Pacific NW wood chips and syphlyans

I've been reading on here and there was a part on this topic and the response was to not use wood chips. I can't find much other info though. My problem is I have a big pile of wood chips, mainly from connifers, I would like to use. I found someone on craigslist I can get free branches from. I was thinking I could use branches, hopefully find some logs and then fill it in with chips and pile manure and soil on top. would this be okay? I have enough space to spread things out if need be. How deep would be recommended?

Thanks for any and all advice.

Joe