Should I rake the leaves or leave them for my birds?

[Liamm_1]

if I do rake leaves, I put them in the run. after a while I'll rake the old out and replace them, then the old goes to compost. Perfect process

Leaves left on the ground help the ground to retain mositure which is a good thing, especially around the base of trees

 

[cfdf]

HECK! FIRE! My chickies just LOVE them there leaves! We don't have many trees out where we live so I go dumpster diving in that there city down the road. I can woop my tank over in a New York minute to git them there leaves. City people think they's trash but my chickies, well, gosh darn it!...they wub em! I'd leave em in yer yard if I was you.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

My birds have pine trees right outside the run and when I've free ranged them I noticed some will eat the pine needles. Is that okay? I keep getting after the kids for putting pine needles in the run! I'm thinking like cfdf that I need to go grab a bag of leaves from someone's curb on trash night! (used to love trash night when I was a kid

).

 

[pontoosuc]

my girls love the leaves! free ranging in the afternoon they go into the woods, and now are making deep holes through the leaves into the earth.

When I get a chance, I rake the leaves and put into their enclosed run. They LOVE it! (I feel bad if I don't do it every few days)

All soon to be several feet of snow.

 

[matimeo]

I rake the leaves off the grass to keep the grass from dying and pile them all into the garden plot (helps kill off the weeds faster so they break down and can be tilled in) and into the flower beds that surround the back yard. The chickens love to scratch through all of it. I don't know that they find much this time of year, but they like to look.

 

[bunnibird55]

Gee, I actually have dump-truck loads of leaves brought in by the county when they do their clean-up! I have composted for years and my chickens love to break the leaves down and play in them - the ducks think the wet leaves are a gold mine for neat things to run their beaks through. I mix in the bedding from their barns with the leaves and I have some of the best free soil around! The guys brought me 7 dump-trucks full this year. DH finally told me ENOUGH leaves already since the pile is as high as our one barn! We have a lot of pine trees on our property that are great for my blueberries, but my dahlias thrive in leaf compost.

 

[woodmort]

First you rake your leaves up into nice neat pile, then you let your chickens get to them, then you rake your leaves into nice neat piles.

I actually pick up my leaves with my lawn tractor/bagger and dump them to a depth of 6 inches or so in the garden then let the chickens in to stir them around. They get rid of the critters hiding under them and add a little fertilizer. In the spring everything is rototilled under.