Chicken of the Woods grows on softwoods including hemlocks, Douglas Fir, true firs, and spruce. Stumps, rather than cut logs, are the recommended candidate for inoculation; logs can be used and buried vertically in sand, sawdust or gravel after incubation. Producing a multi-layered, shelf-like mushroom (sometimes called wood conks), Chicken of the Woods has an easily distinguished orange mycelium. Given the right conditions, mushrooms will form in 6–12 months; the stump will begin to decompose, and mushrooms will fruit for several years thereafter.