To be on the safe side, let it sit for a month or two to start to break down a bit. It is probably OK to mulch directly with the dead wood chips, but it would be even better to wait until it is breaking down so as not to rob the soil of any nitrogen.

Weeds will come through a wood chip mulch rather easily, but it slows them down and eliminates worry about leaching to cover the area you want to mulch with newspapers first. If I had those chips, I'd sure put down some paper and pave over some muddy pathways. I'd go ahead and use small amounts to patch dog spots in the foundation shrubs, too.

Don't be surprised if bulbs or other things come up this spring where the maples used to be -- bulbs and even wildflowers. And you may get some interesting mushrooms as that mulch decomposes. None to eat, but maybe some good ones to watch.

Here is a link that might be useful: my webpage

I had a dead elm tree taken down last fall and they left me the clips. They were totally dried up and never even warmed up. There are alot of white slimy things underneath the pile. Cant wait to see what THAT;s going to turn into in the spring.

I Used them for mulch, one layer of newspaper or extra leaf bags, 6 or 8 inches of leaves and then the chips. I know, its weird, but well see how it works. At least Im not getting seepage in the crawl space this year, I think all the extra OM is absorbing the water that usually creeps in.

:)

--Mulch is applied to the surface of the soil.

--Stuff that's applied to the soil surface, even wood chips, won't "rob the soil of nitrogen."

-- If the wood chips are mixed into the soil, the breakdown process gets the first chance at the soil nitrogen -- that is, what is commonly known as "robs" the soil of nitrogen.

What would cause those wood chips to heat up would be an adequate level of moisture and Nitrogen and with trees that dead and dry neither should be a problem.
There is an old myth that applying wood chips to soil as a mulch will "rob" the soil of Nitrogen that is unsupported by research. Good, solid reasearch has shown that this "robbing" will not take place, provided the wood chips are used as a mulch and not a soil amendment.

Thanks for the information, everyone! I really appreciate your help.

Meg :)