For those with open fires

We (or rather OH) tried this last year. It turned out to be very hard work - he got one of those press things off ebay but he had to mix the horse poo with water in a bath to make it the right consistency before putting it in the press. Pressing in itself takes quite a bit of strength (and was very messy, yuk). However, drying was the biggest problem. You need somewhere dry and warm with a good throughflow of air - it would have been ok in summer but we were trying in autumn. We did get some bricks dry and when dry they are very light and there is no manure smell, if anything they smell vaguely of hay. They burn well and burn down to nothing so no mess, but you really need to burn them with something else not just on their own. They certainly do make your fire last longer though.

One downside was that one day a load of flies hatched out of one of the bricks that OH had put by the fire in an attempt to dry it out :redcarded:

I think I'd like to try just drying poo nuggets in their raw form, rather than messing about making bricks. I've read that this works and you could put them in a bucket, just like you would coal. It's just finding somewhere to store and dry it all.

Would be very interested to hear how you get on when you try it.
 
If it works it will be fantastic when you think how much poo they do in a week! Admittedly the actual squishing the poo into bricks will be a little bit less fantastic :giggle:
 
I was getting quite enthusiastic about this when I read the link....until I read you bit about the hatching flies Bodshi!:redcarded:

I quite like the simple idea of just gathering up some already dry nuggets and chucking them on though. :smile:
 
I'll give drying just the nuggets of poo a go as well and see how they compare. Storage once they are dry isn't a problem thankfully as we've got a big coal and wood store out in the outbuildings.
We've got paper bricks drying on a sheet of cardboard on the back of the Aga at the minute but I think my OH might draw the line at me drying horse poo in the same location :giggle:
 
Eeeeewww to the flies!!! lol, I've just been poo picking today - and (shame on me) some of the poo piles were very dry and when I picked them up they were just crumbling to dust almost. Is this because we have those little flies that eat them?! I shouldn't think much of our poop would burn, it would more likely just crumble to dust in the fireplace..............
 
I'd rather keep the horse poo for the garden. I'll bet those briquettes burn much faster than wood; I tried the newpaper ones once, years ago, but it was so much hassle and they burned so fast I gave up.
 
They actually smoulder rather than burn fiercely but they do give off quite a lot of heat and last a surprising time considering how light they are. They do have to be thoroughly dry though, which is why I think nuggets would be easier in all respects.
 
Sounds like a good idea to try.

Maybe make the bricks in the summer when there is time for them to dry out, then use them over winter.

I don't have an open fire unfortunately. The log burner is still on my wish list.

I used to burn manure in the field at one time, it was a job to get it lit but once going it burns slowly and the odour is not unpleasant.

Might be worth checking with your local council to make sure its legal. Some areas have restrictions on certain things.
 
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