The reason i asked about mulch is because i can get a truck load free right beside my house and i thought it would be beter than going out and buying lots of shavings. (very large coop)
If you can get it for FREE--I say, go ahead, just make sure it doesn't smell a lot (have a lot of aromatic oils, like cedar does). These can bother the chickens' lungs and apparently kidneys.
I use wood chip in my run, and in the coop when I can get really dry, non-smelly, non-moldy stuff. Once the stuff is mixed in with the poo for a while (about twice a year), I dig out a lot and put it directly on my garden. Note, I said directly. I'm a landscaper, and people worry way too much about too much/too little nitrogen/carbon, etc... If you're not tilling it into the soil, and it's not super high in chicken poo (like straight off the poop board) you really don't have much to worry about. I wouldn't throw it on new seedlings, but for established beds, it is just fine. BTW bark makes a super good soil amendment when it breaks down.
I use it and now have a lot of it as many pines fell during ice storms. I also have a chipper
that knocks it down 1/20 size (not much bigger than shavings). What I use in the coop
I cover with a tarp to keep it dry. I wouldn't use cedar that was mulched though.
okay so now another idea has popped in my head. theres a large pine forest behind the house, and i got the idea to try pine needles. they will be in my turkey coop, and part of a turkeys natural habitat is pine needles. so good idea? bad idea? what do you think?