Fresh woodchip and chickens - OK?

[bonniethomas06]

Hi,

We will be taking down some huge monstrous willow trees at the weekend which totally shade our garden out, after finally tracking down the landowner. Yippee!

I was going to hire a chipper to shred the branches up, in the hope that I could use the chippings to go in the soon to be constructed, avian flu proof chicken run.

Is it OK to use fresh chippings? Or is there potential for the sap to hurt the chickens' feet?

[Odsox]

Not sure, mainly because I've never done it.
But I just wanted to say that they may well eat the wood chips, at least for a while. I've found that they try to eat loads of inappropriate things that are not food. Watch what happens next time you have a hail shower, they will charge around like mad things eating lumps of ice.
With wood chips you could of course try a small amount first and see what they make of it.

[diggernotdreamer]

They will be fine, I have used woodchips for years and years, they love, it, willow is totally edible anyway, they love to kick around in the chips and find bugs and other things to eat, most of our chippings here are spruce, don't forget chickens are woodland creatures rather than of the pasture

[bonniethomas06]

Thanks both - plans have been kaiboshed unfortunately as the hire shop say that their chippers won't do willow - it is too fibrous and clogs the teeth up almost immediately.

Boo - so sadly it will be going to the recycling centre with the bigger logs saved for the neighbours' log burner.

[Weedo]

Willow is OK but be prepared for very happy chooks as they max out on salicylic acid and the natural natural hormone Indolebutyric Acid (main component in commercial rooting hormones) Personally, I would allow the willow to leach for a month or two before using. Having said that, her the willows along the river are commonly used to provide green forage (important for good rumen function) by lopping branches and allowing the animals to graze them. For me, willows are an invasive species so I remove them totally from my patch.

[Green Aura]

A friend takes all my willow trimmings for her goats - they adore them and now I know why.

[bonniethomas06]

Thanks Weedo, that's interesting. Do you think if I kept some and steeped some bark in water, I could make my own rooting hormone liquid? Would it keep?

Haha Maggie, the happiest goats ever!

Isn't salicylic acid in asprin as well?

[Odsox]

Yes to both of your questions Bonnie
You can easily make rooting "compound" by soaking fresh willow bark or chippings in water for a day or so.
Plus while we're on the subject, make sure that you clear up all the sizeable twigs from your tree, as the reason you can make rooting compound is because willows refuse to die and will take root in a jiffy. Even if you leave a mature log on the ground it will take root.
Aspirin was discovered (I believe) because German midwives in the middle ages gave mothers a fresh willow stick to chew on during childbirth to ease the pain.

[bonniethomas06]

Oh no, don't say that - the lawn is now completely littered with willow twigs!

I had best get out there with a spring rake, or we are going to be living in a forest before too long.

[diggernotdreamer]

we cut some willow down in our field, and then it started raining for two months and we couldn't get the wood up to the shed, I had to literally prise saplings out of the ground when it all started growing again, won't be doing that again in a hurry

[Weedo]

I have used willow solution as a rooting stimulant - I used fresh green twigs, poured boiling water over them and let steep for 24 hours. I does work but I have never tried to keep it. The willow is so easy to get that there is really no purpose in trying the store the solution.