Topic of the Week - Chickens and Fall Leaves

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Interesting to me that so many of you have to do this since I usually don’t. Living in AZ, not everything dies here, and there’s enough to keep my flock happy throughout winter naturally.

your lucky not to have Super cold winters! Its a beast all in its own. Here in CT, Enrichment and nutrition plus housing all get major considerations in the winter months.

 

[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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awww <3 Look at all those beautiful girls! <3