Are leaves a concern inside a chicken coop?

[Sunshine Flock]

Oh, a question I forgot to ask:

It's getting ready to rain. We could end up with weeks and weeks of rain like we did last winter and spring. Wet bedding in the coop isn't a good idea; it would take forever to dry. So I'm going to rake up a bunch of leaves and needles tomorrow and set them aside for later use.

The only storage option I can come up with is piling them into a tarp and weaving rope through the grommets to close it up and hang it in the rafters in the shed. Any other options you can think of for this? Concerns about putting the litter in non-breathable tarps?

 

[lazy gardener]

You gotta do what you gotta do. I go around with the truck and collect bagged leaves in the fall. My neck injury of long ago makes it very difficult for me to rake leaves. While we are surrounded by trees, I can't rake the leaves out of the woods. So, I make 3 or more trips every fall and am blessed to be able to pick up bagged leaves. In the past they've been in plastic. I found a town that has all leaves put out at curb for pick up in paper bags, so that's what I got this season. I gave up my green house and stored them in there. An other option would be to put down some pallets, and store the leaves on pallets, raised up on a tarp, or in bags, then covered over with an other tarp. It would be a perfect haven for mice and rats and such... but... you gotta do what you gotta do! Every season, it's a struggle to get the leaves before the fall rains and freezing weather ruin them for use as bedding. Might even be worth putting up a cattle panel hoop affair just for leaf storage!

 

[Chelseyb123]

During fall i used leaves because it was right there but onece i felt it was getting went an winter coming i Started making my own wood chips.

 

[Mr Pink]

I spend all fall on my mower collecting leafs , everyone I can get my hands on ! ( LITERALLY TONS I turn my piles with a 8 foot front end loader of my tractor ) not only do I compost them to the side but use lots for my run and coop .

Started with about 12 inches in new 24 x 36 run last year and by this fall it had ( with the help of the chickens ) been reduced to about 4 in of black compost .... now I'm back to anywhere from 12 to 16 inches after this falls collecting ! Fun to watch the girls spread the plies.

The other day while out doing chicken chores I dug down about 8 inches and could feel the composting heat ( warm but not hot ) and noticed that the chickens were scratching some deep holes also . Guess they like taking advantage of the free heat source also . Even in the recent cold snap my birds spend very little time in the coop , they are always out scratching through the litter even in single digit temps !

My mower with the collection system was a large investment HOWEVER I needed it even if I didn't take advantage of the collector ( my front yard is 8 acres that is mowed ) BUT I make tons of compost from leafs and grass clippings that would otherwise just blow into the woods or my shop and garage .

IMHO you can never have enough leafs , Chickens are composting machines if you give then something to work with !

 

[Blooie]

I'm a firm believer in leaves and wood chips in both my coop and run. I got that advice from one of the most remarkable women it's ever been my privilege to know, and a lot of the other folks on that particular forum were doing the same thing with amazing success. Well, shoot....they'd never steered me wrong before, and they didn't about this, either. Isn't that right, @lazy gardener ?

When we rake them up we leave any little twigs and such in there, which provide air space. In addition to the leaves, just about anything else went in there too - garden trimmings, pulled weeds, a little chopped straw, grass clippings (not too much of either of those), wood chips, pine needles....but the biggest portion of the litter was leaves. Note: If you can get leaves of various sizes and shapes, they don't seem to pack down as tightly. The first year I did it, the only leaves I had available were long, slender willow leaves. They were all about the same in shape, size and texture, and they did mat more than I liked. So we begged leaves off one of our neighbors who has several varieties of trees in his yard, and from then on when he bagged up his leaves he'd just drop the bags off behind my coop for me, or we'd go get them. That way we always had plenty in reserve, and when the chickens had shredded what was in there and the litter was getting a little dense, we just dumped another bag in there and let them do the work.

 

[lazy gardener]

Absolutely. And the woman who has been a mentor to both Blooie and myself in all things chicken was Beekissed. She is sadly missed by many of us on this forum.

 

[Blooie]

Absolutely. And the woman who has been a mentor to both Blooie and myself in all things chicken was Beekissed. She is sadly missed by many of us on this forum.

Truer words were never spoken! When I first stumbled across this chicken world, I was so green I didn't even know what end of the chicken the food went into. Bee's patience, humor, and down home common sense was just what I needed, and got! I learned that heat lamps are not necessary for chicks, that it's not a crime to cull, that good health in chickens doesn't always mean cramming them full of supplements and that I don't have to sit on their backs to monitor them. AND I learned a lot from you and the others as well, LG - love you all to pieces!

 

[sweetater22]

I too miss Beekissed insight, even a 70 year old man can and did learn new tricks and trends from her, deep litter, fermented feed and other common sense methods. What has caused her to leave this site, hopefully not health reasons.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Beekissed sounds like an amazing person. The kindness and generosity I've experienced in the forums here have kept me going through a difficult experience with my rooster.

I keep removing larger twigs from the leaves, but I now see the benefits of keeping them. Thanks for pointing that out. I just added three wheelbarrows full of white oak wood chips. I had a scary oak above the chicken run trimmed and got a lot of chips and firewood out of it.

The pine needles sure make for nice nests in the chicken coop. They mat together into perfectly round shapes with a resting hole in the middle.

 

[Chullicken]

I know a lot of people who use leaves because they are plentiful and free. I won't ever use them as I feel if your coop isn't ideally vented, mold and moisture will just accumulate causing all kinds of issues, not to mention rot to say the least. Plus picking them off the ground I have no idea what is attached to those leaves such as mites, lice and whatever else the locals have going on. With sand and packaged bedding I know they are more sterile. Also leaves and the like are prone to clumping when wet, regardless of your ventilation. This can cause sticking to your birds and creating a slippery surface which may lead to foot issues. Bedding moisture is also a breeding ground for a lot of bacteria that can be harmful and contagious.