Musty Wood Chips for Run?

[KappyFlock]

Reminds me of whenever my Dad drove by the cattle feed lots in Dodge City, Kansas - some of the largest and smelliest in the nation. He raised cattle on our farm several miles away. He'd inhale deeply, close his eyes for a moment, and say, "Mmmmm Money!" Always cracked me up, while holding my nose! <snort>

I guess one's reaction to it depends on his perspective! haha

I really appreciate everyone's responses here. I've gone from worrying that these wood chips are no good to understanding that they are just what our chickens need. It doesn't matter that they don't smell good to me because they're not for me! haha

 

[gtaus]

I know I am late to this thread and maybe nobody is paying any attention to now, but I enjoy reading these type of threads and will make a few comments in case anyone in the future ends up here on a search.

He's going to go ahead and use them but if anyone else sees this thread and has input, please feel free to share it. I'm not ready to stop learning just yet.

I like the fact that I am constantly learning new and better ways to raise my backyard flock. Keeps me feeling younger.

If they smell like a forest floor that's exactly right.

That's what it should smell like. Some woods smell when freshly cut. I really like the smell fresh cut pine. But a few days outside in the air and sunshine will cut down on aroma. On the other hand, if they cut and chopped up fresh green leaves with the wood, then you might have a little composting starting, and that is a good thing. It's that composting process that smells like a forest floor to me. My wood chips, by themselves, have very little smell.

I'm probably the outlier here because I absolutely love the smell of fresh cut wood,

I'm an outlier with you, too.

It doesn't matter that they don't smell good to me because they're not for me!

If you had some smelly wood (someone mentioned fresh oak) then a few days outside in open air should take care of that problem. If what you are smelling is a forest floor, then that's what you would want for a healthy environment for your chickens. That means some composting is taking place. There are many, many benefits to composting in place including making an environment for bugs and worms to live, which the chickens will love to scratch and peck for all day!

There are other ways to cover/change the smell of your run. For example, you can add fresh cut grass clippings on top of the wood chips. The chickens will love eating some greens for a few days. In the fall, I dump all my leaves from the yard into the chicken run. My leaves don't have much of any smell, but if you had an offensive smelling run, the leaves would help solve that problem.

Eventually, the chickens will scratch and peck everything, mixing it all together, making wonderful compost for your garden. That's like black gold sitting in your vault. Thin layers of run litter, all mixed together by the chickens, should smell like a forest floor.

 

[Birds of paradise]

Yesterday my husband and I went down to the yard where the local utility dumps wood chips from tree trimming and removal. We loaded our trailer and brought home a pile of free wood chips, but I notice they have a musty smell. Will they air out or what? Is it ok to use these in the run? Not in the coop because we have pine shavings (from a bag) in there. But in the run.

Our chicks are a couple of weeks old and have been confined to the coop since we got them. They seem happy in there but we are finishing up the run and looking forward to getting them into it for a field trip. The run so far is just the bare ground (kind of clayish with sparse weeds), covered by a few-inch layer of loose yard dirt to raise the ground a bit for water drainage and so the chickens have something nice to dig into once they get through the top layer, which was supposed to be these wood chips.

My husband is anxious to put these chips in the run so he can enclose it with hardware cloth. I've put a halt to the process while I await your answer about whether these chips are suitable. Thank you in advance for your advice!

If it smells musty, I would give it a miss. It means they're in an anaerobic state of decomposition which you don't want. Rather take a bag or two of your wood shavings and spread that. When I clean my coop out, I spread those shavings in the run to help with mud and mulching. When that looks tired, it goes to my compost heap or garden beds. Hope that helps.

 

[Birds of paradise]

@nuthatched , @BarnyardChaos , @3KillerBs Thank you for responding. I don't think it's moldy. If it were moldy I'd be the first to run in the other direction. Long story. Anyway, I just went out and took a whiff and a better description might be "earthy". There are some lacy leaf remnants and dirt and other organic debris in there, and I guess all of that is what I'm smelling.

My husband said he watches the wood chip situation at the utility yard and this stuff was dumped there maybe a week ago. So it hadn't been there too long before we took it.

Thank you for the suggestion of adding them in thin layers built up over time. That way they can air out a little, and that just seems better to me.

He's going to go ahead and use them but if anyone else sees this thread and has input, please feel free to share it. I'm not ready to stop learning just yet.

On your repost, earthy is ok, and a week is still fresh for wood chips. If it's slimy or furry/fuzzy, stay away, or if it takes your breath away with a pungent smell. If it's earthy, then it's decomposing as it should. Wood chips with the chicken manure will make great compost in a few months to a year.