Pine pole peelings as coop flooring in muddy PacNW

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Farmer Viola

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6 Years
May 23, 2013
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We have the opportunity to get a truckload of pine wood pole peelings, which are large wood chips shaved off trees to form telephone poles. They are untreated free scraps.

I'm curious if anyone has done this before, and what potential problems might come from using this as flooring in the coop and run area. Bad idea? Good idea?

We live in the Pacific Northwest and it's VERY wet and muddy out in the chicken area. Their coop is a big barn, and one corner stays dry but the other 75% is extremely muddy. My thought is that it would drain well, and build up the floor level higher in the wet areas. During the dry season we want to trench around the barn so it stays drier. But I want to find a way to get them up out of the mud now while it's the rainy season.

this is what the material looks like:

 
Farmer Viola said:
We have the opportunity to get a truckload of pine wood pole peelings, which are large wood chips shaved off trees to form telephone poles. They are untreated free scraps.

I'm curious if anyone has done this before, and what potential problems might come from using this as flooring in the coop and run area. Bad idea? Good idea?

We live in the Pacific Northwest and it's VERY wet and muddy out in the chicken area. Their coop is a big barn, and one corner stays dry but the other 75% is extremely muddy. My thought is that it would drain well, and build up the floor level higher in the wet areas. During the dry season we want to trench around the barn so it stays drier. But I want to find a way to get them up out of the mud now while it's the rainy season.

this is what the material looks like:

Click to expand...
I'm using something that looks really similar in my outdoor run. It is made for covering walking trails, etc. I throw on leaves, too, when I can get them. This stuff works very well and stands up to our PNW mud.
fl.gif

And the chickens scratch away in it regularly.
 
Last edited:
lynnehd said:
I'm using something that looks really similar in my outdoor run. It is made for covering walking trails, etc. I throw on leaves, too, when I can get them. This stuff works very well and stands up to our PNW mud.:fl  
And the chickens scratch away in it regularly.
Click to expand...

Thanks! So helpful to hear from someone else in this area using something similar :)
 
aart said:
Are they soft?
I might be a tad concerned about them being stiffly dry and sharp.
Click to expand...
That's a good question. As mentioned, mine are a similar product. They are not like softer pine shavings, that's true.
I was worried about the same thing, so only put a small amount in my outside run at first (I use mine in an uncovered area).
They worked well, so I added a lot more. Mine have some leaves and loose gravel mixed in, but mainly the wood product.
That's what we need in our area, something to stand up to the rain. (which does soften them a bit, BTW).
 
aart said:
Are they soft?
I might be a tad concerned about them being stiffly dry and sharp.
Click to expand...

They are being delivered today so I'll see how dry and sharp they are and report back. They're being dumped here and then we have to wheelbarrow it into the chicken house ourselves, so plenty of time to inspect the material. The ground is quite muddy though, so it reasonably could pick up moisture just from the ground here.
 
Farmer Viola said:
They are being delivered today so I'll see how dry and sharp they are and report back. They're being dumped here and then we have to wheelbarrow it into the chicken house ourselves, so plenty of time to inspect the material. The ground is quite muddy though, so it reasonably could pick up moisture just from the ground here.
Click to expand...
They would make good mulch for plant beds in any case.

I think I'd start with using them in the run, rather than the coop, where I assume it is already dry. (I use Stall Dry in my raised coop, which I really like in our weather).

Here are some pics of my wood mulch:

In the 'back up' pile, not used yet (leaves fell on the pile over Fall):


My Turken is modeling the mulch in the open run (dirtier and wetter, but the mulch stays above the mud):

 
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