Topic: Woodchip for chicken run?

[Number Six]

Recent heavy rain has done the normal trick of turning the chicken run into a quagmire. I'm pretty sure the hens take this in their stride, but a thought occurred about putting down woodchip to provide them (and us!) with a drier surface. Does anyone else do this? Are there any health implications to consider (eg. droppings not soaking readily into the ground, increased chance of mites etc etc?). Grateful for any advice.

[grannyjanny]

We give ours straw. It keeps them amused for hours making it all neat & tidy & then when it's well pooped on we take it up to the plot. We do have a roof on but water does drip through, it's only a tarpaulin sheet. We did put hemcore down but that's expensive. There's a cheaper version made from rape stalks & is only £5 a bale & rots down quickly. That's next on our list to try.

[goodlife]

Chippings are no no inside their housing as they don't absorb any moisture..but in outside pen they are good and I use them regurlarly..fresh or not, it don't matter..anything that gives them drier feet will do. I've started now rasing the litter height in my outdoor pen..every so often I just add layer upon layer some fresh stuff..straw, leaves, chippings etc. and that will keep them comfortable and they looove scratching about amongst  it. Eventually it will be all mixed together..and once the litter is too high (mid winter) , I wheelbarrow it all to lottie, spread it straight onto ground and start everything all over again. When I start new layer..I spread some wood ashes on bare soil first..that will help the soil keep 'healthier' and then follow with fresh lot of 'stuff'... ;)

[Melbourne12]

We use bark chips and peat compost, which works well.  The run is covered, but like Grannyjanny's run, it still gets a bit damp.  We rake the surface every couple of days, and add another bag of chips or compost from time to time.

We've only been keeping chickens for three months, and so far there's no sign of the run litter needing to be refreshed, but I'd expect to do it every 6 months.

[Number Six]

Many thanks for the replies so far - all very interesting. Perhaps I should have added that the run is not covered - it's pretty large (Center Parcs for 4 hens) so not practical. Anyway, it still sounds like woodchips may be an option...

[manicscousers]

When we had ours, we always used woodchip, they loved scratching about in it, when it went down so far, we dug it out for the plot and added fresh. Also had a big hay bale in there, let them use it to stand on etc for a couple of weeks and then cut the cords, another thing to scratch around and keep the run drier  ;D

[Ragdoll Lady]

Our run is covered and we have put plastic sheeting on a few open side panels to keep it warmer and drier. The other panels are open to allow a good airflow. We use hemcore which is pretty good but have had a couple of accidents when the hens have managed to knock over their drinker. We have found that when the hens are in a larger day run we fork over the hemcore and lift up the henhouse and let the air dry out the hemcore if its dampish (saves renewing it). We are going to extend the henhouse and run for them and the extention will not have a roof so will use hard wood chips as they last a long time and can be hosed down.

[gazzaroo]

i put wood chippings down last year as the mud was getting bad ,,it worked a bit to dry it out but 1 hen died 2 days after.i think it eat some,,i now use straw in the winter and i think its better,,iv now got my run under cover ..my run is 8f by 14f ,, 

[digmore]

Hi,

Much the same as said, use straw £3 a bale from farm.

Digmore

[steve76]

Hi
I have 7 hens with no cover on the outside run, and just use straw at £3 a bale, i use to clean the run out twice a week but have since found that just adding more straw as and when needed is a lot better and the hens love to scratch around in the deep bedding, i now clean them out every 2-3 weeks and it all goes to the plot..

[David K]

In view of the recent heavy & incessant rain here in the UK and once again the inevitable quagmire of our chicken runs, I'm reviving this thread.

To alleviate the problem I've been using straw to ease matters (my girls are really not happy wallowing in mud) and until now have removed the soggy straw before adding fresh.
Do I really need to do this as a) I'm building up a large stack of dirty straw and b) It's not my favourite job?

[pumkinlover]

We put tarpauline over the run- it is covered with netting anyway. This helps keep it drier as we found it hard work to keep digging it all out.

[David K]

We put tarpauline over the run- it is covered with netting anyway. This helps keep it drier as we found it hard work to keep digging it all out.

Thanks, the top of my run (3m x 3m) is covered with netting too, though I don't think a tarpaulin would be the answer as I think the rain would just collect in pools on top of it.
I was rather wondering if there is any reason why new straw couldn't be added to old, wet straw.

[Old Central]

We get a frequent supply of wood chip at the lottie and I use it for our girls' run. I then recycle it back as compost. As we have 2/3 of the run under corrugated sheeting it keeps well but the open bit does get battered more quickly.

OC

[goodlife]

Code: [Select]

I was rather wondering if there is any reason why new straw couldn't be added to old, wet straw.I only just noticed this tread is 'active' again..
There is no reason why you could/should not keep adding onto the previous bedding...but..
I would only recommend this if the bedding is against earth and not concrete base. With solid base underneath things can get reeeally smelly. So if the regular fresh straw layer works for you keeping girls feet dryish and there is no smell problems..go for it.
I do this too..I allow the outdoor pen floor layer to add up to a foot thickess and and then we spend couple hours wheelbarrowing it all to lottie and start again. After emptying it all I always spread good layer of woodashes before putting new fresh bedding on..to keep the soil from getting sour and helping to combat some undwated thingies in the soil.. ;)
When I empty the old stuff, there is always loads and loads of worms...that is good indicator that the bedding is 'working'..if it goes sour and smelly..natural composting/breaking down is not working.
Some older poultry keeping books are referring this as 'deep bed' method of 'house keeping'..but it works outdoors as well as inside housing. I don't like it indoors myself..I like to keep the wooden floor as dry as possible all the time. But one time earth floors for the housing were more common than now.

[Stedic]

I moved my run about 6 months ago.

Before I moved it it was slabbed, and I put woodchip down from a local farm, a quid a bag, used 3 bags a time for a deep covering in a 9 x 6 run.  It worked well for 6 - 8 weeks, then became a bit soggy and smelly, and which point it was a pain to dig/scrape out, but easy to transport to the allotment.

Since we've moved the run it isn't slabbed but is now 6 x 12.  I've been using two straw bales, cutting the strings and spreading each one over a period of weeks.  The rain finally won last week, so I've just covered the run again with a new tarp.

I'm waiting for it to dry out a little before slabbing again - the girls love scratching about, but next door has rats and I want to stop and chance of them digging their way in.  I plan to use straw to cover the slabs as its a bit nicer to rake up, although being bulky its a pain to transport to the lottie.

Steve