Forest mulch in the chicken run

[Sunshine Flock]

I'm heaping layers of pine needles and leaves in the chicken run. It's getting muddy from the rain, and if we end up with half the rain we had last spring, it's going to be a very wet winter.

I can easily rake just the pine needles and leaves, but underneath is lots of dried grasses we weed whacked and never racked up. It smells so fresh and green, but I'm feeling it's best to leave it out of the run. The long grasses, even though dried and breaking down, mat together really well, and I worry about the chickens eating it and getting a tangle of grass stuck in their crop.

Would they eat the dried grass? Do you agree I shouldn't use it in the run? I can post a photo if needed. Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They'd only eat dried fibrous grass as a last resort. As long as they have feed they'll ignore it.
Mine won't even eat mature grass that's green. They prefer young tender forbs and other plants.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't think there's a universal rule... mine do enjoy eating grass so I only grass throw shorter grass into the run litter, way too much for them to eat though. Once it dries up and mats they do tend to ignore it in favor of greener grass.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What a question! It's a good one. With living animals I can't give you any guarantees, anything can happen. So yes, it is possible that you could get some of that to wad up and cause a crop or even gizzard blockage. But when cleaning out dead grass in the garden yesterday I tossed some really long dried out grass into a section of the run along with other garden debris and dead leaves to kind of start a compost in the run area. I did not wan those seeds in my compost pile that will probably never get turned.

I'm not the least concerned about it, but I'm looking for a place to put some of this stuff just to get rid of it. If you don't need to get rid of that stuff and are concerned, don't do it. I don't know that it will necessarily benefit you.

 

[aart]

I'm heaping layers of pine needles and leaves in the chicken run. It's getting muddy from the rain, and if we end up with half the rain we had last spring, it's going to be a very wet winter.

I can easily rake just the pine needles and leaves, but underneath is lots of dried grasses we weed whacked and never racked up. It smells so fresh and green, but I'm feeling it's best to leave it out of the run. The long grasses, even though dried and breaking down, mat together really well, and I worry about the chickens eating it and getting a tangle of grass stuck in their crop.

Would they eat the dried grass? Do you agree I shouldn't use it in the run? I can post a photo if needed. Thanks!

I let my grass grow long, cut it spreading it out with the mower discharge, let it dry a few days then put it in the run...they don't eat it.
If you are getting matting, then you may have too much of the smaller components.
I find that too many leaves mat easily without the larger wood chips or long dried grass present to be mixed in. The chickens mix it all up pretty good.

'Hay' Day:

This was taken for the fencing attachment but shows the mix of wood chips and leaves: