Wood chips?

[sweetater22]

Once again as Beekissed said, try to mimic the forest floor with your DL, use aged wood chips, grass clippings, small sticks, leaves, garden waste, kitchen waste etc. worms and other good bugs will take care of the breakdown. Also remember the manure from your flock will provide a lot of the green materials that aid decomposition. I have never experienced any mold problems. If your DL is properly built up over time it will not allow any standing water to accumulate at the surface and will be wicked to the lower levels where it is needed and the most breakdown occurs.

 

[TerryH]

The quote in the post above makes a BIG assumption: that the birds that died had prior compromised immune systems. No evidence of that.

I don't call that a big assumption at all. All birds were in the same environment. Only 2 got sick and died (unless I missed something as I skimmed through the lengthy thread.) In any flock situation, there ARE going to be animals that are LESS thrifty, MORE prone to illness. Those animals, simply by definition have a compromised immune system. Not to the point that we consider it to be a clinical diagnosis, (such as HIV/Aids). Consider this: Marek's virus is most likely in all yards. If a chicken gets Marek's at all, it's usually an isolated bird, not the entire flock. Coccidiosis is in all soils. Yet, it's a rare occurrence that an entire flock will get sick. However, if you expose your flock to stressors: moving, crowding, poor feed, poorly ventilated coop, that's when you will see illness. And it will show up in your weaker flock members. Those weaker members have a WEAKER IMMUNE SYSTEM.

That's why the 'quote' should have been a linked quote so others could read the whole thread/story.
The situation was directly observed and thoroughly tested by a university/county poultry biologist.

They lost 50% of their flock; 4 out of 8 died, that we know of. They were quite heartbroken and haven't followed up since.

It was/is my thread/threads. All of the birds were thriving and perfectly healthy before we put the chips in the run. All of them have died. The cause of all the deaths absolutely is Aspergillus from the wood chips. Dr. Clarke told me that this would likely happen and he was correct. The issue was that the chips were too fresh and in the humid, hot summer we were having here and the Aspergillus just went wild. The trees that were shredded were fully leafed out which added a tremendous amount of green to the mix. That was a factor as well.

I believe using wood chips is fine but they need to be aged/composted for a good bit before exposing the birds. We will never use them again but obviously many do and have had success.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

All of them have died. .

Sorry to hear that.

 

[TerryH]

Sorry to hear that.

Thanks. It's not been a lot of fun for us but we are optimistic that we are past all of that now and ready to replenish the flock and move on.

 

[Lcraigaz]

I have a question about wood chips. I bought some pine shavings for the coop but now the power company needs to cut down one if our blue spruce trees that's in the power line. Would those wood chips be ok?

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I have a question about wood chips. I bought some pine shavings for the coop but now the power company needs to cut down one if our blue spruce trees that's in the power line. Would those wood chips be ok?

Look at the 3rd post above yours. It says that green mixed in with the wood chips adds to the fungus problem that can kill chickens. They will probably be OK after they've aged and dried for a while.

 

[aart]

Look at the 3rd post above yours. It says that green mixed in with the wood chips adds to the fungus problem that can kill chickens. They will probably be OK after they've aged and dried for a while.

Yes!

I have a question about wood chips. I bought some pine shavings for the coop but now the power company needs to cut down one if our blue spruce trees that's in the power line. Would those wood chips be ok?

Pine shavings are kiln dried....a freshly chipped live spruce might be very 'sappy'.
Not sure I'd want that in the coop, but after aging would be fine for the run.
Might depend on where you live how long that would take.
Do you have a place to dump the chips and let them sit?
Have you asked them if they will be chipping them, and will dump them?
Nowadays they often grind them up on the ground with a huge machine.

Oh, and....Welcome to BYC! @Lcraigaz
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Lcraigaz]

Yes!

Pine shavings are kiln dried....a freshly chipped live spruce might be very 'sappy'.
Not sure I'd want that in the coop, but after aging would be fine for the run.
Might depend on where you live how long that would take.
Do you have a place to dump the chips and let them sit?
Have you asked them if they will be chipping them, and will dump them?
Nowadays they often grind them up on the ground with a huge machine.

Oh, and....Welcome to BYC! @Lcraigaz
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!
View attachment 2027644

Thank you

 

[Lcraigaz]

Thank you! I think I will just keep buying them

 

[aart]

Thank you! I think I will just keep buying them

Well, if you have a place to store a pile, I'd go for it...
...tho don't know how well they'd work in a run in your climate.