Christmas Trees

[Greenthumb18]

Does anyone use their Christmas trees that you take down and use them as shelter for your chickens or other animals?
Today I actually noticed a tree that was put out on the side of the road and ended up taking it home for my Bobwhite Quails . To think that all these trees that are left on the side are thrown away, I'm sure my quails will be happy just need to make sure theirs no tinsel on the tree.

 

[the1honeycomb]

Great Idea, I have Chickens but I buy living potted trees to replant so I never thought of using dead trees how do you think the chickens would use it?
for roosting?

 

[Greenthumb18]

Great Idea, I have Chickens but I buy living potted trees to replant so I never thought of using dead trees how do you think the chickens would use it?
for roosting?

Thanks the1honeycomb!!

I do know that the quails will use the tree as cover to hide and get away from each other if they fight, I would think chickens would use it as shelter. Its also more natural for them to have an evergreen tree in their pen. I would love to have live growing evergreen trees in the pen but the way my quail pen is set up, a live tree wouldn't fit in there. I hope to one day build a large walk in pen and be able to plant living trees in there. I'm sure the pen would look excellent with some plants growing in there. The birds really do feel more comfortable with the cover you can provide with brush and trees.

 

[r4eboxer]

We get a rooted tree and replant every year, BUT DH has a friend that runs a tree lot and this year he didn't do great business. So DH has been bringing home the unsold trees. My DS wants to start building rustic furniture so he clipped the branches off the trees and used the branches in the duck pen for cover etc. Then he took the trunk (debranched) and gave them to the goat to clean the bark off of. She has a few almost cleaned off, my goat LUVS pine tree bark. Once she gets them all cleaned off my DS will sand and begin to build his bedroom suit. I figure he will get a head board and foot board out of the ones she is working on right now.

The ducks love the pine, My ds also put the branches around the chicken run and they love picking at them too. I have roosts made out of tree branches already so we didn't need any for roosts right now.