Anyone else using sand and it stinks like rotting fish?

[ChrisisaGirl]

Thank you! I am going to keep their food clear across the crib from the water and try to figure out how to keep momma from spilling their water. I prefer them drinking out of a waterer not a nipple. I know that means she's going to spill it more.

That is very odd. I used sand from Home Depot (play sand) in my brooder and loved it. Never had any smell. My bet is on the dampness from the spilled water, especially if there was spilled feed as well and it got wet and started rotting. You can't clean it out of the sand by scooping because the crumbles break down into dust and pass through the scoop holes, so the powderized spilled feed will stay in the sand even after scooping/cleaning. Some feed has fish byproducts in it, hence the fishy smell. Get a nipple waterer and teach the chicks to use it. No more spilled water and smell!

 

[ChrisisaGirl]

no it smells like strait dead fish left in the sun on a hot day.

Rotting feces would be my guess, does it have an ammonia smell? My coop brooder has sand in it, and I sift it every few days to let out the trapped ammonia. Once aired, it smells fine. Sand will get clumpy from spilled water and from urates.

 

[KCalhoun]

I use sand in my pens and when it gets wet it will get hard and it will stink too. I put fans on it to help dry it out quicker, rake it to loosen it, scoop any nasty out that needs to be then I sprinkle an Agri-lime all over it, rake again to help mix it and then I will sprinkle DE over that. My chickens are in the pens when I do this and it has never bothered them. This lime I use is safe for animals and the DE helps when the kiddos dust bathe!!! It helps with the smell until it rains again and things get wet. We got 5 inches of rain in 3 hours time 2 days ago and it flooded my chicken pens and my yard and after the rain stopped the sun came out and it got HOT!!! The stink came real quick after that so I have had fans blowing on it for the last 2 days now to dry it out and to help keep the chickens cool too (It's 93 degrees but feels like 109 out today!!). I plan on getting out there in the morning and raking, liming and getting the remaining stink out!!!

Good Luck with your chicks and your pens!!!!

 

[docdubz]

Fecal matter that is wet and does not have access to good air supply will get a horrid fish smell to it. I left used bedding in a container outside because I didn't feel like dragging it out back in the rain. The smell the next morning was the stuff of nightmares.

 

[K0k0shka]

I use sand in my pens and when it gets wet it will get hard and it will stink too. I put fans on it to help dry it out quicker, rake it to loosen it, scoop any nasty out that needs to be then I sprinkle an Agri-lime all over it, rake again to help mix it and then I will sprinkle DE over that. My chickens are in the pens when I do this and it has never bothered them. This lime I use is safe for animals and the DE helps when the kiddos dust bathe!!! It helps with the smell until it rains again and things get wet. We got 5 inches of rain in 3 hours time 2 days ago and it flooded my chicken pens and my yard and after the rain stopped the sun came out and it got HOT!!! The stink came real quick after that so I have had fans blowing on it for the last 2 days now to dry it out and to help keep the chickens cool too (It's 93 degrees but feels like 109 out today!!). I plan on getting out there in the morning and raking, liming and getting the remaining stink out!!!

Good Luck with your chicks and your pens!!!!

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. I loved the sand in the brooder, but can’t see myself using sand outside in the run.

 

[ChrisisaGirl]

I got general all purpose sand, we;re stripping the crib tomorrow, and will keep her foodon one end of the crib, and her water on the other end, see if it helps. we also picked up the sweetpdz today itfinally came in. damned site to store order took 11 days to get it in

I would imagine sand from an actual river would smell on its own even without spilled feed, just because it probably has organic matter caught among the grains of sand and that's what will smell when dampened. Sand by itself doesn't smell, it's what's in it. And even what's in it won't necessarily smell if it's dry. So I'm still thinking it's the dampness from spilled water, combined with dampened spilled feed and poop.

 

[KCalhoun]

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. I loved the sand in the brooder, but can’t see myself using sand outside in the run.

Yeah it's a workout for sure, but I have covered open air runs/pens and it is either sand and a good workout after a rain or mud!!! This is all new so it's definitely a learning curve for me and Hubby and I has been working on getting a better drainage system so hopefully by our wet season it will be better!!!!

 

[K0k0shka]

Yeah it's a workout for sure, but I have covered open air runs/pens and it is either sand and a good workout after a rain or mud!!! This is all new so it's definitely a learning curve for me and Hubby and I has been working on getting a better drainage system so hopefully by our wet season it will be better!!!!

If your run is covered, that should help with the wetness at least some (if it has a solid cover, that is, not just mesh/wire). I have a covered run, too, and use yard waste as the bedding - lots of dried leaves from last fall, grass clippings from the mower, weeds from the garden, various raked up debris from the yard. It's a thick bed that the chickens love scratching through and turning over. The poop mixes with the dried plant matter and the two act together to eventually compost (so it's much cleaner than sand, because with sand the poop never goes away - it just gets ground up and mixed with the sand, and re-wet every time it rains, and it keeps stinking). The roof keeps it dry during regular rain, and during heavy downpours it gets wet but not muddy, since there's no exposed dirt and the different size particles give it good drainage. I do zero maintenance on it, besides dumping newly generated yard waste in there when I have some to get rid of (after mowing the lawn, etc.) I love it!

This is what it looks like:

 

[KCalhoun]

I will post some pictures tomorrow of my pens and get your opinion.
I really like the way yours looks!!!!

 

[K0k0shka]

I will post some pictures tomorrow of my pens and get your opinion.
I really like the way yours looks!!!!

Sure! And thanks. Mine looks like a forest floor. Very natural. It also harbors a lot of bugs and earthworms, which my chickens love digging up.