Brooder Odor

[Master S.M.C]

So my birds are in there brooder and I had them on peat moss as litter, I had to take it out do to the fact that it got everywhere. Then I changed the bedding to pine shaving/corn cobs and now they smell horrible, what should I do in order to keep the odor down?

 

[Master S.M.C]

Anyone at all, I need help.

 

[speckledhen]

Don't really know, other than scooping out poop and keeping it dry in the brooder. I had chicks on my diningroom table for three weeks and they never were an odor issue. They were on pine shavings.

 

[briteday]

Are you changing the bedding every 24 hours? And be sure that the water isn't leaking or being billed out making the bedding damp? And you aren't giving them any "wet" type treats that could be rotting?

My brooder is a cardboard box, lined with an absorbant Assurance brand underpad (in the incontinence supplies at Walmart), then a double layer of paper towels, and handfuls of shredded paper (yep, right out of the diamond cut shredder at the office!) on top. Everything from the paper towels up gets changed every 24 hours. The bedding catches most of the poop and the paper towels tend to absorb the remaining moisture. We only need to change the bottom pad about once per week.

I have the waterer up on a Cool Whip container (turned upside down) and the feeder is on a block of wood. I also place the feeder inside a pie pan so they don't bill food out into the bedding and waste so much.

If your brooder is clean and dry and there is still a bad odor I'd be looking closer at their droppings and watching for signs of illness.

 

[damselfish]

A couple of other possibilities:

How many chicks do you have, how old, in how much space?

Do you have a thick layer of shavings in there? We use at least two inches or so (then you don't have to change it every day, you can stir it...and they will stir it for you)

Are you feeding them normal chick starter?

Can't think of anything else right now, hope this helps.

 

[Oceanseve]

I have 25 chics in about 25 sq ft box, pine shavings, they do start to stink close to the end of a week dispite stirring the litter everyday. I have been totally changing the litter once a week, though I expect as the weeks go on I will have to do a full change out more often. The bigger they get => the more they eat => the more they poop. Hope that helps

 

[briana1975]

What kind of chicks do you have. I have read on here that the meat type chicks stink much much worse.

 

[Oceanseve]

briana has a good point - because of their metabolism meat birds are supposed to poop a whole lot more therefore will need more frequent changing.

 

[Mahonri]

Unfortunately, the older the chicks get, the more often the bedding must be changed.

We have our 4 week olds in a movable pen on the north lawn and I can't wait every other day to move it. They just start mowing down the grass and fertilizing it!