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wood chips for chickens

 
pollinator
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I have a son that has a wood shop and produces a bit of wood chips. These are of hickory, oaks, and a variety of other hardwoods and exotic woods.

Does anyone know if any of these might be harmful to chickens?

Thinking of use on the floor in the chicken house.
 
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I don't know if I would recommend using them in the floor of the chicken coop, but we use them in the chicken yard extensively for the ducks.

I would not think they would be harmful to the chickens. Chickens are pretty good at not eating what they are suppose to and do not have the same problem as some rodents do with certain woods (don't keep pet rats on pine shavings!). Your problem is going to be the same problems you would have with straw except magnified. It will be harder to shovel the mulch out than the straw would be for example. You can do it and it will be better than not having anything though .
 
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Not sure what you mean but "wood chips", but I use wood shavings on the bottom of my chicken coop and it is the best thing I've ever used.
 
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Ive used chips in the coop and it works out nicely. If you make them deep enough the chickens will scratch holes down to get to the bugs, which flings chips everywhere, covering the fresh poop. So every time you go in there is very little poop lying around, very little smell since the urea is absorbed and spread out. I've heard you want to avoid cedar chips since the aromatic fumes can cause respiration issues with chickens. Other than that concern I would go for it.
 
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I find wood chips do well in chicken runs. Especially coarser ones. Wood flake at least for me is a better coop bedding. Consistent and easy to handle with a fork.

I actually added a mixed (mostly pine) arborist chip to my chicken run today because it was getting pretty nasty. It is amazing how fast flake will decompose out in the run. Chickens are great little tillers with their digging habits.
 
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I like wood chips and or shaving. I covered the chicken yard with free wood chips I got from the tree service. The chickens loved it We just dumped a giant pile in the yard, and they had it spread out in no time.
I also like to use pine shavings in the coop.  Just don't use cedar.  I have been using cedar for many years with no problems. I didn't know any better. Cedar can cause respiratory problems in chickens.  My coop is very open,( it's made of repurposed pipes, and chicken wire. One end has corrugated steel panel, with one sheet on each side) so maybe that's why I didn't have any problems.  Now that I know better I stick to pine. Only using cedar if it seems like there's a mite, or  flea issue.  Luckily that doesn't happen very often.
 
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