[Hillview Farm]

Hello all, sorry for another post but I'm back in full swing :-)

Long story short, got a new job so I've lost my barn I have Lambed in so looking to put up a temporary shelter in case of bad weather.

I originally wanted to put chalk down as a base pad but after a convo with the tree surgeons on the farm they suggested a pad of wood chips which they would provide for free, spread it out and ensure it was 'clean' chips with only oak and no yew etc. This would make mucking out easier as the chips could go on the heap and could be replaced next year if needed.

My only worry is that the chips would heat up but OH said it would be no worse than the muck itself.

Obviously it would be a thick layer of chips with a lot of straw.

Any input welcome

[SallyintNorth]

How many sheep do you have?

My initial reaction was no, not good. 

In a good year, almost any flooring plus clean straw is fine.  But in a nasty wet year, it can be very difficult to stop (potentially infective) fluids seeping from one pen to another.  In those circs, I wouldn't want to be on wood chip, no. 

[shep53]

 I would give it a go , 2yrs ago the local wood chip producer had  a problem with wrong size chips and a massive heap that they need to move, all the local farmers bedded on wood chips that year .   I started on a ft deep and had to rotavate it regularly to stop it  capping , others started on  a  thin layer and added fresh when it got dirty  both methods worked ,  in my case when it got dirty I just added straw ,worked ok .    The only down side is that it takes  a  long time for the wood chips to rot down

[Anke]

Depending on how many you have got, using lime and topping up regularly would be fine IMO. However as said above - woodchips take forever to rot down, so I would make a separate heap for it.