Topic of the Week - Chickens and Fall Leaves

[BYC Project Manager]

With all the falling leaves, chickens can have a lot of fun! Let’s discuss how your chickens interact with the fall environment this week. For example:

• Do you use fall leaves in the run or coop as part of the deep litter method or for enrichment?
• Have you found that chickens enjoy scratching around in fallen leaves? How do you manage that?
• How do you handle leaf cleanup around the coop and run?
• Do you notice your flock behaving differently with the cooler, leaf-covered ground?

Anything else you'd like to add.

For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

 

[rosemarythyme]

I gather fall leaves for use in my deep litter in the run year round, as as compost for the garden. I save paper feed bags use them to store bags of loosely packed, dried leaves in an unused greenhouse.

(not many bags left when fall rolls back around)

My birds love piles of dried leaves, and I dump a bag or two when there's not much else for them to mess with (i.e. in summer they tend to get grass clippings instead of leaves) and let them flatten the piles and distribute the leaves around, until they break down over the course of weeks.

(couldn't find any good pics with fresh piles, but obviously these were recently added - chicks and adults approve!)

As I have a willow tree overhanging my run I do get a lot of branches and leaves dropping around it. I leaf blower the leaves into the run itself, and smaller branches can go in as well.

 

[K0k0shka]

I use dry leaves in my run year round! They make an excellent (and free) run bedding material. I collect and bag them in the fall after they've dried fully, store them in a protected area and use them throughout the year. My chickens LOVE "dump day" when I dump a bag or two in their run! They spend hours scratching around spreading the leaves, looking for hidden treasures. They shred them completely in a couple of weeks, and mix them around with the poop and other run substrate. The carbon from the leaves combines with the nitrogen from the poop, and water from rain/snow, to form a nice compost that doesn't smell or look poopy. I have wood chips in the run as well, and add all the cut grass in the summer, and together this all makes for a great active compost in the run that looks and smells nice, and is enriching for the chickens who love scratching through it. So I actually don't clean the run - I don't have to. Bonus: this kind of run substrate doesn't get muddy, or freeze solid in the winter. When it snows, I shovel what I can and cover the rest with dry leaves, and the chickens are happy and spend all day outside even in the winter (they hate stepping on snow or ice). Everybody wins!

 

[Grandma The Chicken]

We use dry leaves for the coop so the chickens can stay warm while sleeping. It's like adding an extra layer of insulation.

 

[NeguacNBChickenlady]

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With all the falling leaves, chickens can have a lot of fun! Let’s discuss how your chickens interact with the fall environment this week. For example:

• Do you use fall leaves in the run or coop as part of the deep litter method or for enrichment?
• Have you found that chickens enjoy scratching around in fallen leaves? How do you manage that?
• How do you handle leaf cleanup around the coop and run?
• Do you notice your flock behaving differently with the cooler, leaf-covered ground?

Anything else you'd like to add.

For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

I have so many leaves lol .my hens actually love it.

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

We were trying to clean up some of the leaves in our front to take them to our chickens run, we got a few piles going on until my Rooster came and did the scratch dance on the pile, completely messing it up..

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I use dry leaves in my run year round! They make an excellent (and free) run bedding material. I collect and bag them in the fall after they've dried fully, store them in a protected area and use them throughout the year. My chickens LOVE "dump day" when I dump a bag or two in their run! They spend hours scratching around spreading the leaves, looking for hidden treasures. They shred them completely in a couple of weeks, and mix them around with the poop and other run substrate. The carbon from the leaves combines with the nitrogen from the poop, and water from rain/snow, to form a nice compost that doesn't smell or look poopy. I have wood chips in the run as well, and add all the cut grass in the summer, and together this all makes for a great active compost in the run that looks and smells nice, and is enriching for the chickens who love scratching through it. So I actually don't clean the run - I don't have to. Bonus: this kind of run substrate doesn't get muddy, or freeze solid in the winter. When it snows, I shovel what I can and cover the rest with dry leaves, and the chickens are happy and spend all day outside even in the winter (they hate stepping on snow or ice). Everybody wins!

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i do the exact same thing! so rewarding when there are leaves in the winter to cover the snow so they actually will come outside the run! I’m in CT and will be bagging leaves today/tomorrow

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

We were trying to clean up some of the leaves in our front to take them to our chickens run, we got a few piles going on until my Rooster came and did the scratch dance on the pile, completely messing it up..

omg! Pics or it didnt happen

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Oh boy do we love fall time! 5 GLWs blend in perfect with the fallen leaves. I’ll be leaf bagging up at least a dozen this week to prep for a long New England Winter. girls are middle molt now so that will be done before winter sets in.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

• Do you use fall leaves in the run or coop as part of the deep litter method or for enrichment?

I do, for enrichment.

• Have you found that chickens enjoy scratching around in fallen leaves? How do you manage that?

Yes! They love it and it's a great boredom buster that prevents pecking. After all, it's a chicken's natural instinct to dig in search of food as they would on Asia's forest floors! Sprinkle their feed, scratch, mealworms, or any other snack into the leaves and watch them go wild.

• How do you handle leaf cleanup around the coop and run?

I don't lol. I just let the leaves be.

• Do you notice your flock behaving differently with the cooler, leaf-covered ground?

Yes! They pace less when they are locked up in their run before I let them out to free-range for the day. It brings me so much joy watching my chickies light up when they see the leaves in their run