Do chicken coops smell?

[Paige Sellars]

I live down in Florida and down here everything is hot all the time. I want to know if that will effect the smell of the coop. I don't want it stinking up the whole neighborhood!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Welcome. Chicken poop does smell. If you keep things clean there isn't much of an odor, but if you let poop pile up it will get stinky.

Also chickens will compact the ground in a run if it isn't big enough, and the ground could get smelly, doing deep litter in the run, or rotating runs are two options to keep the smell down.

 

[cmom]

Coops don't have to stink. I have a lot of birds and once in awhile someone will want to see the chickens because I sell eggs. Often times they remark that the birds, coops, etc., don't stink. I do clean them out but not every day. I sprinkle DE around in the coops, the poop pits, in their nest boxes and sometimes in their feed (food grade).

 

[Pork Pie]

Its really a case of the size of the coop, the number of birds therein and the type of litter that one uses (or a poop board), along with the frequency of coop cleaning. Ventilation is also a factor, and I'd imagine that in Florida, that would have to be considerable.

I use a shed as a coop and use about 6-10" of dried grass clippings - no smell and only needs to be raked over once a day (taking about 30 seconds). If you search for "using poop boards" and "coop litter" I'm sure that you will get other ideas.

ETA: The two above posts snook in while I was typing

 

[cmom]

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

As noted above, they *can* smell, in fact they can put forth a horrific stench, but they don't have to and can easily be managed to be stink free. Like @cmom I, too, have had many people remark on the lack of odor when they visit my birds - always in a surprised way. I use deep litter for my run, deep bedding in my coop and a poop board with PDZ under the roost. One misconception is that to have a stink-free coop you have to do constant management/upkeep, but with the approach I use there is actually very little time spent actually cleaning or maintaining the coop.

 

[CiceroXY]

I also use deep bedding in my coop (scented and dedusted shavings)
However in my opinion ventilation is the key word

 

[Nupe]

Being in Florida, I would say the key word for you is DRY. Wet poo is stinky poo. As suggested, a deep litter in the coop as well as good drainage for the run and you should be fine. Keeping your run covered will help and the chickens will thank you for the shade. Its pretty wet here in North GA so I keep about 6" of pine shavings in the coop. The run is covered with a tarp and since the chickens free range most of the day, I don't do much with the run unless I rake up grass clippings or leaves. Then I spread it out in their run for them to scratch around. In the winter sometimes I'll spread out a few pine shavings or anything free I can scrounge up like broken hay bales at the feed store or free mulch offered by the county.

 

[aart]

(scented and dedusted shavings)

Scented with what?

Being in Florida, I would say the key word for you is DRY.

Anywhere actually.
Moisture is the 'enemy'...wet and poopy bedding/ground is going to reek.
Humid air always brings up the odors.

I don't want it stinking up the whole neighborhood!!

Welcome to BYC @Paige Sellars!
Putting your coop where the ground drains well, rather than puddles after a rain, would be the best first step.
Large roof overhangs on coop and maybe run, will help keep things drier and provide shade too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I totally agree, wet poop stinks, dry poop does not. With dry poop you can get a smell, but it's sort of an earthy smell, not at all unpleasant to me. If the poop stays wet for a few days it can stink to high heaven.

It's like a compost pile. If you keep a compost pile slightly damp but not wet the aerobic bacteria thrive and break the compost down. If the compost stays wet very long it drives the air out and the anaerobic bacteria take over. These create a strong stink.

I don't know what your coop will look like, but the most important thing about smell management is location. The coop/run need to be where water drains away from it. If water drains to the coop/run and stands you will have problems no matter what bedding you use.

My coop is on the ground. I added a little dirt to the coop floor to keep water from entering and built a berm/swale on the upslope side of the coop and run to keep water from running in. With my ventilation some rain or snow can blow in from a certain direction but with my ventilation that dries out fairly fast. I clean the bedding out of my coop in the fall once every three or four years, not because I have to but because I want that on my garden. Some people clean it out weekly.

My main run is mostly covered but rain and snow can blow in from the sides. Chickens poop wherever they are so my run has poop in it. When the weather sets in wet the run can stay wet for a while, I can occasionally get a whiff. But it's also set up where it drains fairly well, it really doesn't get that bad.

Another thing I have working for me is that I have a large area inside electric netting, they do a lot of their pooping out there. The smaller space the chickens are in, the higher the chicken concentration, the more the poop builds up. Poop build-up can greatly contribute to stink. That's another reason to not shoehorn the maximum number of chickens into your space but give them extra room. You don't have to work as hard on poop management.

I also use a droppings board in the coop under the roosts. Chickens spend a fair amount of time on the roosts and they continue to poop even at night. Since they are not moving around that poop can build up pretty quickly. When poop builds up and gets thick it can hold in moisture and be wet enough to stink. A droppings board helps you get extra poop out of the coop and can greatly extend the time between coop clean-outs. There are all kinds of ways to do droppings boards, it might be worth doing some research on some of them if you decide to go that route. Some people clean theirs daily, I don't. If I have a high number of chickens using the roosts and the weather is wet I may need to scrape every week. With a small number of chickens and dry weather I've gone over a month. If it ever starts to stink I've waited too long. Those scrapings are great for my compost pile.

Chickens don't have to stink. The key is keeping the area dry and don't let the poop build up too thick. Good luck and welcome to the adventure.