Use garden trash for ground cover?

[MareeZoCool]

I was wondering if after the spring thaw, I raked out the garden and hillside, dried the leaves and "wild junk", if that would be an OK floor or ground cover, in the pen? No pesticides used here!

 

[GardeNerd]

Quote:
Garden debris isn't necessarily bad, but it can get matted down and is less absorbent than some other products, like pine shavings.

As a gardener, I typically leave plant debris, as long as there aren't any plant diseases, as a mulch for the plants or add it to the compost. The fallen leaves are nature's way of helping insulating the soil from excessive evaporation and hot/ cold extremes. When the large chinese elm tree was trimmed, the wood chips and debris went to ornamental beds as a mulch and not the chicken coop. To me, it is more cost effective and efficient to use debris for the yard than for the chickens.

For my chickens, I normally buy bagged pine shavings for the coop since they are inexpensive and use sand in the run. I compost the shavings when I clean out the bedding, and then I eventually apply it to the garden.

 

[CityChook]

It would probably be okay, but remember that some plants are toxic to chickens. I find that my girls tend to leave the poisonous stuff alone in my yard (when free ranging), but I wouldn't put money on it that they wouldn't eat something toxic if you gave it to them unknowingly. There are just too many plants to reference, so I just prefer to stick to sand in the run - it's so easy to clean.

 

[dacjohns]

I seem to recall that oak leaves are good. Could be my imagination though.

 

[patandchickens]

Are you talking about to put on the ground outdoors? or as bedding indoors? I have not done the latter, and am skeptical it would work all that effectively since a) you'd have to get it real dry first, and b) it isn't very absorbant, and c) it'd be a real pain to spot clean (although if you only do total bedding change-outs, obviously that isn't an issue).

OTOH if you mean outdoors, in the run, I do that quite a lot and it works great. As you say, make sure there are no toxic things in there. And I rake mine out and use it in compost or on garden before it disintegrates too much (if your run is very free-draining or you are in a very dry climate that might not be necessary, but otherwise your ground will gradually get spongier and muddier). But the chickens LOVE it, and IMO it is much better for their bodies and minds than being on bare dirt

Good luck, have fun,

Pat