Experience with chip drop? (Chip drop.com)

[-Bella Cataline-]

I had someone recommended it to me for getting wood chips for the run, but I'd like to know if everyone's opinion first!
Any harmful chemicals? Oils? Particles? Parasites?
Or just good wood chips/mulch?
What was your experience with this?

 

[Sefirothe]

We just had a couple of old oak trees cut down. I imagine the pile of chips you get from chipdrop would be just like the ones the tree trimmers left us at my request. Its mostly medium size chips, with some leaf matter and sticks mixed in. Literally everything went in the chipper except the lower 10 or 15 feet of the tree trunk.

They had a very LARGE chipper that would pretty much chew up anything short of the base of the trees they were cutting down.

 

[MarkRainbolt]

I had someone recommended it to me for getting wood chips for the run, but I'd like to know if everyone's opinion first!
Any harmful chemicals? Oils? Particles? Parasites?
Or just good wood chips/mulch?
What was your experience with this?

I get my wood chips and mulch from the city. It’s free and they load it for free on Wednesday. The chickens love it they scratch around getting all the bugs and bit’s of vegetation.
Mark

 

[aart]

I had someone recommended it to me for getting wood chips for the run, but I'd like to know if everyone's opinion first!
Any harmful chemicals? Oils? Particles? Parasites?
Or just good wood chips/mulch?
What was your experience with this?

I haven't had it done here, but have read numerous posts here about it.
A few were very happy with it.
Others never heard back from them.
A few got big chunks of trunks in with the chips.
Don't recall anyone getting the things you mentioned.

If you have a place to store a big truck load (I assume you do) your best bet is to contact a local tree trimmer and see if they'll dump a load for you.

 

[Krugerrand]

Be sure to check with your local municipality. Mine chips up branches for people for free and also offers the chipped bits for free. It does require getting them back from the facility.

 

[Penpal]

Don't take walnut chips. They have a chemical that will harm your chickens/horses/goats

 

[chicken-tender]

I had someone recommended it to me for getting wood chips for the run, but I'd like to know if everyone's opinion first!
Any harmful chemicals? Oils? Particles? Parasites?
Or just good wood chips/mulch?
What was your experience with this?

I applied and never heard anything other than a request to renew my application. I did volunteer to take small logs if necessary but still no luck. I saw a crew trimming trees for the power company and talked them into dumping a load for me. I suspect the landscapers need to pay Chips.com for our address and contact info. BTW I did not offer to pay the fee they suggested to entice the landscapers/ tree trimmer to dump for me.

 

[perkolator]

It's a good thing to have available and I've used it several times - but I don't use it anymore and just call an arborist directly when I need chips.

I stopped using it for several reasons, lack of communication was the biggest issue I had. It's a blind service and you don't know who's going to fulfill the request, it's up to them to contact you and let you know when they're coming, what they're bringing you, etc. Several times I had zero communication other than seeing an email pop up while I'm at work, that my drop request was fulfilled - then come home and find half the pile is on the street - so you go to shovel some off the road so people can drive by, only to find 100lb logs hidden under the chips. Other times I got mixed stuff inside the chips - palm fronds, ivy and vines, loads of all small ramial green foliage instead of woody material (decomposed really fast and pretty much composted itself), lots of trash, a full load of cottonwood (it smelled sooo bad), etc. I'm sure there are some great arborists out there who use Chip Drop and provide a much better experience, but apparently not the ones who I got half the time.

My experiences calling up an arborist directly - significantly better and I haven't used Chip Drop in a few years now since doing this. Actual communication giving me advanced notice when they're coming, as well as telling me what type of wood it will be because they knew I was using it around chickens and fruit trees, etc.

So yeah, my recommendation is to just call an arborist and ask to get on their private drop list

 

[tori729]

We just did this in preparation for our chickens. I requested it and within a week, they said I would get a delivery. I specified where I wanted it and they did that for the most part. I did have to call because ChipDrop's ETA was a day off I believe but they do give you the tree company name and number so you can contact them. The tree company delivered a HUGE load and were able to tell me it was mostly pine and something else I forget. Pretty large chunks, some larger than regular mulch; bottom pieces a little smaller. None of them are like pine litter you buy in the store. We got so much, I posted it in a free site and had a few people come get some. There's still a TON.