Someone gave me this idea and I don't know who to thank!

[Churkenduse]

It is something we all do but I forgot about it, (things on my mind like most of us) when the leaves fell in my yard the wind took them before I could rake them up.

My poor girls seem so bored and are digging craters in their run. I just remembered the post about someone packing away 9 bags of leaves and giving them out. Well I went into the woods in back of my house and filled up a huge bag full. I will get more this week but for now they are in heaven they are scratching and pecking to beat the band.

So thanks friend for reminding me what I should have known in the first place. Now I can have some quiet for awhile.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sounds like a great idea. Imagine all the goodies they are finding in the leaves to eat!

 

[airmom1c05]

I use a mixture of mainly red oak leaves and pine shavings in my pen/run/yard. They dry quicker than the shavings, but they're not as absorbent which is why I use a mixture. You're right about them loving to scratch around in leaves. When Brandy free ranges, she rakes leaves! She loves to scratch them away from tree trunks one day, then pile them back up around the trunks the next. Even in winter, she finds the occasional worm or beetle.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Never know what might be under that next leaf, lol!!!

 

[Churkenduse]

I use a mixture of mainly red oak leaves and pine shavings in my pen/run/yard.

These were mostly oak I will toss in the pines havings also another good idea.

They looked like a bunch of kids, I put the leaves in a pile and they literally jump in, it was great!

 

[LindaN]

I still have several bags of leaves saved from last fall. I positioned several bags around the north side of my Eglu and run to provide a bit more insulation from the cold. Others I've held back to use for bedding and in the run.

Leaves get packed into the Eglu house for the hens to snuggle into for additional warmth. About once a week, I clean out the Eglu house by pushing the soiled leaves out the door and into the run, then adding fresh leaves inside the Eglu.

The soiled leaves get turned into the floor of the run by the enthusiastic hens, who definitely do like to scratch and peck around in the leaves!

At this point, I'm running low on the held back leaves, but the temps should be warming soon so I can start taking leaves from the bags packed around the coop and run.

I'm in a city and leaves are MUCH easier to find than straw or hay around here. This system has worked great for me all winter and I think of it as my "modified deep litter system."

 

[millhoff]

When I let mine out of the run they all love to run over to my pine trees and scratch around in the thick bed of pine needles under them.

 

[Wildsky]

The first time I put a pile of leaves in the run, the chickens thought I was trying to do them in!

Once I walked away however, they were ALL over it like a bad rash, the scratched and kicked the leaves EVERYWHERE and before long there was hardly a trace of a leaf anywhere..... my girls eat the "right" kinda leaf apparently.... most of my leaves come from under the fruit trees.....