Looking for Hardwood Chips, Cambridge

[E Ward]

Hello!

 

I'm brand new here, stumbled across you while trying to find a solution for my chicken run that wouldn't completely break the bank! I'm looking for Hardwood Chips (no bark), and am near Cambridge. Can anyone help? 

 

Thanks

[AHPP]

A member on here (based in Lancashire, can’t remember his name, hasn’t posted in ages) has a system of willow coppards for his chickens that I thought looked pretty good. He cuts the willow trees at waist height. They coppice/pollard/coppard (cut them and they grow back vigorously, multiple stems). They provide shade as they grow for a few years and the chickens wander round underneath them. He then cuts and chips the new growth onto the ground. Repeat in another few years and/or do some different ones next year. Apparently willow has some antiseptic qualities that are good for staving off feather rot etc.

 

 

 

[Mark Bolam]

Can I just ask, why no bark?

 

I can't think of any situation where any tree surgeon would be chipping timber with no bark on it, so you will be limiting your options somewhat.

[Paul in the woods]

37 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

Can I just ask, why no bark?

Bark tends to stay wet longer and go mouldy which can lead to infections in poultry. You are generally advised to not use bark. I tend to use softwood shavings, those sold for use for horses.

[david lawrence]

i do not think the amount of bark in chipped limbs etc would be a problem

quite different from using bags of 100 % shredded bark as sold in garden centres etc

[Dan Maynard]

You have to pay for chip with no bark (such as play park chip) because that's a forestry product. Somewhere like Madingley Mulch have a range of stuff to choose from.

On the other hand you can have mixed arb chip for free, if you can take a van load and we can just tip it off eg onto the drive. Smaller quantities are possible but that's just a delivery so there are usually some beer tokens involved. If you are on the west side of Cambridge I'll be passing a lot more often so can probably drop some off if you let me know where.

Our chickens are fine on the free chip, they don't have expensive tastes.

[Mark Bolam]

Aye, I must have made 1000’s of chooks poorly over the years with my chip with bark included.

[monkeybusiness]

We made a donation and collected some rescue chickens recently as the fox had been busy with a few of ours. 

I received a bit of a dressing down for collecting the birds in a box lined with clean hay (it was all I had to hand).

‘You know hay can stick in their crop’ etc etc. 

Incredibly, against all odds they all survived the journey home in their toxic environment... 

 

[Paul in the woods]

Hay is also bad as it can contain mould spores...

 

I was only answering Marks question, i.e. most advice from qualified poultry experts (i.e. vets) is to not use hay, bark etc in runs as they can be bad for hens. This may explain why someone is asking for bark free chippings.

 

I would happily use some arb waste but there's plenty of stuff I'd avoid as it goes mouldy almost instantly.

[petercb]

Note to self get new calendar thought it was end of November not April 1st. Never heard such rot - pun intended!