Best Run Mulch for Attracting Bugs?

[Microwave Girl]

Thank you all so much! I'm adding pine straw and yard waste today, and will start working on sourcing woodchips. The girls are gonna love this.

 

[ChickensForEggs2500]

I have a combination of wood chips and whatever yard waste is available each season - mowed grass clippings in the summer, leaves in the fall (I bag and collect them for winter use as well), spent plants from the garden, various raked debris from my yard etc. Basically I dump all my yard waste in the chicken run (just no food). The chickens LOVE scratching through it and always find something to eat, even in winter. They keep it pretty fluffed up, so it doesn't freeze into a sheet of ice the way wet bare ground does. It doesn't get muddy and doesn't smell. I love it! The deeper it is, the better for finding bugs and things. And put some stumps and large logs down. Turn them over every once in a while and there will be bugs and worms underneath. I just rolled a log over yesterday, in March which is still winter up here in the Northeast, and was very surprised to find tiny slugs under it! I also gave the girls a hand with the hoe and loosened up some of the deeper layers, and they were happy to find sprouted grains under there! Presumably from scratch I threw at some point and grains they missed. There's always something fun to find in that kind of bedding. And it looks good, too - looks very natural, like a forest floor. Highly recommend it!

This is what it looks like:
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Closer view:
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I love your setup!! Do you use a covered run?

 

[K0k0shka]

I love your setup!! Do you use a covered run?

Thanks! It's sort of semi-covered. It's open on top (just welded wire mesh for predators) and I have a couple of patio umbrellas in the run to give the chickens some rain protection, but the ground still gets wet.

 

[TropicalBabies]

I love your setup!! Do you use a covered run?

I love her chickens! Soooo pretty!!!

 

[K0k0shka]

I love her chickens! Soooo pretty!!!

Thank you!