Cleaning smelly chicken yard area

[chickens3]

Stall dry is the best.

 

[SunAngel]

Quote:
Oh boy, I can guarantee it won't. I turned the dirt in my run about a month ago and it smelled so bad that my neighbors and I were all gagging. If you're going to till it, do it on a hot, dry day so that it can dry out quickly.

I would agree with this totally. I used to turn over my chicken run, which is all sand, last Summer and Fall. I thought I would be nice and do it this Spring too. I did and the smell was gross! I am debating on getting some lime to put down before I add more sand.

 

[Big Chicken Little]

Pelleted lime works just fine and is so much cheaper than the special products. Lime heavy, use a hand cultivator to turn in some, water and run..... it will smell for a few days until the lime begins to work

 

[SunAngel]

Is Lime safe to use around the chickens?

 

[PhlyinPheBee]

THANKS for all the ideas. It has been raining soooo very much. I did not realize how that would make the smell become to very strong. I have the Sweet PDZ but I have only put it out 2 times. I will be trying the other ideas. I want to have a nicer smelling yard than it is now. Where there is grass it does not smell. Only where there is none.

 

[PhlyinPheBee]

I cleaned out the chicken house and got the stall dry. I will see how this works!!!!! Thanks again.

 

[Shesapip]

SunAngel wrote

Is Lime safe to use around the chickens?

Yes, it is actually calcium and quite benign. My grandpa used to use it on his lawn all the time to take away dog potty smells.

I am going to use my chicken tractor prototype to section off bits of ground where I will plant some grass seed. I smell chicken poo all the time, on my clothes and in my hair, and it is driving me crazy!

Next I'll invest in fragrant plants and put them on the outer borders of the chicken area.

I even spray my coop with Lysol after I clean it and it doesn't help for long. I put the bedding down after I spray, so I'm thinking it's not toxic......​

 

[Twiggy411]

Believe it or not, I actually pick up the poop in the chicken area once a day. I live in the city and have 1/3 of a fenced in area of the yard around my chicken coop. This is where my three chickens will stay. I realized I could not just spray or rinse the poop away each day, so I put on a double layer of disposable gloves and started picking up the poop. It takes about 5 or 10 minutes and is worth the time. After picking up all the poop that I can see i sometimes put it directly in the adjoining raised garden bed. I will give the area a spray with the power hose. I have 3 smaller dogs, and I certainly pick up after them every day too. Anyway, this is a good way to manage the poop in the yard if done every day.

 

[Crazy4mypeeps]

I've been using ashes from our fireplace, but I'm quickly running out. It seems to dry things a bit and the charcoal bits seem to absorb the odor some. I even sprinkled some ashes in the coop to dry out the droppings. We burn for heat in the winter, so I'm going to get a metal trash can to save the ashes in for this very purpose.

 

[seminolewind]

I've used stall dry, sweet pdz , and lime, and the lime is the most cost efficient. I even lime my horse paddocks.