Crushed autumn leaves for bedding?

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[Tookie]

Welcome!

 

[FMEO]

They work very well in the coop as deep bedding. Poops dry quickly in them, even in a damp climate. They don't mat.

No need to crush them. It doesn't hurt to crush them.

The only downside I've noticed in four years of using them full time is they will mold if you pack them super, super tight into yard bags before they are dry enough. That happened the first year I did only the leaves because I didn't realize I wouldn't need as many as leaves as I thought I would then. I tried to store as many as I could - a few bags more than I could easily fit in the a available storage space.

The first year I used them at all, I mixed as many textures as I could: shavings, grass, stalks from the garden, the leaves, etc.. I like that a little better than all leaves but not enough to buy shavings or store the other kinds of materials.

I don't know if all kinds of leaves work as well as the mostly maple leaves I used.

Thanks , I’m having good results so far , I crush them to get as much in the bags as possible, I also use them for some worm set ups I have. I use very dry leaves. Currently using finishing fall of 2024 leaves so they are real dry pretty lifeless. I haven’t gone through a full year yet so the jury is still out. So far so good

 

[triciayoung]

Hello. I have not used them yet.

 

[BDutch]

My larger runs have soil and no real bedding. It has netting on top. The autumn leaves goes in, in autumn and winter. Besides I was shredding wood/small branches from pruning. This goes in as wel but never everywhere. It breaks down is a couple of - several moths.

The leaves and branches compensate the urea/poop and make a great and fertile soil. Green grass doesn't compensate, so called browns do.

No need to clean the poop. The earthworms and other critters take care of it.
Only have to remove some rich sand with compost every now and then because added means the soil lever gets higher.