I would think the other wood chips would work too, I never thought of using other tree chips. The problem with what we have at the recycling center here is that it's so coarse & holds moisture in. The thin stuff you get from the farm stores doesn't hold the moisture so much. Let us know how that works for you. You sure don't want mold growing in your coop, but if you can keep it turned & keep it dry it might be OK. I have used dead leaves in the fall in with my shavings & did fine as long as they were dry when I put them in there. I have a huge compost area full of stuff from my coop now since I just cleaned it out. I also use the DLM method & it has worked well for me, it sure does save a lot of work. I didn't get it turned like usual this winter due to my breaking my leg but it still did OK. I don't recommend putting fresh chicken manure on a garden, it needs to break down for awhile because it is too rich & will burn the plants. I use rabbit manure because it doesn't burn the plants & doesn't have to be composted first. It's supposed to be one of the best fertilizers you can use. I had wonderful tomato plants last year & would have had a lot of fruit to eat if the darned goats hadn't decided they liked the whole tomato plant & ate them all.I got lucky today! I went to atwoods to buy some feed and a bag of pine chips for the chicks and forgot the pine. So I decided I would go another day... Well on my way home I saw a sign saying free wood chips. The guy has a wood chipper and a huge pile of chips so I loaded up the minivan with about 15 large trash bags full ( knew I kept those in the car for a good reason) so now I am good in the wood chip dept. and he said there was no cedar. Mostly elm and pine. I am trying the deep litter method for my coop and now I just need the grass to grow so I can mix that in.
I agree with you tweety, this wind has been brutal lately, I'm tired of it too. It sure isn't helping my allergies & my ear. I'm sorry to hear about your plants, I hope they recover. I wouldn't put anything tender to frost out right now because we have a hard freeze coming Monday night. I hate to see that because all of our fruit trees out in the orchard are in bloom. We have pear, apple, & cherry left out there & they're so pretty right now & smell so good.
Danz I can't wait to see your little coop when it's done. I probably need something like that in my hoop coops, but I don't really have the room in there.
I'm so relieved to have that big coop cleaned out. Now I need to start cleaning the stalls in the breeder coop. At least those won't be so bad & I can get them done a little at a time instead of all at once. One of them is empty right now waiting on another color of Orp if I ever get the chicks. I paid for these chicks quite some time ago & the people haven't been able to come through on my order. I'm getting pretty tired of the whole thing, I just want my chicks.