Ammonia

[emsdial911]

Using the deep litter method but this month I have noticed a strong ammonia smell, what am I missing to keep the litter dry and the ammonia smell out? It was 47 degrees today so I opened all the doors and windows to air it out and let them run outside for a while. They love their freedom.

 

[patandchickens]

it will do that sometimes, specially in a warm spell. Hence the need for *real* good ventilation at those times.

sometimes you may be best not stirring/turning the litter but rather just adding fresh stuff *on top* as needed, til you do the big cleanout (at which point the stench will knock you over when you disturb the lower layers, but UNTIL then it will be fine). In other situation it can actually be advantageous to stir/turn the stuff when you add fresh bedding. You just kind of have to experiment to see what works best for your particular setup.

Many BYCers will say "oh, just add however much <substance of choice> to take care of the problem", with substance of choice being DE or a stall powder or lime. That is also an option, and particularly something to consider if it is just a *rare* wet thaw-y spell causing a temporary difficulty. But remember you need not, and possibly should not, rely heavily on this when you could instead be adjusting your management practices to find tactics that just plain work better for you in terms of avoiding the problem in the first place.

Experiment, see what happens when you do things differently, as time goes on you will get the hang of how your particular coop behaves and what tactics work best for you.

Good luck, have ufn,

Pat

 

[emsdial911]

I turned it yesterday before adding more bedding and I caught just a slight hit, but today when I went in it was like someone had poured a bottle in the coop.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Put down a few bags of pelletized lime (Calcium Carbonate) and it will neutralize the ammonia