Ammonia Smell in my Duck Barn.

I have noticed that last 4 times I have cleaned out my duck barn that there has been a VERY strong Ammonia smell. I have never smelled this before. I have had ducks for 4 years now. I have 16 Adults and 14 older babies right now in my Barn. I also have a adult guinea and 6 baby guineas. I have had the guineas for a year now and had all together 10 last year and never smelt it. I have closed in my Barn earlier this Spring because we had a VERY bad owl problem. They killed 7 of my ducks and 1 guinea. So I have closed off 3 sides and going to finish off the 4th side before winter. Maybe not enough ventilation? I need help. Its hard to catch my breath in the barn and i can't imagine what it is like for the ducks. PLEASE can someone tell me what to do. I have limed and everything and It doesn't seem to go away. Thanks in advance!

KatelynnRiedel said:

I have noticed that last 4 times I have cleaned out my duck barn that there has been a VERY strong Ammonia smell. I have never smelled this before. I have had ducks for 4 years now. I have 16 Adults and 14 older babies right now in my Barn. I also have a adult guinea and 6 baby guineas. I have had the guineas for a year now and had all together 10 last year and never smelt it. I have closed in my Barn earlier this Spring because we had a VERY bad owl problem. They killed 7 of my ducks and 1 guinea. So I have closed off 3 sides and going to finish off the 4th side before winter. Maybe not enough ventilation? I need help. Its hard to catch my breath in the barn and i can't imagine what it is like for the ducks. PLEASE can someone tell me what to do. I have limed and everything and It doesn't seem to go away. Thanks in advance!

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How often do you clean? with that many ducks/ Guineas I can see where it would build up pretty fast especially with the heat this time of year. Ventilation is most important when keeping our flocks closed up at night for their protection, Ammonia can cause Aspergelouis [sp] which is brooder Pneumonia but is caused by ammonia built up. Lots of ventilation top and bottom of barn covered in hardware cloth. you can cut out window opening and cover thenm close up half way in winter leaving top half open. I live in the mountains of western NC and it can get down in single digits and I never close the windows up all the way leave tops open so there is always fresh air getting in. while your working on more ventilation get some of the peat moss that comes in the plastic bales at Lowes- Home Depot and spread out over your bedding then turn it over and over till it's completely mixed. what kind of bedding are you using?
I use deep litter in all my coops and houses, and use pine shavings as the bedding, I know a lot of flocks can't do this because of work schedules but this is how I keep mine from getting smelly, I go in every day and scoop out the top where the poop is then I use my pitch fork or shovel and turn the bedding over spray down all the roosts and clean off any poo that s on them, usually once every 2 weeks I use one big bale and put fresh bedding into the duck stalls chicken coop has about 10" of deep bedding in it. I have 23 chickens 16 ducks and 2 geese. I use the dirty bedding around my plants. I have used 1 bale of pete moss inside my house this spring summer.

I clean it about once a week. When I see that its dirty I clean it. I don't like to have my animals in nasty stuff. The window Idea is really great. I might just have to do that. I will have to ask my dad if the way the barn is built if that is possible! I use wood shaving for my bedding and hay where their nests are. The barn isn't small either. The barn is two 10x10 old horse stalls put together with a whole through the wall. so its a 20x20 barn. I just don't want my pets to get sick.

KatelynnRiedel said:

I clean it about once a week. When I see that its dirty I clean it. I don't like to have my animals in nasty stuff. The window Idea is really great. I might just have to do that. I will have to ask my dad if the way the barn is built if that is possible! I use wood shaving for my bedding and hay where their nests are. The barn isn't small either. The barn is two 10x10 old horse stalls put together with a whole through the wall. so its a 20x20 barn. I just don't want my pets to get sick.

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I'm sure you don't want them to get sick, but they are poop machines and I can't imagine what my coops and houses would look like if I cleaned once a week. If you can get some oxine ah and clean everything out then spray down the barn with this it will kill any bacteria from all the poop. I had to order it from Revival animal health on line. I'm thinking putting in good ventilation will help a lot too.

Here is the best thread I have seen on ventilation. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop