How to Use Woodchips in Your Chicken Run

Time for putting kawaii onesies aside and get ready for warm and wet summers is coming. So chicken keepers are going to have their work cut out when it comes to keeping their runs free of mud. 

Mud is a real problem for chickens as it can cause bacterial infections in their feet and it also prevents them from scratching and foraging. The drive to forage is very strong in chickens and if they can’t do it, it leads to boredom and negative behaviors like bullying and feather pecking. There’s no fool-proof solution to mud in the run, but you can certainly minimize it by using a layer of woodchips in it, keeping the area a lot drier and a lot more interesting for your girls. 

You’ll need to change out and clean up the layer of chips regularly, of course, but it’s much less hassle than cleaning up mud and dealing with potentially dangerous infections like bumblefoot! 

How to use the woodchips?

You may need to place a border around the bottom of the run before you start because as we all know, chickens love to scratch and flick whatever is under their feet. This leads to chips getting flicked out through the mesh and lost. If you have very fine mesh around the run you might be OK, but otherwise, garden border edging works brilliantly, as long as it’s around 10 inches high. 

You need enough woodchips to fill your run to at least two inches in depth. Each nook and cranny of the run needs to be covered with chips, otherwise, those birds will scratch in the dirt and mix it up in your nice clean new flooring. Make sure you’re using woodchips, not bark chips – not all the chips that come off those chain conveyors at the factory are created equal! Bark chips are meant to actually hold water for mulching, and you want a dry run. 

Additionally, bark can give off harmful mold spores that can cause breathing problems for your chickens. 

Maintaining the run 

You’ll still need to keep the woodchips clean – pick up as much of the droppings as you can on a regular basis. 

You’ll also need to change out a proportion of the chips once a week or so, especially if your chickens’ free range a bit and end up treading mud into the run. If you can, put a pallet or a wide mat at the entrance to the run so they can wipe their feet a bit before going home! 

When you add fresh chips, give the whole layer a good raking to turn droppings over into the soil below. If the run is covered, you might want to hose the chips down periodically, otherwise, let the rain do this for you. You might find, though, that covering the run over helps to keep the flooring system in better condition for longer, as well as keeping those girls dry and warm. After all, everyone wants happy hens!