I don't understand the need for any "conversion". Wood chips - fresh from the chipper - make a perfectly useable and very desirable mulch as-is! No need to do anything more than apply liberally. Receiving a load of (free) wood chips from the tree services or utility companies that generate these chips in volume is a cause for celebration for gardeners here!!

My only concern is the uniformity - or lack of it - in the chipped product. Chips are chips, not dust or 2" cubes. An ideal wood chip mulch will have chips that are more or less the same thickness and size.

Certainly usable as is but if you want to mix it with manure and compost it for a year then it should make a good mulch/compost. It probably still would have some of the larger chunks of wood.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), this is the chipper I have:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077YDZ725/

It has a slowly spinning wheel with blades every so often. Older dry limbs get cut in to somewhat uniform chips, but softer or fresh wood is often mashed in to whatever it can push through. Worse, it constantly gets clogged up underneath, and then it just sits and grinds whatever is around the wheel until I notice and unclog it. That's where the smaller chips and dust comes from.

My logic for mixing it with manure was to add nitrogen and organic matter to the red clay soil. Most of what I'll be planting are trees, shrubs, and tough flowers, but I'm also hoping to weave in some edibles (like habaneros) so I want to make sure the soil is fertile.

Do you think that I'm just wasting time and energy by mixing in the manure?

Follow up question:

I've had several people tell me that I need to "treat" the new chips or they'll attract termites.

Thoughts?

No, they don't need to be "treated" with anything. Just use them as mulch. You're lucky to have them:)

The logic didn't make sense to me, either... the wood has been around the house for 20 years, why would chopping it up suddenly be different? It felt like an old wives tale.

But after so many people say it, it makes you nervous! LOL

I always thought you didn't want to use wood chips near a wood structure, but that bark was OK. And hardwood bark was better because the softwood bark changes to an unpleasant color later in the year. Stumps are another termite attractant.