Ideas for Run

[David61]

Hardwood twigs and canopy top of tree.
Next is mix of palm and limb trimmings.
Next a mix of who knows what yard clearing.
Here is the wood yard where logs are moved to the mill to be sawn or split for fire wood. Chips have been put down many feet deep over the years and we dig them for dirt now. The last picture is ten year + bottom of the pile.

 

[David61]

I'll post some pics of my runs chips tomorrow. Its a 40% new hardwood, 40% ten year old chip and 10% oak leaf, grass clipping and coop pine shaving Muck out.

 

[adwil21]

I'll post some pics of my runs chips tomorrow. Its a 40% new hardwood, 40% ten year old chip and 10% oak leaf, grass clipping and coop pine shaving Muck out.

Very nice!! You are lucky to have access to that.

 

[aart]

As you'll see I can pick what I want

It's like a wood chip buffet!!
Most folks are lucky to get anything, why we warn about wetter stuff.

 

[David61]

Its like grass clippings, if you pile it up over an inch thick it stays wet. If you pull it out flat with a rake it will sun dry in a day maybe two days. A thin layer with chickens will get kicked around in no time. Get it dumped to one side of your run and add it over days at a time with some other biomass. I worked my ground with a tiller to clear root mass and added dirt as it was low. So I started with 4"-6" of loose dirt and added 3" of week old hardwood chips. Two weeks later I added 4" of ten year+ broken down chips. A week after that I raked up under my live oak tree and put a ton of leafs on top. I almost regretted it as they were deep but the chickens had as much fun as Kids do

 

[adwil21]

Its like grass clippings, if you pile it up over an inch thick it stays wet. If you pull it out flat with a rake it will sun dry in a day maybe two days. A thin layer with chickens will get kicked around in no time. Get it dumped to one side of your run and add it over days at a time with some other biomass. I worked my ground with a tiller to clear root mass and added dirt as it was low. So I started with 4"-6" of loose dirt and added 3" of week old hardwood chips. Two weeks later I added 4" of ten year+ broken down chips. A week after that I raked up under my live oak tree and put a ton of leafs on top. I almost regretted it as they were deep but the chickens had as much fun as Kids do

We dont have enough leaves to even rake up.

 

[David61]

We dont have enough leaves to even rake up.

LOL well the good news is you don't buy leaves. As a matter of fact, you can make a little money raking them for other people. You can cheat and pick up bagged leaves people sit out for the city to pick up. Just don't be upset about what you find in the bag. Biomass can be had by going to subdivisions and see who has not been edging the yard by the curb. I'm talking grass growing out in the road type not a few inches . Grass and dirt with live bio bugs in it. Tell the home owner you'll edge it for $20. Then $10 and if he says no try free. Be warned, the last time I did this a month ago, one corner yard filled my 5 foot bed pick up truck. This is so easy to get what you need for free if you are in good health. It even pays for gas and lunch! I raked the run to take a picture for you guys and its like where is all my wood chips? It has already eaten what I put down last fall. Looks like black dirt. It is wet. Been raining most of the night. As you see i use old chips in my drainage and it like a spongy walking path. Works and looks cool. More like peatmoss Than chips. Three compost piles brown, green and a mix of the two with poo on the end pile. Look how dry the covered run pine shaving are next to the open wood chip run.
I like having the compost piles next to the run. I can just lift the net and add to the run from any pile.

 

[adwil21]

LOL well the good news is you don't buy leaves. As a matter of fact, you can make a little money raking them for other people. You can cheat and pick up bagged leaves people sit out for the city to pick up. Just don't be upset about what you find in the bag. Biomass can be had by going to subdivisions and see who has not been edging the yard by the curb. I'm talking grass growing out in the road type not a few inches . Grass and dirt with live bio bugs in it. Tell the home owner you'll edge it for $20. Then $10 and if he says no try free. Be warned, the last time I did this a month ago, one corner yard filled my 5 foot bed pick up truck. This is so easy to get what you need for free if you are in good health. It even pays for gas and lunch! I raked the run to take a picture for you guys and its like where is all my wood chips? It has already eaten what I put down last fall. Looks like black dirt. It is wet. Been raining most of the night. As you see i use old chips in my drainage and it like a spongy walking path. Works and looks cool. More like peatmoss Than chips. Three compost piles brown, green and a mix of the two with poo on the end pile. Look how dry the covered run pine shaving are next to the open wood chip run.
I like having the compost piles next to the run. I can just lift the net and add to the run from any pile.

Very nice setup!

 

[strattao]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but just wanted to chime in that we use wood chips. There are a number of tree services that we would get on their "list" for free wood chip deliveries, but now they all have moved over to using an app called Chip Drop. https://getchipdrop.com/ so, begrudgingly we signed up. We've had 3 huge woodchip deliveries and been pretty pleased so far as there seem to be a lot of companies in our area that use this app.
Might be an option for you guys in the future!