Bark / wood chip for chicken run

[jrob53]

Thanks I already have a big pile of wood chips. I am in the process of testing the Back to Eden
gardening method. So I have been stockpiling, a family in our church has a tree service and
they drop off when working nearby.

 

[AngieL]

I use wood chips in my run. About 4-6" deep. My chickens love it. I get it free from tree companies. Just call up a local one and ask for some. If you want and truckload they'll usually just drop it off. If you only need a little just meet up with them at a job site and fill up a few garbage pails. They are always happy to get rid of it.

Thanks I already have a big pile of wood chips. I am in the process of testing the Back to Eden
gardening method. So I have been stockpiling, a family in our church has a tree service and
they drop off when working nearby.

You can get chips from the utility company when they're trimming around the power lines. We told the guys that were cutting around our place last fall they could dump all they wanted and we ended up with 4 truckloads as the boss told the other trucks in the area they could dump here too. That was fine with us. It'll take a couple of years to use this up and then it will be tree trimming time again.

 

[abmurry914]

I use wood chips in my run. About 4-6" deep. My chickens love it. I get it free from tree companies. Just call up a local one and ask for some. If you want and truckload they'll usually just drop it off. If you only need a little just meet up with them at a job site and fill up a few garbage pails. They are always happy to get rid of it.

What kind of wood chips do you use?I was wondering if oak was okay?

 

[aart]

I was wondering if oak was okay?

Yes.

 

[SconnieChickens]

I use wood chips in my chicken run and I love it. We get it from the city and it’s just whatever they chip up from the trees they take down- not pretty by any means and I wouldn’t use anything that has any dyes or anything like that added. I use about 4-6”. Every other week or so I take the hoe and kind of turn it over and add a scoop or 2 of the stall refresher (granular sweet PDZ) to control odors. I’ll add a little more mulch here and there as it decomposes just to keep it at a good level. I find that it drains well, no odors and the chickens love to scratch around in it.