How Many Inches of Mulch for Run?

[Sonya9]

Pine shavings would be hundreds of dollars to cover my 96 sq ft run a few inches deep. The bags at our local store are pretty expensive.

Really? Here a bag of pine shavings is $5-$6 or so and covers 64 sq ft. I know because a bag will cover my small 8x4 coop floor twice. Buy it at a feed store or other place that sells livestock supplies, not the pet section in smaller stores or walmart.

Pine dries out faster than straw so it is less of a mold risk. Also find a local gardener, they would be happy to take bags of used straw for their gardens.

 

[aart]

Yeah, straw ain't gonna cut it...breaks down too fast.
Please post some pics of your run.

Will they dump a big pile where it can sit out of the way until you need it?

Can you answer this question?

Oh good to know! Gosh I am so torn. Maybe what I'll do is put a thin layer down in the run and let the sun beat on it for a week or two before pudding any more down? My run gets a lot of afternoon sun.

Right, why I suggested this:

Just a couple inches should do the trick.
Don't go too deep in run with freshly chipped trees/branches/leaves,
it can be rather wet and cause mold blooms.

 

[aart]

Yes, they are dumping it off to the side of my property so I can leave what I don't use there until I need it. I think I am going to try the tree mulch and just let the sun beat on a thin layer, add more as needed.

That sounds perfect!
Just the wood chips should keep any odors at bay...
...no need to add the zeolite(PDZ/Coop Fresh).

 

[3KillerBs]

One thing I'd like to mention in case it's important to someone is that most straw has been sprayed with Round up or something similar when it was growing to get rid of weeds. Not sure if it's persistent and present at the time of baling but there is very little available straw available that is organic and most farmers spray for weeds.

Round-up's lack of long-term persistence is what makes it a valuable tool for modern, erosion-resistant, no-till farming.

The spraying is usually done between crop cycles.

 

[aart]

Round-up's lack of long-term persistence

That may be, but.....there are other persistent herbicides(don't know names) that make using straw for garden mulch risky. there's been quite a lot of data on it, if you care to research it.

 

[Sonya9]

As others mentioned be really careful with fresh tree trimmings/wood chips. The county was trimming trees last fall and I asked them to dump their truck in my yard for the garden. It grew a LOT of mold over the winter. That would NOT be good for the chickens, plus it has a lot of sharp pieces of wood in it.

 

[Edgars Mom]

One thing I'd like to mention in case it's important to someone is that most straw has been sprayed with Round up or something similar when it was growing to get rid of weeds. Not sure if it's persistent and present at the time of baling but there is very little available straw available that is organic and most farmers spray for weeds.

 

[ObiHenKanobi]

Thank you for all the information everyone! Really appreciate it. Going to switch to the horse version of EZ Coop Refresh and put a few inches down, we'll see how it goes! We live in Northern VT so ~ 6 months of out the year it will be freezing temps.

 

[ObiHenKanobi]

Down where?
It really isn't needed with the wood chips in the run.
Most of us here use PDZ on the poop boards under the roosts.

I meant I would switch to putting some PDZ down occasionally instead of the EZ Coop Refresh. I'm just very worried about any odor since we live in an urban setting and have neighbors.

 

[ObiHenKanobi]

As others mentioned be really careful with fresh tree trimmings/wood chips. The county was trimming trees last fall and I asked them to dump their truck in my yard for the garden. It grew a LOT of mold over the winter. That would NOT be good for the chickens, plus it has a lot of sharp pieces of wood in it.

Oh good to know! Gosh I am so torn. Maybe what I'll do is put a thin layer down in the run and let the sun beat on it for a week or two before pudding any more down? My run gets a lot of afternoon sun.

The only other place I have found to get non-cedar mulch was a garden center, but they charged $90/square foot vs $15/square foot for the tree mulch from the tree service. That's a huge price difference!