Please see our article for benefits and uses for Chicken Hardwood Chips — as well as links to inspirational garden ideas and do-it-yourself guides.
Chicken Hardwood Chips are seasoned mixed British hardwoods, screened to a 5 to 30mm chip. Hardwood absorbs the least water of any wood product, which is why it holds a dry floor where softwood slumps into a damp mat within a season and bark, built to hold moisture, does the opposite of what a run needs.
Lay it 7.5 to 10cm deep on ground that drains, or 20 to 25cm if you are running a deep litter system, and expect six to twelve months before the lot comes out and starts again. Size the order with the bark and wood chip calculator before you buy.
Which type, how deep, how often, what goes under the chips and what to do with the spent load are all covered in wood chip for a chicken run.
Chicken Hardwood Chips
Price range: £139.00 through £339.00 inc. VAT
| Quantity | Builders Bag (approx. 700L), Bulk Bag (approx. 1000L), XL Bag (approx. 1200L), 5 x 70L Bags, 10 x 70L Bags, 15 x 70L Bags, 20 x 70L Bags, 30 x 70L Bags, 40 x 70L Bags |
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2 reviews for Chicken Hardwood Chips
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Specifications, Inspirational Ideas & DIY Guides
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Why Professionals & Homeowners Choose, Applications, DIY Guides & Inspirational Ideas, Maintenance, Purchasing Tips, FAQs, Related Products
Overview
Nearly every chicken run I have been asked to put right had the same thing wrong with it, and it was never the coop. It was the floor. Chicken Hardwood Chips are seasoned mixed British hardwoods screened to a 5 to 30mm chip, usually oak, beech and ash. The exact mix moves through the year, because most hardwood felling happens between September and January, once the nesting season is over and the ground is firm enough to work. The chip is light golden-brown in the bag, deep chestnut in rain, and weathers to grey-brown outdoors over a few months. That 5mm bottom end separates it from our garden-grade chip at 10 to 30mm: the finer fraction knits the layer so a scratching claw cannot fling it about. It suits birds on ground that turns to mud by October, from a six-hen run to a smallholding on deep litter.
Why Professionals & Homeowners Choose Chicken Hardwood Chips
A run floor is a wet-weather problem before it is anything else, and this is what a dense seasoned chip does about it.
- Hardwood takes on water far more slowly than pine or spruce, so the floor stays walkable through a wet January instead of packing into a sodden mat.
- Screening to 5 to 30mm keeps the sawdust fines out, and fines are what turn a chip bed into a sponge.
- Seasoning in the pile before bagging drives off the green-timber volatiles and softens the sharp cut edges that invite bumblefoot.
- At 7.5 to 10cm a hardwood floor runs six to twelve months before a full change, so it is one load a year rather than one a season.
- The spent load is the year's second product, carbon-rich chip carrying twelve months of droppings, and it composts into a first-rate soil improver.
- Chicken Hardwood Chips are a run floor and not a certified play surface, with no BS EN 1177 test and no critical fall height, so anything under a swing wants a play grade chip.
Chicken Hardwood Chips Applications
Chicken Hardwood Chips are graded for drainage rather than for looks, so they belong under livestock and not across a front border, where a decorative bark or woodchip mulch does a better job. The spent load does come back into the garden: composted for six to twelve months, it makes a fine mulch around established shrubs, though never where seedlings are pushing through.
- Back garden chicken runs at 7.5 to 10cm over ground that drains, topped up 2 to 3cm as the layer thins.
- Deep litter runs and smallholding beds at 20 to 25cm, where droppings compost into the bed in place.
- Duck and goose pens, where water goes on the floor all day and drainage matters more than under hens.
- Dog runs and kennel yards, a firm graded layer over mud that rain washes straight through.
DIY Guides & Inspirational Ideas
Every complaint I get about bark mulch, and what actually solves it.
Ben Parrot
A Proper Floor is No Paltry Matter
Ben Parrot
Chicken Hardwood Chips Maintenance
A surface layer of Chicken Hardwood Chips wants a weekly rake, a monthly turn and a full change every six to twelve months. I turn the layer with a fork so the underside sees air, which stops the bottom of the bed going airless and sour. When it thins, top up 2 to 3cm. A deep litter bed runs on the opposite instinct: leave the droppings in, keep adding browns whenever the surface looks wet, and take one harvest a year.
Purchasing Tips
Bag names are not standard across the trade, so compare litres rather than labels: our builders bag is 700L, the bulk bag 1,000L and the XL 1,200L. Put the run's dimensions into the bark and wood chip calculator and add 15%, because chip settles by 10 to 15% in the first few weeks under its own weight.
If you would rather talk your chicken hardwood chips order through with a person, ring Outdoor Aggregates on 0330 043 7585. The office is open 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.
Chicken Hardwood Chips FAQs
What are chicken hardwood chips made of?
Chicken hardwood chips are seasoned mixed British hardwoods, screened to a 5 to 30mm chip. The mix is usually oak, beech and ash, and it moves through the year because most British hardwood is felled between September and January. It is always hardwood, whatever the season.
How deep should chicken hardwood chips be in a chicken run?
Chicken hardwood chips need 7.5 to 10cm on ground that drains, and 20 to 25cm for a deep litter system. Go to the full 10cm where the ground sits wet.
How many bags of chicken hardwood chips does a run need?
A chicken run takes roughly 75 litres of chip per square metre at 7.5cm, so a 3m x 2m run needs about 450 litres. One 700L builders bag covers that with spare for the first top-up, where the five-pack of 70L sacks leaves you short.
How long do chicken hardwood chips last before changing?
Chicken hardwood chips last six to twelve months between full changes, with a 2 to 3cm top-up whenever the layer thins. Spongy, discoloured chip carrying a musty smell is the signal to change it.
Are chicken hardwood chips safe for chickens?
Chicken hardwood chips are seasoned before bagging, which is what makes them fit to stand on: the green-timber volatiles have gone and the cut edges have softened. It is a hardwood chip rather than a bark or a softwood blend.
Can chicken hardwood chips be used under play equipment?
Chicken hardwood chips are not a certified play surface and carry no BS EN 1177 critical fall height rating, so they should not go under swings or climbing frames. Our play chip range holds the tested grades.
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Susan Jones (verified owner) –
Fantastic communication with Ben. Great service, great product and everything including price and delivery excellent as promised.
I can wholeheartedly recommend this company.
A*A*A*A*A*
foodforum.uk
Ben Parrot –
Thanks soo much Sue – you were a pleasure to deal with! Enjoy your eggs and keep growing it local!
Rachel Seward (verified owner) –
Having just put down a rodent proof mesh floor in the chicken run, we wanted some good quality, hardwood chips to give the girls something to scratch around in when they’re not free ranging. 2 x 1000l bags did the job and my back might be aching after wheelbarrowing it all from the gates to the run but very pleased with the quality plus the service and ease of delivery. Would certainly buy from again.