Wood chips in the run?

[Katt47]

So I'm finally installing my run this weekend, and I have guys coming to take down several trees in my yard around the new coop. (Chickens coming after the tree cutting)
So they will chip the trees and shoot them into my woods. I'm wondering if I can use those in the run. I read somewhere the bark can cause problems as it breaks down. Does anyone have any info on this?

 

[MrsMistyReal]

Welcome aboard to BYC family gr8 people tons of information loads of fun enjoy shake your tail feathers

 

[Aji Dulce]

So I'm finally installing my run this weekend, and I have guys coming to take down several trees in my yard around the new coop. (Chickens coming after the tree cutting)
So they will chip the trees and shoot them into my woods. I'm wondering if I can use those in the run. I read somewhere the bark can cause problems as it breaks down. Does anyone have any info on this?

I asked that question also because I too, am a new to chickens. My babies are two weeks old. I was told that to use woodchips in the coop, the wood chips need to be seasoned for a time to let the moisture escape, in other words not to use fresh chips. If you use them in your run that has ventilation on three sides and basically is out in the open then it should not be a problem. It would be like them free ranging and having access to your woodchips pile. What is important is to have the bedding be perfectly dry inside the coop where they are closed up. Others may comment on this but I was planning on using woodchips in the run since it is roofed and about 30 days later I could use those dry chips to put into the coop as bedding. And put fresh chips in the run again.

 

[ronott1]

You have been given good advice!

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings Katt47, Welcome to BYC!

 

[Katt47]

Thanks for all the great comments and welcomes!
It sounds like drying them out for a while is a good idea and I'm only using them in the run. If they break down quickly, I guess I can compost them and throw in more.
I also wonder if I threw down some sweet PDZ on newer chips that it may help dry them out faster. We are taking down roughly 10 trees so I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in wood chips for a while.
I think I may use some to line some pathways around the property too.

 

[lazy gardener]

I do not buy packaged wood chips from the farm supply store, I get them from other sources. They are not "seasoned" or kiln dried or any of that.

Just to clarify, Wood chips are trees that have been chipped. Including bark, wood and leaves (if there are any). Versus shavings, which can be bought by the bag or bale at the feed store, or sometimes gotten from a saw mill or other business that planes wood. Shavings are only wood. No bark, no leaves. They take forever to decompose.

Wood chips make a great addition to deep litter in either coop or run. However, there is risk from using fresh wood chips. Within the last year, a BYC member put fresh chips in their run. Those chips got wet, and a perfect sequence of events resulted in the birds becoming very sick and dying one at a time from a fungal infection. I believe it was aspergillis that was the offensive organism. Some of the contributing factors: the FRESH chips were the only material used, and they were layered in very thickly. The birds were also confined to coop/run, so there was no escaping the mold.

To use wood chips safely, they should be piled up and left to decompose. Let the weather and micro/macro organisms work on them. It may take a year to properly season wood chips. When much of the interior of the pile is blackened, when it's more spongy, and when there are worms living in the pile, it is ripe and perfect to add to the run, coop, garden, or orchard.

 

[Plip]

Welcome to BYC! Great to have you here!

 

[N F C]

It's nice to have you here, thanks for joining us!

 

[PirateGirl]

I do not buy packaged wood chips from the farm supply store, I get them from other sources. They are not "seasoned" or kiln dried or any of that. In a well ventilated coop I don't think that adding green wood instead of super dry wood is going to destroy your coop humidity levels (I could be wrong). Chickens love if they get extra bugs from the fresh wood chips. If used in the run and chickens are scratching around, they break down quickly. I am relatively new to compost and know that you need green matter and brown matter to balance things out, and the wood chips offset the chicken poop nicely. Long story short, I think it would be a good use of your resources. Others may argue against it as being less sanitary or something, but chickens live outside, they are exposed to the elements and the microbes in your environment anyway. They scratch in the dirt and poop and that's what they do.