Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Concrete slabs from demolished hog confinement fac

Would you utilize concrete slabs from demolished hog confinement facility to create underwater humps and other structure in your lake?

Would you utilize them along shore to prevent erosion?

We use them on the dam and steepest areas to prevent erosion.

I sure would. Use your imagination designing piles,ledges and holes for all kinds of activity. I'll assume you have pieces of all sizes too. Mix em' up and mark the spots.

I have them all around my pit to prevent erosion. The previous owner of the property placed them there. I would say that 80% of the two acre pit has them lining the shore line. Aesthetically, they are not the best, but they are effective.

The concrete piles around here are copperhead magnets! I had 2 piles delivered for erosion purposes. 1 pile had a 2 ft. copperhead in after a month when I went to move the pile with a loader. The other pile had 2 in it and several babies! Probably great for pond structure, but snake magnets out of the water.

If you want to prevent erosion, you will attract snakes. Its just a tradeoff.

Sounds like a great source of structure and shoreline stablization. Go for it.

Are there poisonous snakes in IL? Maybe cottonmouth or copperhead down south - eastern diamondbacks?

We have a few, but playing outside all my life, never had a run in.

I've never seen one posinous snake.. And trust me I spent my whole adolescent life hunting snakes, turtles, frogs all day everyday.. Small town nothing else to do lol..

I went ahead and accepted. Should be getting the concrete from three hog confinement facilities...

Good deal, send the pics as things progress.

Do you have the equipment to get the slabs in the water? I think that'd be the hardest part..

I used a skidloader to place 80T of limestone boulders all around my pond. It was tricky business and I almost dumped myself a half dozen times. Be careful whatever you do and it's not a bad idea to have a buddy around to help get you out of the cab should you end up tipping into the pond!

When we did add a few slabs to the existing slabs around the pit, we used a 560 International with a front loader. It was definitely a multiple person job.

An excavator with a thumb would make the job easy. Without a thumb, it's like trying to pick up a pencil from the floor with all your fingers taped together and your thumb taped to the palm of your hand. Not impossible, but a PITA if you have to pick up multiple pencils and place them in a certain spot.

I have a fairly large (Kamatsu PC200LC) excavator; but it doesn't have a thumb and esshup is right about the difference one makes. I've almost bought a thumb multiple times; but it is an older excavator and I don't use it that much really (mainly just on our personal property anymore) so harder to justify. Figured would get a thumb if ever get a newer one. May just have to give in and get one anyway. Bought several tons of large riprap to put on the dam this year too.

I think you would use the thumb more than you realize.

I know. I need to just bite the bullet and get one. Would make moving trees and such a whole lot easier too.

I'd like to trade that excavator in on a newer one; but it has been a good machine and hard to justify expense when not using commercially.

I've dug/moved a number of stumps, moved trees, placed rocks, etc. without a thumb, and having one would have cut my time and frustration level in half.

Everytime I read this thread title I catch myself asking why you're talking about crappie made of concrete. And bacon.

I'm hungry.