Is Rubber Mulch Safe For Chickens

It can eliminate the need for annual mulching since rubber doesn t.

Is rubber mulch safe for chickens.

Like everything else it does break down and when it does it leaches a witch s brew of heavy metals and toxic chemicals into the soil and ground water. Rubber mulch might sound as aesthetically appealing as an artificial christmas tree but it does have a few selling points. I need to use them instead of mulch to cover the whole garden where i do not have anything growing which will mainly be fruit trees and fruit shrubs and also it would be good if my chickens can munch on them but not enough to completely kill them off like they did with turf. However colored mulch is often used as a way to disguise ground up shipping pallets.

Rubber mulch is also a fire hazard it burns at a much higher temperature than natural mulches and belches toxic smoke. The colored mulch is a food safe dye so that s not the problem. The studies have unanimously concluded that recycled rubber is safe. What are good invasive evergreen groundcovers that can take foot traffic but do not grow more than about 4 inches.

It may have a toxicity to certain plants and animals. Another plus of using rubber mulch is that unlike some wood mulches it does not feed any pests such as termites or carpenter ants. Dyed mulch can be safe to use depending on source of wood. Specifically many homeowners ask if dyed mulch also called colored mulch is safe to handle when mulching plants or safe to use around food crops.

Finally rubber mulch isn t a healthy choice. The top layer of soil may need to be removed to get rid of all rubber pieces or the mulch may need to be plucked out by hand if it gets into the ground. The downside is that it has been found to be the preferred mulch. But the dye on colored mulch is less of an issue than the type of wood on which the dye is applied.

Contrary to popular belief both wood mulch and rubber mulch can contain chemicals. Recycled rubber materials tend to leach heavy metals and chemicals into the soil over time. But i don t know how or if you would ever know if that s the case. Those potentially can contain pesticides.