Girl friend worried about smell??

[boat309]

So I purchased my first home a wile back with my girl friend and we are goin to be getting chickens in the spring. I have built a large coop and run with plenty of windows and ventilation, coop Is 8x6 and run is 15x8 and I am only going to be getting 5 or 6 birds. I plan on using the deep litter method inside with poop boards. Will it be very smelly. Like bad enuff where u can smell it 50 feet away? I really don't want to piss off any one living around me.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Gawd no. It had to be some very poorly managed chickens for this myth of smell to get circulated. I actually enjoy the sweet smelling aroma of compost. With deep liter and turning this is the smell you'll get. Granted I don't want an air freshener for my car of it but it's certainly not offensive.

Any odor problems will come from a wet run and heavy concentration of birds. With your dimensions and chicken numbers that wont happen.

 

[lazy gardener]

When your flock strips all the grass out of their run, you can turn that into a DL area as well. My recommendation is that when you make the gate for the run, have the bottom of the opening where the gate will be covered with a removeable board. That way, when you end up using DL, the gate won't get hung up on it. any permanent run, unless it is absolutely huge will be stripped of all vegetation eventually. You might want to think about how you will deal with that... sand, or mulch/DL. Have fun with your new pets. They're a blast.

 

[GD91]

The smell ratio is like having rabbits or guinea pigs so.... not half as bad as people make out at times

 

[Going Quackers]

If you maintain a clean environment, no the place won't smell like a farm, you'll need some more critters to achieve that.