I am a kid trying to convice his parents to have chickens! Please help!

[couturnixquail]

I don't have any lol I have them on dirt but my quail are next door and thy have pineshavings that may be why the smell goes away I think the pine shavings take the odor away. Anyway I'm probably gonna add bricks on the bottom and some pine shavings for the chickens (pineshavings on bricks.) Ps the reason I'm adding bricks is so when if rains the birds will be on dry land, I'm doing this cause my neighbor left his water on the whole night and the chickens were in puddles of water and the quail were Dry on the bricks, the water just passes through if there on bricks

 

[SwedishDude99]

For your question on stench: my chickens coop smells like lavender. I clean up droppings every day and throw some dried lavender into the coop once a week. People who come over to visit are amazed at how well my coop smells. Nobody ever thought a coop could smell good. And I use pine shavings in my coop. A lot of people recommend sand and it's great, until it comes time to clean the coop. Shoveling out sand from a coop is one of the worst things you would have to do. I think shavings smell better, and they are easier to maintain. One thing I will recommend to you right now to save you tons of trouble is to build a poop board. A poop board is a wide, flat piece of wood that you install about half a foot underneath the roost. Put a little bit of bedding on the board and all of the chickens poo will land on that board. This saves me sooo much time every day. It would take me 5-10 minutes a day to clean up all the poo before I had a poop board. Now it takes me less than 30 seconds.

 

[bantyhen]

A good reason to get chickens is the money u can make off selling the eggs. I have a small egg business with about ten customers. I have nine egg laying hens plus more that haven't started yet. I also have bantams, but I don't sell their eggs very often. Some months, I make $15 to keep. I make more than that, but I use the money to buy supplies and feed.

 

[chickenlover09]

I use pine shavings (about 5 inches). I scoop out their poop (4 chicks) every day, and I sort of turn over the shavings every week. They get all fresh shavings once a month. The pine shavings are really cheap at my feed store. I could a giant bag for only $5.

I hang stuff like rosemary (also keeps flys away) around the coop to help remove the smell.

 

[Mac14]

What I've noticed is that 'the smell', smells bad only when its fresh but later is fine. A lot of the smelliness depends on often you clean the coop (for the most part). I think that if you read up on here pretty often for the next few months, that you can get a lot of different opinions about topics and stuff. Good thing your getting some of your questions answered right now though!

 

[Papas Chickens]

Thanks for clarifying! My dad said it might even be sooner than 2 months! I will definitely post photos of my birds .

Another question:

My parents #1 complaint was the stench. How bad is it for 5 chickens?

I miss counted earlier i actually have 45 chickens and 5 guinea keets lol. I dont have any stench problem i rake my girls coop and run once maybe twice a month. You can also plant different herbs or flowers like marigolds outside your coop and run to keep it smelling nice.

 

[Chickadee-23]

@ilovechickens01 yes i use an incubator or sometimes i will use a broody hen they have better hatch rate then my incubator, my hen will lay & sit on 6-7 eggs and hatch all them, i have game breeds their old english game bantams, i have 2 trio pairs, 1 pair of white silkies, and i have 3 Rhode Island Reds they lay pretty much all year long, my bantams will stop when it gets real cold, but will lay until about November here i live in the south so it dont get cold much, if u want to hatch all year round i will choose a breed that will lay all year, i have a new breed this year i think shes a EE or a ameraucana not sure i bought her has a chick, well good luck on your new world of chickens

 

[lazy gardener]

Do you have a dog? I find that my chickens create less odor than a dog! You might look into fermented feed. It will save on your feed bill, give your girls a nutritional boost, and make their poo drier and far less smelly. It's super easy to do. And there will be no wasted feed.

 

[ILoveChickens01]

No, I don't have a doge. Currently just a hamster. I will look into fermenting feed.

Thanks!

 

[Mrs. K]

You might call your country extension office, and ask if there is a local poultry club near you. There you could see lots of chickens, see lots of set ups, and get some hands on experiences.

Mrs K