Serama Indoor Pet - Managing Smell?

[ChickNanny13]

I ferment my feed, sure cuts down on the amount of poop & smell. Agree with the wire, going with deep litter, mix some PDZ in, that should take care of your smelly poop.
He's adorable! If you're going to add a friend, there is a method of introduction. Also you'll have to decide if another Roo or Hen, adding a hen would you allow her to brood or remove eggs?

 

[Altfrizzle]

Oh. Em. Gee. He is so adorable!!! Where did you get him from?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

A wire floor isn’t ideal for the bird. While it makes clean up easier it can result in cuts on his feet which can turn into bumble foot. Chickens are not like parrots, finches, doves, or other perching birds. They forage on the ground. Ditch the wire and use pine shavings NEVER aspen shavings as that will give them respiratory problems. Chickens generally roost at night. Good luck with your adorable new house pet

 

[Chickassan]

The gamebird food might be making him stinky, it made my outdoor birds pretty rank. Maybe switch him to an all flock feed when you run out of gamebird just to see if that makes his poop a little less awful.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

It's probably the excess protein in the game bird diet that that is making his poo extra stinky.

Skip the DE, I hate that stuff. I do use Sweet PDZ as I haven't found a whole lot of negative stuff about it. And it works REALLY well!

One thing that did alter the smell of poo for chicks I had was fermenting their feed. The smell change actually made me stick with it more than 1 year before I decide some of the claims made by people are not true and also that feeds are already formulated to meet the needs of said fowl, so why would I try to change that thinking I some how know better than the experts. You can check the link in my signature for some quick info, I will be removing it soon since I can no longer tout it. Everybody has reasons why they do what they do. So that might be a good enough reason for you.

I guarantee if you drop his protein level you will ALSO drop the smell level of his feces. That's extra protein being excreted that wasn't digested.

Hey, you might also try chicken diapers... And I would bring in a dish of dirt for some bathing, they really enjoy it!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I don't think DL will work well in an indoor situation.

Don't know what is meant by "Aspen", but I will agree with the point being do NOT use CEDAR.

 

[birdofhermes]

wood shavings are probably way easier to deal with and the leftover poop on that grate is probably making things worse. really cool bird

 

[WVduckchick]

Have to agree with the pine shavings and PDZ route! Your boy is also old enough that the extra protein in the gamebird feed is not necessary. Its great for baby Seramas, I use it for a week or two, then switch to regular flock raiser.

Also, not sure what you are using for water, but do your best to keep the water out of the shavings and/or vice versa. I have a house Serama pullet at the moment too. She wasn't feeling well, so I brought her inside, but it has gotten so cold, I think she will stay in until spring. (I also just brought in a pen-mate of hers for company lol)

Waterer is on a piece of board, I try to keep as much of the shavings as possible out of it. She loves it when I come home from work and let her hang out in the house for the evenings.

 

[Szulptist]

I ferment my feed, sure cuts down on the amount of poop & smell. Agree with the wire, going with deep litter, mix some PDZ in, that should take care of your smelly poop.
He's adorable! If you're going to add a friend, there is a method of introduction. Also you'll have to decide if another Roo or Hen, adding a hen would you allow her to brood or remove eggs?

What is PDZ? I intend to add a hen, what is the best way to do that? Ideally the hen will be brooding her own eggs but I was advised to just remove her when the time comes and set her up in a large sterilite tub so the rooster doesn't attack them. I only have one friend who keeps chickens which means he's my only source of information so I apologize if anything I say isn't proper protocol.

Oh. Em. Gee. He is so adorable!!! Where did you get him from?

I bought him from a man I met at a bird auction. I go to an auction every Sunday and 99% of the time it's just pigeons but once in a blue moon someone will bring other stuff such as chickens or small parrots.

A wire floor isn’t ideal for the bird. While it makes clean up easier it can result in cuts on his feet which can turn into bumble foot. Chickens are not like parrots, finches, doves, or other perching birds. They forage on the ground. Ditch the wire and use pine shavings NEVER aspen shavings as that will give them respiratory problems. Chickens generally roost at night. Good luck with your adorable new house pet

I will be sure to use pine and not aspen. The mesh floor I'm putting in is galvanized steel welded wire, it's extremely smooth unlike some other hardware cloths I've purchased before. He would have to really try his hardest to cut his foot on it but I will likely switch to just litter anyway.

The gamebird food might be making him stinky, it made my outdoor birds pretty rank. Maybe switch him to an all flock feed when you run out of gamebird just to see if that makes his poop a little less awful.

Any brands you recommend?

It's probably the excess protein in the game bird diet that that is making his poo extra stinky.

Skip the DE, I hate that stuff. I do use Sweet PDZ as I haven't found a whole lot of negative stuff about it. And it works REALLY well!

One thing that did alter the smell of poo for chicks I had was fermenting their feed. The smell change actually made me stick with it more than 1 year before I decide some of the claims made by people are not true and also that feeds are already formulated to meet the needs of said fowl, so why would I try to change that thinking I some how know better than the experts. You can check the link in my signature for some quick info, I will be removing it soon since I can no longer tout it. Everybody has reasons why they do what they do. So that might be a good enough reason for you.

I guarantee if you drop his protein level you will ALSO drop the smell level of his feces. That's extra protein being excreted that wasn't digested.

Hey, you might also try chicken diapers... And I would bring in a dish of dirt for some bathing, they really enjoy it!

What is DE? what is PDZ? I appreciate the reply, I don't think diapers are for me though. Nor do I fully understand what 'fermenting' the feed entails.

I don't think DL will work well in an indoor situation.

Don't know what is meant by "Aspen", but I will agree with the point being do NOT use CEDAR.

What's DL?

Have to agree with the pine shavings and PDZ route! Your boy is also old enough that the extra protein in the gamebird feed is not necessary. Its great for baby Seramas, I use it for a week or two, then switch to regular flock raiser.

Also, not sure what you are using for water, but do your best to keep the water out of the shavings and/or vice versa. I have a house Serama pullet at the moment too. She wasn't feeling well, so I brought her inside, but it has gotten so cold, I think she will stay in until spring. (I also just brought in a pen-mate of hers for company lol)
View attachment 1209893 View attachment 1209894



Waterer is on a piece of board, I try to keep as much of the shavings as possible out of it. She loves it when I come home from work and let her hang out in the house for the evenings. View attachment 1209895

The waterer is the white dish that hangs off the side of the cage. I will be sure to keep all shavings out of it.

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback!

Eric

P.S. I will give a better reply soon, I just got home from work (snowing very badly) and I have to go feed the flock.

 

[Chickassan]

@Szulptist, i just get the purina flock raiser crumbles the chickens really like it even the roo and he's picky. A bag will last you forever just feeding that little fella or if you get him a buddy it'll still last forever. Btw i do seriously reccomend you get him a friend, chickens are flock creatures and aren't usually happy alone. As you have seen it is perfectly ok to have two roos, you only get issues with multiple roos if there are ladies to compete for.