Leaves in chicken run turning black, good or bad?

[SW31]

I’ve asked OH that next time he uses the leaf blower to collect leaves he dumps the collected leaves into the hen house. Stupidly we’ve been dumping the leaves in the same place we dump weeds, deadheaded flowers etc!

 

[AquaDuck]

Interesting thread! Didn't know leaves benefited so well from being scratched and pooped at by chickens. Makes perfect sense that they compost easier when broken into little pieces by hens and get fertilized.

 

[TooCheep]

Interesting thread! Didn't know leaves benefited so well from being scratched and pooped at by chickens. Makes perfect sense that they compost easier when broken into little pieces by hens and get fertilized.

Yes. Very good thread. Chickens largely "automate" what we can build manually: composting bin with carbon and nitrogen sources that you have to wet and mix periodically to help it break down.

Very good video that some might want to watch. Karl Hammer took this setup to an extreme at this farm, raising 600 chickens with no grain at all and creating compost on a commercial scale. The first 6:40 (of 31 minutes) is about the chickens+compost and the remainder is about his larger setup.

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

Looks like a major 'wet pack' scenario to me. Not sure if the black is good or bad, 'slimy' might not always smell.
At least it's out in the open with lots of sun and air, that will help.
As long as you make sure it stays stirred up, might make some nice soil.
Hopefully it breaks down before it freezes solid,
or snow melt season may not be pleasant there.

Wood chips might not be a good soil ingredient,
if not fully broken down it will 'steal' nitrogen from plants.

'Aging' wood chippings is a relative thing.
Can depend on if they are chipped in summer(wetter) or winter(drier),
how much and what kind of organisms are present growing on the tree,
the micro-environment they are used and/or stored in,
and what kind of wood it is(some break down faster than others).
Moderation, common sense, and a bit of biology knowledge can go a long way with composting and chickens.

I second the nitrogen stealing properties of partially broken down wood chips. It's why you're not supposed to turn mulch in to your dirt, to just keep adding to your beds on top.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

My chickens love the leaves so much that I drive around neighborhoods "stealing" the bags of leaves left for the garbage truck! I never spread them, just dump them in big mounds in the run; the chickens love scratching all through them, like kids onto a big pile of snow!

Wow, what a great idea to throw piles of raked leaves into the chicken run! I can't wait for there to be enough leaves to rake so I can try this out with my girls!

OK, the leaves fell, I was excited and raked them up. Finally, my girls would get to dig and scratch through fall's treasures! I have a fairly small run, so I let the girls out to free range as I dumped a few wheelbarrowfuls of dry leaves into their run. But the reaction I got was not what I'd expected. All 11 hens stopped cold and looked at this unfamiliar mound in their territory. I shooed them all in, but they did not go happily digging; they sort of struggled to walk through the pile.

The next day I noticed that their waterer was full of leaves - so full that they couldn't drink from it. When I'd put dishes of feed down, the dishes would get buried in leaves. Everything got buried by those leaves - and the chickens didn't look happy about it. Sigh. So my leaf experiment was a big fail. Maybe if I had a larger run? Or didn't have to keep them in a run? (Too many predators here to NOT keep them in a secure run/coop.) Oh, well, I raked out most of the leaves and will try introducing smaller amounts in the future...

 

[TooCheep]

Sounds like you just got too excited and overdid it. Chickens tend to be... well... chicken when their environment changes. They think it might be dangerous until they know better.

Make a pile in one area of their run. Let them explore and scratch it at first to get used to it. They will spread it around for you. Then you can add some more. You may need to adjust your water and food container height as their floor is now higher.

Keep at it. It really is worth it and your girls will benefit.

 

[aart]

Maybe if I had a larger run?

How big is the run?
Pics would help.
Are feeder and waterer up off the ground?

Sounds like you just got too excited and overdid it.

Sounds like a definite possibility.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You may need to adjust your water and food container height as their floor is now higher.

When I add a large amount of anything, be it leaves, grass, wood chips, I find I need to give things a few days to settle down, then I go and adjust whatever stuff sits on the ground so it doesn't all get buried. Since I've been adding a lot of leaves the food bowls tend to "vanish" for a few days but once things start packing down I move my bricks (which hold the bowls) and move stuff around a little until everything's sitting nicely again.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

Sounds like you just got too excited and overdid it.

Yes, I believe that I did. The run is small, but it's dark now so I don't want to go out and measure (or take photos). We had to make it super secure due to problems with hawks, raccoons, skunks, and foxes (plus others we probably didn't catch in the act.) There is fencing all around, above, and below so that diggers couldn't get in. On top of that, there's bird netting all around to keep out sparrows and other freeloaders who think that chicken feeders are all-you-can-eat fast food joints.

The water and food are both on the ground, so that is a problem with all those leaves, even though I didn't put the leaves right next to the water. The hens obviously did dig and throw leaves around. Maybe I'll try lifting the water on some cinder blocks. But with the food - I was hoping the hens would enjoy some hide and seek.

I'll try adding a little bit at a time. I know that they like pecking through weeds in the summer when I throw in a bucket or two after a day's weeding.

 

[aart]

The water and food are both on the ground, so that is a problem with all those leaves, even though I didn't put the leaves right next to the water. The hens obviously did dig and throw leaves around. Maybe I'll try lifting the water on some cinder blocks.

It's amazing the amount of material they can move.
Blocks will help.