Wood chips for dirt floor run

[Kaesi2020]

I found these wood chip options in our local area. We just cleaned out our run and are looking to use wood chips for the flooring. Do either of these kinds look appropriate? I mean the size and types. I won't necessarily go through this company but I wanted to find out if something like "playground chips" worked for a run. Before this we used pine shavings and it was a bad idea. Too squishy...

Thank you!

 

[Sally PB]

Organic and metal free are good things. Also make sure nothing is dyed/colored, or treated with any pesticide or herbicide. Organic should mean all of those, but I'm just adding that to be sure.

Either of those look like they could work. The top one will break down faster, being shredded smaller.

What did you mean by "too squishy?" Soft is nice on chickens' feet. But wet is not a good thing. If the run doesn't dry out after rain, or stay reasonably dry from being covered, you could be inviting mold problems.

 

[aart]

I found these wood chip options in our local area. We just cleaned out our run and are looking to use wood chips for the flooring. Do either of these kinds look appropriate? I mean the size and types. I won't necessarily go through this company but I wanted to find out if something like "playground chips" worked for a run. Before this we used pine shavings and it was a bad idea. Too squishy...

Thank you!

Where will you be buying this, will they deliver by the yard or in bags or ???
The larger chips look OK, smaller ones not so much.

What did you mean by "too squishy?" Soft is nice on chickens' feet. But wet is not a good thing. If the run doesn't dry out after rain, or stay reasonably dry from being covered, you could be inviting mold problems.

I think they just had them too deep:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...is-there-an-easier-way-in-the-future.1489839/

 

[Kaesi2020]

Where will you be buying this, will they deliver by the yard or in bags or ???
The larger chips look OK, smaller ones not so much.


I think they just had them too deep:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...is-there-an-easier-way-in-the-future.1489839/

The larger ones say they are organic too. I was thinking we could either get a truck load or have them deliver a few yards. The company is about ten miles down the road from us...

 

[Kaesi2020]

Organic and metal free are good things. Also make sure nothing is dyed/colored, or treated with any pesticide or herbicide. Organic should mean all of those, but I'm just adding that to be sure.

Either of those look like they could work. The top one will break down faster, being shredded smaller.

What did you mean by "too squishy?" Soft is nice on chickens' feet. But wet is not a good thing. If the run doesn't dry out after rain, or stay reasonably dry from being covered, you could be inviting mold problems.

Thanks! By too squishy I mean that we had added way to much of it to the run, like a foot deep worth of pine shavings with nothing else! This time around I will do coarse chips for sure...

 

[aart]

The larger ones say they are organic too. I was thinking we could either get a truck load or have them deliver a few yards. The company is about ten miles down the road from us...

Not sure who they can claim that wood chippings are "organic".
I'd ask them where exactly they are from.

Do you have a place to store a big pile of chippings?
I'd not dump too many in the run at once, you only need a couple-few inches at a time.

 

[3KillerBs]

The coarser ones are probably better.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I do pine shavings about 4" deep, rather it be soft when they land from the roost. My concern with chips is bumble foot. Shavings on dirt ground has been working for me. The ground is "clay" but they sure have loosen it up nicely over the years. I do spend less time in their CH picking out the pebbles/rocks and junk as it's been years.

 

[Happy hen lover]

I agree with aart on few inches and keep dry. The last thing you need is moldy run for all of you.

 

[BlackDog26]

I found these wood chip options in our local area. We just cleaned out our run and are looking to use wood chips for the flooring. Do either of these kinds look appropriate? I mean the size and types. I won't necessarily go through this company but I wanted to find out if something like "playground chips" worked for a run. Before this we used pine shavings and it was a bad idea. Too squishy...

Thank you!

I like using play sand for the run area. Wood chips if they don’t dry out cause mold