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Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA, | $6200 dollars, up from $4800 last year. Ain't no way in heck we are anywhere near spending that kind of money. Company claims that because of loss of business (wonder why) they can no longer justify a crew to clean out breeder hen houses. They pulled this same stunt last year, but we dang sure can't do it this year, and because our houses are breeder hen houses, it is near impossible to find a cleanout crew. Plenty to do broilers, but not many want to mess with the breeder hen houses. Reason they dont want to mess with breeder houses is each house has 252 wooden slats. each one has to be taken out and stacked up. Not easy work and labor intensive. Other than handling those slats, the work wouldnt be any problem, other than buying the equipment, but we could use the equipment year round as well. Labor is the only thing. Equipment consists of a low tractor, small dirt pan, need one that is very easy to change depth on, long set of forks for moving the slats out, small blade, and possibly another small skidsteer. Labor is the only thing that really holds us back from doing it ourselves, it is just alot of labor to handle those slats. May be forced to do what we have to do, just a bit aggravating to be put in the position. |
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West Texas | Getting to be pretty late, and most schools are out now but whenever I need labor, I visit the nearby college and have no trouble lining up as many young hands as needed. Just tell them all to put their cell phones on silent until break time and they will give a good days work for just a little over minimum wage. Use your equipment and this gives them spending money and it doesn't go to Mexico. |
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| Don't know what to tell you, but I sure wish I had your chicken pooh to put on my fields. I'd find some rum-dums looking for cash and put them to work for a few days. Don't know what all the slats are but you can find someone looking for cash who'll help you out. Sometimes paying the custom rate is worth it to avoid the headache, not have to have the machinery around and their spreading equipment is probably top notch. Plus you can be doing something else that is generating equal or more revenue while they do the stinky work. |
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| not familar with your system, any pictures of the slates. seems like a couple skid loaders wouldnt take much time, what equipment would you need, maybe rent some. |
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Flandreau, SD | pony up or get in the barn cleaning business. Might sound cheap after it takes you 3 times as long or might save you money doing your self. To they just pile it or they have to haul away?
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Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA, | agboy - 5/25/2010 14:11
pony up or get in the barn cleaning business. Might sound cheap after it takes you 3 times as long or might save you money doing your self. Do they just pile it or they have to haul away?
All they are doing is piling it, or really they dump, I pile with the skid steer. Equipment is not real complicated, most I can use elsewhere throughout the year. Already do my own spreading. Amazing how many people want to borrow a spreader once they know who owns it. If it weren't for handling the slats it wouldn't be too bad, but it is handling those slats though. I am going to attach a picture of the slats as well, isn't a good picture, but the only one I have.
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 Picture 005.jpg (74KB - 552 downloads)
Rakeing 2008.jpg (79KB - 496 downloads)
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North Cental Mo. | Well if you don't hire somebody I guess you'll have to do it yourself. I still am not visioning exactly what is going on, and I keep wondering why the slats are wood? How long does it take from start to finish and how many people?
Roy |
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Flandreau, SD | Just go do the job. You don't want to do it cause it is work, yet you don't want to pay somebody to do it because they know it is work and want to be payed for it. best go get some red bull and have at it. whats that they say, if it was easy everybody would be doing it. Lots of things would be a cake walk if it wasn't for them pesky little details! Just like my BIL today was looking at buying an air post pounder cause they have to pound in about 100 steel fence posts. Good greif, grab the pounder and start pounding I said.
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south central IOWA | Handy little things
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| ok, and I bet your really own the tractor and equipment you post pictures of (not meaning your day job) pretty easy when you go jump on the family's equipment or the equipment at work that is way oversized for your acreage and get done fast, a lot different when you are paying your way on everything you got and do
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Seaford, Delaware | Joshua,
Boy those pictures sure bring back a lot of memories! We had a layer house with Perdue back in the 70's. I had forgotten how much work they were cleaning out! And man those slats are heavy when they are caked with manure. I used to like pressure washing them though!
Alan |
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Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA, | You ain't never done this job have you? You also haven't seen that this contractor has doubled his prices in the last 4 years. That $6000 is half of our bonus checks, other half is spent to keep on the lights, and it sure doesn't take long to use it up to get everything we need. Once we go out, our bonus checks are the only money we see for three months.
I got news. I aint afraid of the work, I damn sure ain't afraid of the work, I ain't afraid to get dirty, and I know the whole process. If we have to clean out ourselves we will, like it or not. But don't think I am afraid of the work, and don't presume you know it all without ever having seen it. We are sure as hell not sitting on our butts while we are cleaning out as is. We wash over 4000 nestpads, taking them out as well as putting them in, I run three to four days stacking litter with the skid steer, no cab or AC there, all the grit comes in there, do all of our maintenance inside those houses, plus the other farm tasks as well.
Don't think we are trying to get out of this for fear of having to work, far from it. We are just trying to get our options sorted first, I cant say I am too eager to handle all 504 of those slats. I know for sure it means another tractor to buy to do it ourselves, ours are all too tall, another better dirtpan, and we still have to figure out a way to handle those slats, because it is a big deal to handle them. Other than that, there aint much too it except more time and more labor. |
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Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA, | Slats are wood because they are, you can buy plastic slats, and in hindsight, that is what we should have done. There are 504 of those slats, they all have to come out of those houses so the houses and the slats can be cleaned. Takes a crew of 4 good mexicans plus the boss about a day and a half to pull all those slats, and almost the same amount of time to put them in. Slats are 4'x16' and they aint light. Me and dad pulled one to do some work on it, it is a job to do them like that. Supposedly there is an attachment for a skid steer to pick them up, but we haven't found it yet. Got a couple different ideas we could try as well if needed. |
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| Dont know all involved, but seems like you could hire some workers, pay them by the job if possible, let them work nights if they want, cooler, is hand labor easy to come by. I would get setup to doing it your self, it is just going to cost more and more each year. rent equipment if you need. |
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Flandreau, SD | LOL, coming from you eddie? Thats funny as he11.
Edited by agboy 5/26/2010 08:04
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Flandreau, SD | So all you talk about is how hard the slats are to move, over and over again. So what. Oh like that is so much harder than other types of work on the farm.
Just do it. Make your own attachment for the skid to move the slats.
You say it takes 4 good mexicans and a boss. Well that right there tells me alot about you. You should have said 4 good men and a boss. What, you think 3 good whites can do it faster?
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| I know nothing of commercial chicken operations, pictures could help here.
I'm trying to envision why one couldn't use a set of forks on a skid steer to pick those things up and carry them out. What am I missing??? Unless they are built from solid oak, any skid steer should be able to pick up something that's 4x16' Can't be much over 400# if 4 people can pick them up and move them.
Dave |
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| carry them in the bucket and push them in with the bottom of the bucket.
Learned that trick when I went from being young to being wise enough to work smarter.
Dave |
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| but it is true, that you sure aren't disputing |
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Lubbock, Texas | get a telehandler with the highest lifting capacity when the boom is straight out
put the forks on it.........then weld up an attachment for the forks that consist of something that allows a LONG STRONG pipe or steel beam to poke straight out forward on that telehandler
from that pipe sticking straight out from the telehandler you weld pieces of chain hanging straight down that are strong enough to hold the slate
on the end of that chain you weld a piece of steel that is flat, thick, and hangs parallel to the ground/slats when the chain is hanging down
make that piece of steel on that chain wide enough so that it can fit through the slats.......BUT.......make it long enough so that when it is turned at a 90 degree angle you now have that piece of steel under the slats hanging from the pipe and all you do is raise up the pipe and pick up the slats
thinking about it you might need to just put a pipe on each fork and then have 2 chains per pipe/per slat so that you would have 4 chains per slat near each corner
if the slats are 4X16 then a 22' pipe should be able to hang over 4 at a time.......if you get good you might be able to pick up 4.........move forward over another 4............drop everything down..........jiggle the chains down lower through the lower level and pick up 8 at a time stacked 2 deep before you back out of the house and drop them down and go back for more......doing it like this you could also stack them high outside as well
if the chain gives you trouble controlling the steel tabs on the bottom you could slip a piece of pipe on the last 6" of chain and weld the tabs to it and then you have pipe turning the tabs instead of chain
I hate hard work so that is how I would do it here is a pic too....the black is the forks.....blue is the pipe......red is the chain.....green is the tabs as shown drive up......have the pipe (or more like pipes from each fork) hang out over the slats........dribble the chains and tabs through......turn then so they cant slip out......lift if you stay in the 4' dimension you should be able to extend out over 4 or 5 at a time probably more with strong enough pipe......and like I said if you picked up a set.......rolled forward and lowered down and picked up another set or maybe 2 you could save trips in and out of the house I would look to take advantage of them being slats......I can tell you what my lazy ass would NOT do and that is get caught bending over and picking them up.....not a chance in hell.....not 540+ times when I know it is not a one time job
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Flandreau, SD | And you know this how? And what does this have to do with getting a chicken barn cleaned out or anything for that matter? If you can't afford to hire it done, do it yourself.
Edited by agboy 5/26/2010 11:17
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| Case closed. I'm sure Joshua will get his work done just fine without all the hot air from the Dakotas leaking down. |
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Flandreau, SD | unlike all the hot air you spew on here every week? Maybe you should go help him, I mean he needs some good mexican help.
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S.E. Iowa | Seems like this cleaning project takes about a week to complete with a crew on 5 thats 200 man hours. $6000 divided by 200 is $30 a man hour not counting the equipment needed to do the job. I realize the worker arent getting 30 dollars an hour , but good help cost no matter where they come from. I also no that my local implement dealer is not paying his meachanic $80 an hour when he charges me that. I know its hard when margins are that thin , but thats where a person needs to evaluate whether continuing a operation is worthwhile or a change is needed |
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the place your food comes from- IOWA | Marc, U crack me up man.
I thought the same things as you when I first read it.... just do it already !
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Kittitas Co. Wa. State | what is on the end of the buildings? Is there enough "wiggle room on the slats? Could the ends of the building be open enough to take a tractor and "pull" the slats out of the end of the troughs? (like a rack in the kitchen oven) pull them out clean em off and push them back in. Plan 2.. skip the skid loader, low trailer with hydraulic arm that would reach from one side to the other and lift out the slats and place on trailer. the trailer would be self powered hyd drive motors with ground controls. Hydraulics would also run the hydraulic arm. Walk along behind powered trailer reach from side to side pickup slats place on trailer doesn't take much of an arm to lift 2-300 pounds.. Arm would need to go up/down swing 240 degrees and in/out. 2 guys could pull up a "slat" and place on trailer in 1-2 minutes. If you wanted less work,, put a pincer on the end of the boom, set down between slats, pinch, and lift out the slat. . |
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mn | i just read every post on this and don't know why i did lol |
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Drumheller, Alberta | Me to. The only chicken I have is in the freezer ;)
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| Josh,
There are infrequent times where Turkeys require a lot of labor and frequent times when it's a breeze. During the busy times I have mostly family help and a few friends. It's not unusual for there to be 15 people doing a job to get something done in a fraction of the time that I would be killing myself doing. The poult drivers love coming here, because we hustle. I always provide snacks and beverages. Most everyone won't take pay, so I try to be creative and send gift cards and such. I also rent equipment for a major cleanout (like another skid loader) if I'm under a time crunch.
Just a thought.
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Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA, | found a guy to clean out our houses, for less than last year's prices. Thank goodness for small things, only have 4000 nest pads to wash, litter to deepstack, and make all of our repairs for the year, 5 weeks will go fast. I'll try to take pictures during the cleanout for those that wish to see the process. |
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| I can take a 400 foot house of slats out in one and a half hours with my bobcat i make the implement
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Aarrrgggg!!! Just got quoted chicken house cleaning bill
