Compact soil in Chicken Yard: Material Ideas

[khind]

I'm trying to rebuild/build up a specific area: the chicken yard.
I have a coop; a covered run with food, water, dustbathing, etc.; and an outer chicken yard that's fenced around but open at the top (so is that technically called another "run" area?). This outer chicken yard is what's become almost barren, compacted dirt. There are 3 1/2 large trees in it & native plants still come up in a few large spots. But erosion has caused the soil level to drop a good 2 inches = muddy after rain, hot concrete in the hot, hot summer, both of which will only get worse over time... They still love to dustbathe out there though. (Surrounding this chicken yard is acreage with plenty of plants, trees, & a pond which I supervise them on for 1-2 hours a few days/week and much of the weekend.)

Based on research on this forum & elsewhere, I've gotten ideas to almost remedy and/or grow new soil, but I need additional know-how to help the issue ASAP. Can you please share your thoughts?:

1. Wood chips. I'm on a list with utility service tree trimmers; I'll reread about Chipdrop, but someone here (Mary, aka Folly's Place?) once raised this concern (underscores are mine): Wood chips and garden waste are terrific, as long as you are aware of what plants are toxic and avoid them. I wouldn't use chips that are mostly black walnut, or scraps from very toxic plants like Japanese yew, for example. And at least here we have recently been invaded by poison hemlock, and many people don't know what it looks like. Very bad news!
Birds may eat plants when confined with them that would be avoided when they free range and have lots of choices!
So, unless I can get in contact with a source who can tell me where the chips came from, I'm also considering a wood chipper. Either of those could take some time.
Also, some members have brought up the issue of chips drying out long enough to not cause mold blooms. Is the consensus that if chips sit in a large heap for a couple of months or so, the top layer - about how far down does that top layer go? - can be "skimmed" or removed to use?
2. Straw? My County Extension specialist said I could try adding straw to the dirt. I was concerned about it getting moldy when wet, but out of desperation to try something, I just recently dumped a large bag onto the yard, scattering it around. I figured there was plenty of chicken yard that I did Not toss straw in so they would not have to be in contact with it always, but then I remembered that I couldn't actually ask them to avoid the wet straw areas and get guaranteed compliance. The chickens love looking through it. But a couple days later, we got 2 days of torrential downpours! I had only spread a thin layer out there, but do I still need to try to rake this up & haul it off?
3. Fresh grass clippings and table scraps?: The specialist also recommended these. I would want to make sure to not put long clippings in there - a little tricky when we get all this rain. And table scraps in a compacted-dirt yard: Images that come to mind are chickens eating food together amidst their droppings on top of that dirt - am I right in being apprehensive? or too worried about that?
4. Fallen leaves. Living in the woods, this is what I use in the chicken run. I never rake our own yard, so there are still dead, dried out leaves out there... (Wet leaves now, after the rains.) But these all alone would just blow around and/or not be enough...
5. Pea gravel?. @Ridgerunner, you commented, in May 2024, about dumping some pea gravel on the dirt ground that's gotten muddy after rain (sounds almost like pseudo walkways?). I like that idea, but I did try rocks larger than those to direct water after rains, but they eventually moved around in the summer because of the dry, concrete soil! But I'd like to think of how to incorporate these while trying to build up soil with other materials.

 

[Perris]

this may give you some ideas (don't be distracted by the title):
https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...-farming-couple-rewilding-knepp-isabella-tree

 

[rosemarythyme]

Aim for a mix of materials. Wood chips as the base (and yes ideally you'd want to know what's mixed in... for starters are things like black walnut or Japanese yew common in your area?) I get around it by having my own branches chipped when we need tree service so everything's IDed but there's plenty of folks on here who get chips from utility, county or tree service companies without issue.

Grass clippings and dried leaves are good mix ins, with some caveats. If you're sourcing both from your own property then you'll at least know what's in the mix. With grass clippings specifically, ideally you'd want a mulching mower or to mow frequently in order to keep the clippings on the shorter side. In addition what I do is leave the clippings out a day or two to dry out because it's less appealing to the chickens to eat it, so as to lessen the risk of crop impaction.

 

[khind]

This is helpful, thank you. And yes, we do have black walnut trees, even on our property (though not near the chickens' area).

 

[Ridgerunner]

But erosion has caused the soil level to drop a good 2 inches = muddy after rain, hot concrete in the hot, hot summer, both of which will only get worse over time.

Is this area actively eroding away in rainstorms? Do you need to do erosion control? One concern is that anything you put down may wash away.

1. Wood chips. : Wood chips and garden waste are terrific, as long as you are aware of what plants are toxic and avoid them.

Never say never. Anything is possible. A piece of space junk could fallout of the sky and hit your house this afternoon. That happened to somebody in Australia a few years back, probably has other places too. But I am not moving into a cave to protect against space junk hitting where I live. The odds are against it.

Is it possible to get enough of something in wood chips, straw, hay, grass clippings, or leaves to cause harm. Anything is possible. I consider dosage important even if something is there. Is there enough to cause harm? If you can exercise control over what goes in the wood chips, fine. For your peace of mind it may be worth getting or renting a chipper and make your own.

When I got wood chips from a utility to use as mulch I put it in landscaping flower/bush beds or around trees the first year. I let it weather for a year before I used it in my vegetable garden. My concern was not the type of wood in it, I was concerned about people using a herbicide that would get into my vegetables.

We all have to make our own decisions about this.

Also, some members have brought up the issue of chips drying out long enough to not cause mold blooms.

Any time organic materials like wood chips, straw, hay, grass clippings or leaves stay moist they can mold. That moisture does not have to come from the materials (like wood sap or green grass), rain will provide moisture.

How dangerous is the mold you can see in these organic materials? That is a good question I do not have a good answer for. Some types of molds can be dangerous, some are beneficial. Most are neither. Chickens supposedly evolved from Junglefowl. You'd think that a jungle would have a lot of mold in it. Many forum members let their chickens free range in woodlands. If you turn the leaves on the woodland floor over you will find mold. Chickens scratch in that.

I don't like to see mold. I'm allergic and it makes my nose run but that is personal. It is a sign the run may be wet enough that the anaerobic bacteria can grow which will stink and cause the run to be slimy. Diseases can flourish in a wet run. I'm not worried about the chickens scratching around in mold from a chicken health perspective, I'm more concerned about it being a sign that the run may be wet enough for the other things. In my opinion the direct risk from mold is not very high.

2. Straw? do I still need to try to rake this up & haul it off?

If it starts to stink (from anaerobic bacteria), yes, I would. If it does not stink I would not.

3. Fresh grass clippings and table scraps: Images that come to mind are chickens eating food together amidst their droppings on top of that dirt

Chickens build flock immunities and share probiotics by pecking soil that has droppings in it from the flock. One gift a broody hen gives her chicks is that she poops where they will eat bits of it when they are eating other things. That gets their immune system off to a great start. To me those are good images.

I would only feed them enough table scraps that they could finish before dark. Otherwise they can attract rodents and predators. One advantage of the table scraps is that they will encourage the chickens to scratch and mix the organic materials. They should scratch any way looking of creepy crawlies in the organic material but table scraps may encourage that even more.

4. Fallen leaves.

To me, a great addition.

5. Pea gravel. @Ridgerunner, you commented, in May 2024, about dumping some pea gravel on the dirt ground that's gotten muddy after rain (sounds almost like pseudo walkways?). I like that idea, but I did try rocks larger than those to direct water after rains, but they eventually moved around in the summer because of the dry, concrete soil! But I'd like to think of how to incorporate these while trying to build up soil with other materials.

I dump pea gravel in certain areas where I will stand or walk when the run gets wet after it rains for a while. I dump them when the area is wet and by walking on it they get worked into the soil. That gives me a stable space to stand or walk for a year or two. Those are not big areas, my feet aren't that big.

I'm not sure what is going on with your rock. If rainwater runoff is eroding your soil, rocks can absorb the water's energy and reduce erosion. But they need to be heavy enough that water cannot move them around. Instead of individual rocks to direct water did you build a berm where the different rocks can reinforce each other?

Using organic material to reclaim land is an excellent way to go about it. You are basically creating a compost pile. Toss anything in there that you would in a compost pile. The chickens should turn it for you and will poop in it, adding valuable chicken manure. It sounds like that area isn't huge so the chickens will probably not allow much green to grow in it. Keeping it covered with organic material will keep it from being muddy and will rebuild it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Also, some members have brought up the issue of chips drying out long enough to not cause mold blooms. Is the consensus that if chips sit in a large heap for a couple of months or so, the top layer - about how far down does that top layer go? - can be "skimmed" or removed to use?

Meant to answer this too and then completely forgot. Yes it's best to let chips age a bit before using, specifically to avoid an overgrowth of aspergillus which is more likely to form on green/fresh chips. As far as "skimming" there's not like a magical depth to avoid. I just fork chips off the surface of the pile and go around the surface area of the pile, scooping off the top several inches, and those should all be sufficiently dried out for safe use.

 

[Crazy chickn lady]

There are certain types of moulds that are extremely toxic to chickens. Myotoxins. But usually that grows on stale, wet chicken food and table scraps, so i definitely wouldn't be throwing table scraps in there as ground cover.

Hay can be an issue because chickens love to eat hay, and excessive consumption of hay can lead to gizzard malfunction. This is is when the gizzard cannot grind down the hay which results in a ball of hay and grass etc to become a ball and block the large intestine. When this occurs, diagnosis has to be made asap, the longer the wait the harder it is to treat and it can result in death by malnutrition, dehydration, starvation. This happened to one of our beautiful ladies. Tube fed her for 2 weeks with no luck so i now refrain from using hay. We just left our run the same as it was. Just put a fence around it. Rake it regularly, occasionally add some soil from different areas of the garden they free range in, remove droppings daily.
Inside the coop we have perches and bare plywood style sheets we can take out and clean daily. The nesting boxes have a rubber matt that prevents the eggs from rolling out. They always kicked the hay out from their nesting box when i use to put hay in them.

Avoid any food scraps or old chicken feed being left in the run because myotoxins are the worst types of mould for a chicken.