Chicken run smells pretty rank lately?

[kerriliane]

Hi!
I went away to Ontario for 10 days on the 21st, and before I left, It was a couple degrees above freezing, and the chickens didnt smell, at all - even people who rarely came to my house said that.
Now, the RUN is what stinks, the coop needs to be cleaned desperatly, because the girl who was watching my chickens, didn't collects eggs once ( I found 38 intact eggs, and many many shells.. ) and didn't spread any new shavings in the coop which means the poop just built up.. but even like that - the coop doesn't smell nearly as bad as the run!

THe run is 450sq ft, UNCOVERED.. and it REEEEEEKS!
The ground is frozen, which I think might be part of the problem.. but when i'm home, i let the chickens free range the 2 acres, and they didnt do that in the 10 days I was gone...

I don't know what to do now..
I've covered the coop with a fresh layer of shavings ( i cleaned it fully a week before i left)

How do I make the run smell better?

 

[emys]

At this point, I would throw down shavings on top of the run. If it is frozen, that's about all you can do right now.

As for the no good chicken sitter...this is a family forum...

 

[swimmer]

If it's frozen, thow some straw or shavings down until it thaws. Our run is smelling pretty bad also. I raked up what I could and threw down some fresh straw.

 

[saladin]

You can put down Ag lime to decrease the smell, then put your straw on top.

When you are able to clean it up, put the lime down first. Just make sure it is Ag lime and NOT hydrated lime (white-wash).

 

[Judy]

I was going to suggest pelletized lime, which is a form of ag lime that has been made into tiny pellets. Much easier to handle and not dusty at all. Costs maybe a buck more than the white powdery stuff; worth every penny to me....

 

[churchx3]

Quote:
I was thinking about putting pellatized lime down in the chicken runs and goat area...will they eat the lime? Is it safe if they do? My goat area really needs some de-stinking!

 

[kerriliane]

THe babysitter did take my little ones, and relocate them to her chicken barn.. which means they are warm and safe and fed and watered. The mommas are really good at scratching food into the dishes and it was a 2x daily cleanout of feed/waterers.
So i'm thankful for that.

On the other hand though, I just have a lot of work to do now.
the broody boxes were full of cakes food mash/old shavings/poop.. which might have been causing the smell. So I cleaned that out today. When everything un freezes ... hopefully this week, I'm going to get out the wheel barrow and start shovelling out the coop.... or at least the one side they all roost on.. the rest isn;t bad.. just along the one wall they have all chosen to roost against.


I never realised an open air run could smell that bad!!

 

[saladin]

There is no reason to have to clean out feeders and waterers.

Get them off the ground and hang them. Very simple and will save you a world of work.

 

[kerriliane]

Quote:
I hung the one feeder.. and the babies jumped on it and the string broke cause it was frozen!
I'm working on setting up a whole 2nd coop for moms.babies and that will have built in off the ground feeders and water

 

[HBuehler]

Spray it down with some oxine..you don't even need to get it wet just a good mist...works super.After a flood we had feet of chicken mud it was horrible...sprayed it-what couldn't be removed first and within minutes the odor was gone.Completely safe for chickens.We use it to spray our coops and runs weekly it also kills most every disease it comes in contact with if you know you have it or not

We also put it in every water so nothing can get spread through drinking..things land in the water that shouldn't some times and it kills the uck and never any slime to deal with.