Recently I have been using some wood chips in my garden but not a heavy amount because I did not age them first. Now we hear about aging a lot and why it's important for wood chips is that young cut wood chips will take out some of your nitrogen in the garden the first year or two even. The wood chips suck up the nitrogen before it ages and then replaces it back to your trees. This is why I use a lot of steer manure on my trees to keep on putting that nitrogen back on the trees. Some people may not have this issue at first year of growth in their garden beds but when you notice a slower growth it's because of too many wood chips or lack of nitrogen. Why it's important to add compost to your beds and aged manures. This video explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbnoe1q8X9w The best thing you can do if you have chicken manure is add it to the wood chips---leave it open for 6 months allow it to age. Making homegrown compost can be done using worms as well---all these ingredients make a really great soil admendment for the garden.