Poorly chicken

[J47]

Deciding on run flooring and sand seems like it would be easy to poop pick. But how do you clean woodchips? Just mixing it around sounds dirty and you can’t really clean bits of wood. But they seem popular. Anyone with a large covered run have any tips?

[The Dogmother]

Woodchips are really only good in a large, uncovered outside run area. They don't really clean up and neither do they compost readily, so it's advisable to burn them.

All runs, regardless of the substrate will need to be sprinkled weekly with ground sanitising powder and raked over to keep bacteria and intestinal worm eggs down.

Most folks on here have tried almost everything and favour Aubiose (hemp horse bedding) in a covered run. The litter dries out poop and composts like a dream when it is mucked out. It is best to avoid sand, gravel, rubber chips, hay, straw and especially bark chippings.

[Luvachicken]

My hardwood wood chips are in a covered run. They have been in there for at least 3 years now, and I think it might just be coming up to 4.

Last summer we did use a big garden sieve to sift out the poops but to be honest there wasn't an awful lot of poop to get rid of. It did take a while and what we collected we put around the garden.

The woodchips seem to have a magical effect on my girls' poops. It is mostly dust and doesn't smell at all. 

[DorisandAggie]

I’m curious about this too!
I’m getting my chickens next week and will probably start off just with grass but I’m thinking that wood chips will be the way to go for me.

Is it essential to lay them on slabs? How often would you change the chips?

I’ve got a classic and a 2m run that I’m going to be keeping in a permanent position. I also have a full length cover for when it rains. 

[mullethunter]

I also have hardwood chip in a covered, but gets wet from rain coming in through two sides, run 4m x 2m, on slabs. I ‘poo pick’ most days, and use ground sanitising powder reasonably regularly, other than that I don’t do, or feel the need to do, anything else to clean the woodchip. I keep it in the run for around a year or 18 months before clearing out the whole lot which I use as mulch around the garden. The bits that get skipped out daily go on the compost heap and after a year or so I find they do compost reasonably well. 

[fdotr]

Where do people buy wood chip? There are some places that sell it, but they are few and far between. 

[Patricia W]

I got mine from Bark UK.  They sell hardwood chips for poultry.  

[Chickenlicken]

Have you tried contacting a local tree surgeon? My woodchips came from my own tree wood being chipped, but the tree surgeon said that he has loads, and would be happy to supply more if needed.

I added a horse bedding (that came with my hens and coop) to the top of my chips, but the hens have mixed it in nicely!!  I poo pick the bits that i can reach with a cat litter scoop and put them into my compost bin. I intend to sprinkle Bio dri inside once a week. At least i can fit through the door on my classic run to crawl in to do it!!

[mullethunter]

I bought mine from hallstonedirect - I got a dumpy bag full for £100 incl delivery of which I used about two thirds to fill my 4m x 2m run to a depth of about 4 inches

[Sallybeligum]

On 3/3/2020 at 8:16 PM, The Dogmother said:

Woodchips are really only good in a large, uncovered outside run area. They don't really clean up and neither do they compost readily, so it's advisable to burn them.

All runs, regardless of the substrate will need to be sprinkled weekly with ground sanitising powder and raked over to keep bacteria and intestinal worm eggs down.

Most folks on here have tried almost everything and favour Aubiose (hemp horse bedding) in a covered run. The litter dries out poop and composts like a dream when it is mucked out. It is best to avoid sand, gravel, rubber chips, hay, straw and especially bark chippings.

Very good advice, thank you!