Coop smells like Ammonia?

[Ridgerunner]

 
It is 4 ft wide by 10 ft long, so 14 sq ft. I have a enclosed, attached run. I use sand and I sprinkled in a bag of pdz. I just don't understand why all of a sudden it smells. two days ago it was fine.

Don't know where you are but is it warmer today? It's been so cold here we've had frozen poop for about the last month and there's been no odor. The last two days it has warmed up and the poop has thawed.

Yep, I added pine shavings today, too!! 

Real good point. Frozen poop does not give off moisture or ammonia. Thawing poop does. I don’t know if it applies here but real good point.

Ammonia is lighter than air. You need ventilation at the top of the coop to let it out. Also good ventilation helps the bedding dry out.

Dry poop does not cause an ammonia smell. Wet poop does. For some reason you have wet poop in there. Even scooping it every day bits and pieces are going to fall off and mix with your sand. For some reason your sand is wet. Maybe it thawed or maybe some moisture got in there. Another common cause is that the poop builds up fairly thick and doesn’t dry out, but that doesn’t sound like your problem the way you are managing that.

4 x 10 is actually 40 square feet, not 14. I don’t believe in magic number for how much space chickens need since we keep them in so many different conditions. If they have good access to their run that’s probably not too many for that space, but the more crowded they are the more you have to manage the poop.

The ways you manage the ammonia is ventilation, which you say you have, manage the amount of poop which it sounds like you are doing, and figure out what is wet and why and then correct that.

A trick to get the chickens to help you turn that sand and help it dry out is to throw some corn or such treats on the sand. They’ll scratch like crazy to find those treats.

Good luck!

 

[lazy gardener]

How thick is the sand in the coop?

 

[donrae]

I opened my coop this am to a strong ammonia smell, also, pretty much out of the blue. Found a leak in the roof

. fixed that, and now I'll be spending the afternoon cleaning out the coop. It probably needed cleaning anyway, I'm honestly not sure if it got cleaned out in 2013 or not. I've been needing to do some work on my nest box arrangement anyway, this will be a good chance to get everything how I want it!

 

[birdlady79]

If you used just Sweet PDZ, I doubtif you would have the ammonia smell, but since you are using sand, the liquid or uric acid part of the poo is probably seeping down into the sand crezating the odor. The ammonia odor can irritate eyes and start them coughing, so I would either change it out to just PDZ, or change to pineshavings. I used just PDZ for a year with a large poop board under my roosts, and never had the odor. The poops along with the liquid just scoops out, then you add toit as needed.

I went out tonight and coop smelled like ammonia. Rained yesterday and got sand wet... I scooped out the wet...I hate pine shavings, I really like sand.... Im going to dump all of old sand tomorrow .. After I dump old sand and clean is it ok to add new sand? Or will it still smell? I can't find sweet Pdz .. I have quite a few windows vents open back so im not sure it's a ventilation problem. If I continue to use sand, do I need to just change it out more often?

 

[Cacique500]

Try tractor supply for the PDZ (Horse Stall Refresher)...if they don't have it in stock they can order it. Not sure in W. TN where you are but a google map pulled up a bunch of TSC stores in the western part of the state. We use PDZ only in our coop and in 2 of our 3 run sections...last run section exposed to the elements is sand. Great stuff and makes cleaning the coop/run VERY easy.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/tractor+supply+in+tennessee/@36.0070814,-87.4975161,7z


http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/sweet-pdzreg;-stall-refresher-25-lb?cm_vc=-10005

 

[birdlady79]

Try tractor supply for the PDZ (Horse Stall Refresher)...if they don't have it in stock they can order it.  Not sure in W. TN where you are but a google map pulled up a bunch of TSC stores in the western part of the state.  We use PDZ only in our coop and in 2 of our 3 run sections...last run section exposed to the elements is sand.  Great stuff and makes cleaning the coop/run VERY easy.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/tractor+supply+in+tennessee/@36.0070814,-87.4975161,7z


http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/sweet-pdzreg;-stall-refresher-25-lb?cm_vc=-10005

Thank you!! I don't think ours have it but I'll have them order it.... So you just use that instead of sand? I have a tractor so I don't put anything in run.... They free range all day.. They only go in coop to lay and roost...

1 more question.... I'm fixing to clean out coop completely and spray n what's not..... I have plenty of open vents and windows so rain does get inside..... I used exterior paint from SWilliams on outside.... Can I paint inside to help prevent mold from forming??

 

[Cacique500]

Thank you!! I don't think ours have it but I'll have them order it.... So you just use that instead of sand? I have a tractor so I don't put anything in run.... They free range all day.. They only go in coop to lay and roost...

1 more question.... I'm fixing to clean out coop completely and spray n what's not..... I have plenty of open vents and windows so rain does get inside..... I used exterior paint from SWilliams on outside.... Can I paint inside to help prevent mold from forming??

Yes...I use it in the coop and the covered portions of the run where rain mostly won't get to it. I use river sand in the last 4 feet of the coop that gets hit with rain. I use a large metal stir fry strainer (with a fairly fine mesh) and a long handle (4 feet) to scoop out the poop once a week and it works like a charm. The poop dries out very quickly when it hits the pdz and there is zero smell. Also seems to keep the flies down in the coop.

On the paint....I'm not sure. I know mine will eat anything (especially silicone) if I don't keep it out of reach. My first thought was paint chips...but maybe someone with more experience or a setup closer to yours might be able to chime in. My coop has a 4" tall 1/2" hardware cloth/14 gauge wire (2 layers) all around the top near the roof for ventilation. I do get some rain in, but it dries fairly quickly unless it's a real bad downpour.

 

[birdlady79]

Yes...I use it in the coop and the covered portions of the run where rain mostly won't get to it.  I use river sand in the last 4 feet of the coop that gets hit with rain.  I use a large metal stir fry strainer (with a fairly fine mesh) and a long handle (4 feet) to scoop out the poop once a week and it works like a charm.  The poop dries out very quickly when it hits the pdz and there is zero smell.  Also seems to keep the flies down in the coop.

On the paint....I'm not sure.  I know mine will eat anything (especially silicone) if I don't keep it out of reach.  My first thought was paint chips...but maybe someone with more experience or a setup closer to yours might be able to chime in.  My coop has a 4" tall 1/2" hardware cloth/14 gauge wire (2 layers) all around the top near the roof for ventilation.  I do get some rain in, but it dries fairly quickly unless it's a real bad downpour.

Thank you, do you use the powdered or granual? I found both at my LFS....

 

[Cacique500]

I think I have the granule version...they're about the size of cream of wheat

 

[birdlady79]

I think I have the granule version...they're about the size of cream of wheat 

Ok great thx.