stuff to get rid of, clothes, some old furniture (I trash picked it a couple of years ago), some fencing for my garden that's just not high enough. (In other words, it doesn't keep the goats out if they get loose.)

 

[Niele da Kine]

We save a lot of money by eating low on the food chain. If it has a picture of itself on the box, we generally don't get it. We usually buy ingredients instead of food. Mayonnaise is really cheap to make and tastes a lot better than that old processed stuff from the store. Bread is easy, tastes better and you can save tons of money. Buy the flour and yeast in bulk, though, 25# of flour and 1#-3# bags of yeast, otherwise you don't see much of the savings. Soups are incredibly easy to make, clean out the refrigerator real nice and are inexpensive. Make lots of soup and can the extra for when you want some convenience foods for later. All the leftovers and scraps either go to the chickens, rabbits or dogs. For some reason the cat doesn't get many leftovers, guess the dogs are quicker. We also buy in bulk from Azure Standard, they will ship to Hawaii which most folks won't do, you might be able to find a similar bulk food source near your house.