Piles and piles of dry leaves already...

[debid]

Is putting them in the run for chicken exercise and mud control a good or bad idea?

 

[chicmom]

Good idea! I do that every year. A free gift from Mother Nature!

 

[shellybean40]

GREAT idea! we put literally 2 feet of oak leaves in our run last winter and they are finally almost pulverized. The smell is almost unnoticeable, and we have a couple of inches of wonderful compost to sift out of there when we replace the leaves.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I never thought about leaves. I guess I have some raking to do. Thanks for sharing this idea.

 

[Hawkeye95]

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X 2!!!

 

[mestaske]

Good idea. Plus if you get a good layer the bugs and worms will love to get under there and if you decide to go back and shovel next year there will be plenty of bugs for them to eat and they will love to go through all of it. Also yes, it will make good compost as long as it stays moist and there is a nice thick layer.

 

[cluckinthecity]

And if you don't have enough trees, it's totally okay to take the brown bags of leaves folks put out on yard debris pickup day. If anyone's around I have asked..but I've never felt bad about just grabbing, since I have then saved them $1 to $1.50 per bag that they were going to be charged extra.
It works great.. they do the work and you benefit.

Yes, my name is Pam and I'm a compost whacko.

 

[hmmcc123]

I'm SO glad I read this! My girls "helped" me rake up the leaves today and I just stuffed all the leaves into two big trash bags. We just got our girls in March so we are still working on the run (yes, we are slow) so for this winter, I think I will put those collected leaves in there for them! They just loved digging in those leaves so much and I felt guilty bagging up their fun!! I have about two more bags of leaves left to fall off of the tree so I will have plenty to rake in over the winter! Then come spring I will just rake them out and add the sand. This also postpones me having to haul sand up the hill into our backyard! Yippy! One less big project before fall arrives.

 

[wannalive]

grass trimmings works as well

 

[cottagechick]

I am south of you in Cottage Grove...do you have to do anything special...I mean someone said you should keep them damp...obviously that won't be a problem here...but can they be too wet???

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