dried poo that has gotten wet?

[frog522]

There doesn't seem to be an appropriate category for this question, but does dried chicken poo that has come into contact, stink?

Chicken poo stinks (I'm still learning to love my little stinkers). We all know fresh chicken poo stinks (especially the wet kind

) but eventually dries up. Does dried poo stink after awhile after coming into contact with water?

Sorry for the very gross question. I am just curious because my girls "free range" for about 2 hours in the backyard everyday and I don't always get around to cleaning it up everyday.

 

[MakNugget]

Yes and no. How's that for a non-answer?

I have deep litter in my coop, and the only poop that stinks are the ones that are fresh. I can tell by the smell if there was a bit of water spill on the bedding/poo, but it's not the same stink. I think this is due to the ammonia already having evaporated once dried.

Now, if the poo is wet and is being composted, it can/will stink, bad. The poo is nitrogen rich, and will produce insane amounts of ammonia as it breaks down. I made a mistake when I started to compost my deep litter from my brooder in my tumbler composter. Sometimes it's hard to gauge how wet the mixture is, trying to get it to the squeezed wet sponge consistency. Well, it ended up being too much water for the high nitrogen/carbon ratio and the following heat wave set off an amazing ammonia factory. The only blessing was that the wind was blowing into our yard instead of the neighbors

Good thing it only lasted a couple days before it contained itself.

*edit*
I didn't really answer your question regarding free ranging. Mine are confined in a sandy run for a few hours a day and I have a feeling since the poo would be distributed, it would just break down on its own. The run gets regular watering from misters or spray downs with the hose and there is very little smell at all.