Getting ammonia smell from coop

[Flame80]

Even though I THINK I have my coop clean and have changed the shavings and hay I still have a pretty strong ammonia smell! I just purchased a 25 pound bag of PDZ horse stall refresher. It says safe to use with sheep,goats,dogs,cats, and birds. But...will my chickens eat it and is it harmful to them? It says it is a finely ground NATURAL EARTH PRODUCT called Clinoptilolite. Anyone using this? How are you applying? Is there something else I should be doing or product to be using?

 

[DobieLover]

Even though I THINK I have my coop clean and have changed the shavings and hay I still have a pretty strong ammonia smell! I just purchased a 25 pound bag of PDZ horse stall refresher. It says safe to use with sheep,goats,dogs,cats, and birds. But...will my chickens eat it and is it harmful to them? It says it is a finely ground NATURAL EARTH PRODUCT called Clinoptilolite. Anyone using this? How are you applying? Is there something else I should be doing or product to be using?

I use PDZ on the poop boards in my coop and scoop them with a metal cat litter scoop each morning. But I use the GRANULAR form, NOT the powder. My coop does not smell.
What type of flooring is in your coop? If wood, was it ever sealed, either with exterior paint, Black Jack, etc. or covered in vinyl?
How many birds in what size coop?
How much ventilation and where in the coop?

 

[Yardfulla poopers]

I sprinkle 2 cups over the coop litter when the stink is real bad, as I don't yet have poop boards. It settles into the litter pretty well. If it lands on bare floor, they may eat it. I have never noticed any in my chicken droppings but have seen plenty in my waterfowl poo and it hasn't seemed to bother anyone.

 

[DaisyG2317]

I have the granular PDZ (thanks to advice on here I swapped the powder I had purchased for it), works very well. I just dumped a bunch of it on linoleum floor and mixed it around with the shavings.

PDZ also works great in cat litter boxes as well! I have 4 cats and now you would never know because there is zero smell. It is an absolute game changer for me.

 

[MarkJr]

I went to deep bedding method. 6x8” of pine shavings and I toss a handful of scratch in it once a week or so. Poo dries very quickly.
Also if you can smell ammonia, they can too. Look carefully at how much more ventilation you can add. I suspect you need more.

 

[aart]

Look carefully at how much more ventilation you can add. I suspect you need more.

Ditto Dat.

Is there something else I should be doing or product to be using?

Pics of your coop(inside and out) would help here,
along with dimensions of coop and number of birds.
Coops should be dry with good ventilation, no product will make up for not having that.

 

[Flame80]

Thanks everyone. I have 9 birds in a 32 square foot coop. It is above the run which is 128 square foot. I just installed a new metal roof because of leaks into the coop and now it does not leak a drop. As a matter of fact I COMPLETLY covered the whole run with all new metal to keep most all but the hardest BLOWING rain out. All my coop was constructed with treated lumber and I have plastic tote lids on the floor for poop trays. Then I put my wood chips over that. I realize the coop needs to be a little larger but that is all I have right now. During the day it is fully open to fresh air. Maybe it just needs to still dry out more from when it leaked?

 

[aart]

During the day it is fully open to fresh air.

Needs ventilation at night too.