Has anyone used wood chippings in their run?

[Earl Grey Sian]

I have three hens who quickly demolished all the grass in their run. I don't have the luxury of being able to move the run to fresh grass (small garden).
I see on the omlet website that they recommend wood chippings as an alternative ground cover.
Has anyone tried this? If so, what were the pros and cons? Thanks

 

[ging3rhoffman]

No, we went with sand. It is easy to keep clean, it provides grit for them and it drains real well when it rains. I thought the wood chips would be a constant clean up job.

 

[Wateredgarden11]

We also put down gravel and sand just this past weekend. Our run had lost all its grass and with all this rain we were worried about smell. The gravel and sand were pretty cheap bought in bulk and brought home in our truck bed. Our backs are telling us the story though after shoveling it out and moving it to the run. Another three days of rain here..glad we managed to get it all done on the two days we had sun. I also considered chips and we might also add those as well on top of the sand as it looks dismal to me to see my chickens in the run with nothing green or interesting to scratch in.

 

[patandchickens]

You can do it. There are worse things. But you have to watch for a) the woodchips holding moisture and causing stink and flies, and b) as they decompose they can create a really nasty swampy mudpit (by adding fine organic material to the soil) if not raked out and replaced in time.

Other options would be sand, gravel, or roadbase (sand/gravel/dirt mix), alone or with plant matter chucked in for them to poke around at (I toss in all my nontoxic weedings, turf from edging beds, veg garden scraps and cleanings, giant anthills, cut long grass, etc -- after some months I remove it and start over, with the removed stuff being allowed to compost a little further and then going onto the garden)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[aaronzclark]

PLEASE PLEASE DON'T DO IT I cleaned even my stalls out that had wood chips in it there was a bunch of maggets in it I am having a terrible time with flies this year

 

[greenpeeps]

i used wood chips and almost lost all my chicks. They started eating the wc and 4 out of 6 had compacted crops. I had to massage them and feed them olive oil, and add olive oil to their water(Got those ideas here.). I had to move the coop and make sure all the chips were out.

Too Scary - we now use grass clippings in the house and nothing in the yard yet. Good Luck

 

[Ameraucana Momma]

I live in Michigan and have lots of rain. In my runs I put landscape fabric down and large cedar chips. the kind for playgrounds I did one outside run like that last year and it is still nice the birds stay clean and they have lots of fun sratching in the chips but the chips do not rot nor can they eat them. I put them in my new run and everyone liks them. Much better than mud.

 

[valentinebaby]

I thought cedar was a big NO NO for chickens! How long have yours been exposed to the cedar chips?

 

[Earl Grey Sian]

Thank you one and all. As I've already bought the wood chips (hardwood) I think I'l give them a try. If it doesn't work out I'll replace it.
p.s Am I the only person using this forum from the uk?

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
No one told you about thier bad habits, eh?
Wood chips are fine. SO is sand, gravel, straw, fine leaves, etc.