Leaves in chicken run turning black, good or bad?

[gtaus]

I like to add other things too, small sticks, grass clippings, dead plants, anything that can break down. even large pieces of rotting wood (not treated lumber) stuff I can life up a couple times of weeks so the chickens can find bugs under them.

Yes, I also have been dumping bags of grass clippings from when I mow the lawn. My chickens love eating the grass clippings and what does not get eaten ends up working itself into the other compost material. I also get free wood chips from our county landfill and have added a few layers of wood chips in the chicken run. I don't know what the chickens find to eat in wood chips, they are busy all day in those wood chips. And now, of course, I am dumping leaves into the run. All this stuff is being mixed up by the chickens and turning into black gold.

 

[gtaus]

if you can't free range them for predator reasons but want to let them forage a bit outside the run, let them out an hour before sun set and stand out there with them. Predators won't want to attack with you standing with them. Its what I did before I was comfortable letting them forage the yard all day long. (they return to the coop before the sun sets)

I have pretty much decided not to let my laying hens free range for the first 2-3 years. After that, when they slow down on laying eggs, I am planning on building a shed/coop with a fenced in pasture, but no bird netting on top. I have 3 acres of land and will just set aside a portion for them to free range within the fencing. Maybe set it up under a bunch of trees for some shelter for them. If they get taken by predators, I will not be at much of a loss. If they do well and no predator concerns, I may start letting my younger hens have more room to pasture. I will tell you, however, that most people where I live do not free range their chickens as we just have too many Bald Eagles and hawks. Those people who insist on free ranging their birds are usually ex-chicken owners by the end of the summer.

 

[Compost King]

another thing about the Grass Clippings is that they attract insects for the chickens to eat.

 

[Major_in_MS]

Predators won't want to attack with you standing with them.

Don't count too much on that. Twice in my years I have been startled by aerial predators swooping down from above and landing only feet from me to take food.

The first time, I had caught a mouse on one of those glue traps but I was headed out the door to work when I saw it so I just picked it up and tossed it into the back of my pickup truck. When I got to the fire station I let my tailgate down and sat there a few minutes as I slowly, but with firm pressure pulled the little mouse free from the glue. I chunked the little guy over into the grass and he was just sitting there trying to clean the glue residue off of his paws when a red tailed hawk landed on the side of my pickup truck bed right next to where I was sitting. I looked at the hawk and the hawk looked at me, then he quickly scooped up the mouse and landed on a branch about 30 feet up a nearby tree and enjoyed his glue seasoned meal.

The second time, I was sitting in a lawn chair reading a Stephen King book in my chicken run. It was getting close to sunset and there were several eight week or so old chicks scratching around and about thirty adult chickens and maybe 15 runner ducks just doing their pre-roosting chores. All of a sudden I felt a whoosh of air and heard the air brakes of a huge owl coming in for a landing only feet above my head. I must have been sitting right in the middle of his landing strip. He grabbed a young chicken and away he went. I laughed all day the next day as I was stringing a crazy zig zag pattern of green nylon twine from the tops of all my t-posts and livestock fence till I had a pretty good trap set. I sat out there every night for the next week hoping for a reappearance but I never saw that owl again.

Sorry for such a long tale. Sometimes I get carried away.

 

[gtaus]

Don't count too much on that. Twice in my years I have been startled by aerial predators swooping down from above and landing only feet from me to take food....

Great stories.... This past summer I was mowing the lawn down by the lake and there was a big Bald Eagle next to our creek sitting on top of a dead fish. The Bald Eagle looked to be about 3 feet tall. With those sharp beaks and talons, I don't want to mess around with a bird like that.

In the summertime, it is not uncommon to see 8, 10, or even 12 Bald Eagles riding the thermals in big circles above the lake looking for food. So I have my girls confined to a chicken run and have bird netting on top. I know an Eagle could probably tear up the netting, but he most likely would get himself badly tangled in it if he tried.

 

[gtaus]

another thing about the Grass Clippings is that they attract insects for the chickens to eat.

I don't know what the chickens find to eat in the grass clippings, but they are eating something in addition to the grass itself.

 

[MROO]

Don't count too much on that. Twice in my years I have been startled by aerial predators swooping down from above and landing only feet from me to take food.

I looked at the hawk and the hawk looked at me, then he quickly scooped up the mouse and landed on a branch about 30 feet up a nearby tree and enjoyed his glue seasoned meal.

Talk about a meal that "sticks to your ribs!" I had a red-tailed hawk take a pullet while I was standing nearby. What a heartbreaking moment!

 

[gtaus]

I spent about 20 minutes this morning piling the leaves in the chicken run into a large heap. It only took my 10 chickens about 5 minutes to level it down to nothing. I wonder if my time was well spent? Would I be better off just throwing scratch and/or other grains on the leaves as they are and just let the chickens work through it? They seem to like a large pile of leaves, but I certainly spend more time building the pile then it takes them to tear it apart.

 

[MROO]

I spent about 20 minutes this morning piling the leaves in the chicken run into a large heap. It only took my 10 chickens about 5 minutes to level it down to nothing. I wonder if my time was well spent? Would I be better off just throwing scratch and/or other grains on the leaves as they are and just let the chickens work through it? They seem to like a large pile of leaves, but I certainly spend more time building the pile then it takes them to tear it apart.

If the leaves are already there, you don't need to rake 'em together (unless it's something you enjoy doing, of course!) Just throw in some scratch and let them at it. If you want to make it harder for them, just rake over it a bit. They'll happily dig for the first few minutes or so ... then spend the next few days looking hopefully for any minuscule bits they may have missed. Either way, they're busy and happy!

 

[gtaus]

If the leaves are already there, you don't need to rake 'em together (unless it's something you enjoy doing, of course!) Just throw in some scratch and let them at it.

I guess I have better things to do then re-pile leaves for my girls. I'm thinking I will be just throwing scratch down and let them at it. My time would be better spent gathering more leaves, and bagging some for winter use.