Leaves as bedding

[TooCheep]

I've been using fall leaves for deep litter in the run for years. Works fine and I only have to change the litter twice per year. The broken down litter works great for organic compost in gardens and under trees/bushes.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

My soil is standard New England forest soil - thin, acidic, and you hit clay a few inches down. My chicken run on the other hand, I regularly can dig a full shovel depth down and hit nothing but amazing, rich compost/soil.

Chickens plus leaves are an amazing soil making machine!

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

My soil is standard New England forest soil - thin, acidic, and you hit clay a few inches down. My chicken run on the other hand, I regularly can dig a full shovel depth down and hit nothing but amazing, rich compost/soil.

Chickens plus leaves are an amazing soil making machine!

I live in Oklahoma so the ground is always wet right under the first layer of soil, I’ve put 400lbs of multipurpose pet safe sand with granite pebble that work as grit and around 80lbs of Cyprus mulch and then it goes the natural wet dirt and then clay. This is my run after a clean

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I never completely clean out my run...just harvest good dirt when I need it somewhere on the property, and keep adding materials like leaves, hay, garden scraps, weeds, food scraps, and the like as I have it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My run is 20x10 feet and coop is 9x6

My run was 25x40 - even surrounded by woods w/ lots of broad leaf trees, I didn't find the will to gather enough leaves to try and fill it.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

I never completely clean out my run...just harvest good dirt when I need it somewhere on the property, and keep adding materials like leaves, hay, garden scraps, weeds, food scraps, and the like as I have it.

I put tarps and feed bags on the side to keep the free range roosters from fighting with my main one and also to deter predators. I put tarps on half the top during summer for shade and completely cover the top in winter. So far since last winter they’ve completely eaten 1 tarp and are working on a 2nd and 3rd currently. This was my glorious attempt at attaching feed sacks to the side after they ate the first tarp

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

I put tarps and feed bags on the side to keep the free range roosters from fighting with my main one and also to deter predators. I put tarps on half the top during summer for shade and completely cover the top in winter. So far since last winter they’ve completely eaten 1 tarp and are working on a 2nd and 3rd currently. This was my glorious attempt at attaching feed sacks to the side after they ate the first tarp

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

My run was 25x40 - even surrounded by woods w/ lots of broad leaf trees, I didn't find the will to gather enough leaves to try and fill it.

I raked a part of my front yard that was like 30x30 to gather the leaves I got because the tree in my front yard has so many leaves and constantly drops them

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

My run was 25x40 - even surrounded by woods w/ lots of broad leaf trees, I didn't find the will to gather enough leaves to try and fill it.

I don't gather leaves from the woods...just the part of my property and a neighbors that would need leaves collected anyway. Heavily wooded yards, for sure.

This weekend it was dozen emptyings of the mower bag, but that's one day in what will be a season's long run of picking up leaves every available dry weekend.

 

[Ecarroll]

I have a similar question, are leaves (small leaves not like oak, they are from beetlebung but you probably don’t know that tree) good as coop bedding? Not in the run but in the coop. Thank you!