Pine pellets for run?

[Dee20porc]

Hi all! I have a 10 x 10 fenced run and as I would expect the chickens have turned it into just dirt. My question is should I throw some pine pellet bedding down in the run? And if so do you recommend daily “poop scooping”? Or a deep litter type method just like in the coop house? I’m newer to all of this:
Thank you so much!

 

[Rammer1961]

I watched a YT video on Chickenlandia's channel and she used pine pellets to prevent her run from being so muddy and it worked great. After getting rained on several times it did turned to wood dust and pulp. Then she put wood shavings (chips) on top of that. No more stinky mud in the run. I'm going to give it a try in my run. It's mainly under a pecan tree and doesn't grow any grass and is all dirt.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. If you put your general location into your profile people can give better-targeted advice. Climate matters.

Coarse wood chips, the sort you get from a tree-trimming service, are usually considered the gold standard for the control of mud and odor. But any sort of dry organic material can work when used appropriately.

Options include: Wood chips, wood shavings, straw, dry leaves, garden and yard waste, pelleted horse bedding, ground corn cobs, rice hulls, pine straw, and other materials some of which, like the rice hulls and the pine straw, are only locally available.

I personally think that I get the best results from a mix of materials -- it seems less prone to packing and matting.

 

[Dreammaker]

We used pine pellets during the awful, wet end-of-winter-into-spring season (I'm in MA, so not too far from you). Our run was just a mess and we needed something to help sop it up. The corners of our run, in particular, were really bad. A local fellow chicken-keeper recommended them and, being desperate, we gave it a shot and tossed them into our run, concentrating them on the trouble spots. They're cheap enough and we figured, 'Why not?'

They worked! Almost miraculously, they absorbed a ton of water and--as others have mentioned--turned into a sawdusty, crumbly material that breaks down into the existing dirt in our run. Now, I agree that they do strongly resemble feed (layer pellets, in my case). When we initially added the pine pellets, I don't recall seeing any of the birds try to eat them. They still happily ate their actual food. Did they ingest some pine pellets? Probably. But no harm seems to have been done.

All in all, I think they can be an excellent way to help with mud and/or puddles. I would not use them "just because" and only put them down in really bad spots (I'm talking stagnant water that just won't recede for days). My run at the moment is mostly dirt. I am a big fan of bagging up nice, dry crunchy pine needles or leaves periodically, storing them in lawn bags in my garage, and tossing them in every so often. I even throw a little straw from the nesting boxes in there when it's due to be replenished. No matter what I add to the run, the chickens break it down into basically dirt in no time and have lots of fun doing it.

 

[Battlepants]

I'd be curious what these pine pellets look like and if the chickens would be easily confused between these pellets and their actual pellet food.

Personally, I just toss wood chips in there (I have a wood chipper and a small forest that gives me fallen branches all the time) to mitigate the mud. I don't bother scooping poop since the rain will wash it away.

I probably wouldn't do a true deep litter method unless you can keep the rain away - your litter will get washed away over time. I'd probably do just enough so they can easily walk without sinking in the mud.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What's your climate like? Is the run open or roofed? I generally recommend deep litter in the run but that would depend on what materials you have readily available, and what sort of weather you get.

 

[Dee20porc]

What's your climate like? Is the run open or roofed? I generally recommend deep litter in the run but that would depend on what materials you have readily available, and what sort of weather you get.

The run is half covered and half netting on top if that makes sense. I’m in NY so right now it’s warm and we do get rain. I just want something I can clean and or help with the mud/ smell. There’s so much out there it’s overwhelming!

 

[3KillerBs]

I just want something I can clean and or help with the mud/ smell. There’s so much out there it’s overwhelming!

Can you source coarse wood chips? PLAIN, coarse mulch -- undyed with no additives -- can substitute for people who can't source the wood chips in a reasonable quantity.

The main thing is to have enough dry organic material to react with the poop.

Also, if you have ongoing mud issues and not just the seasonal problem of snowmelt, the only thing that is going to fix it is to fix the drainage around your coop and run.

Do you have photos of your setup and it's surrounding area? We can give you better help if we can see what you're working with.

 

[neo71665]

Not a huge fan of pine even pine chips.

 

[Dee20porc]

I'd be curious what these pine pellets look like and if the chickens would be easily confused between these pellets and their actual pellet food.

Personally, I just toss wood chips in there (I have a wood chipper and a small forest that gives me fallen branches all the time) to mitigate the mud. I don't bother scooping poop since the rain will wash it away.

I probably wouldn't do a true deep litter method unless you can keep the rain away - your litter will get washed away over time. I'd probably do just enough so they can easily walk without sinking in the mud.

That is a great point about them thinking the pellets are good. They do eventually swell and turn into a wood dust from what I’ve heard.