Drying Agents in Coop - a comparison

[kateseidel]

One of my horse magazines recently did a review of stall-dry products, which I also use in my coop. I looked up poultry safe indicators and composting. I have personally always used Stall Dry, but Tractor Supply was out, so I will be doing a test of SweetPDZ now. But I am very tempted to get the liquid and try it as deodorizer.

Product - Odor-No-More
Website - www.odornomore.com
Cost per day - $1.33 / day
Ingredients - acrylic acid polymer, sodium salt, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, pine shavings, Cupridyne (GRAS)
Safe for poultry - No - "Not intended for use with poultry. "
Composting - Yes
Other Comments - Despite saying "eco-friendly and non-toxic" bag carries a warning about poultry. The micro-nutrients used, are supplied as feed supplements to humans and animals. The super absorbents are environmentally friendly and non-toxic degrading to inert ingredients that become part of the soils hummus fraction. Dry. This is a tan flaky powder, odor was clearly reduced, works by absorbing the liquid then reducing the odor inside the flakes. Product composts well. Safe for human and animal consumption. CupriDuyne is used in other products like kitty litter and wound dressings.

Product - Stall Fresh
Website - www.stallfresh.com
Cost per day - .37-.74 / day
Ingredients - Montmorillonite Clay, Seaweed Concentrates, Vegetal Absorbents, Alginates, Essential Oils
Safe for poultry - Yes
Composting - Yes
Other Comments - Dry. Light brown powder, faint pleasant scent.

Product - Bye Bye Odor
Website - www.spalding-labs.com
Cost per day - .06 / day
Ingredients - contains microbes developed to consume nitrogen, protein and starches
Safe for poultry - Yes
Composting - N/A
Other Comments - Liquid. Although it takes a couple of days to notice the difference, we became nearly addicted to using this spray. It has a fresh natural scene that is not strong enough to be a cover-up. We applied a light mist (using a garden sprayer) to anything we wanted to deodroze

Product - Stall Dry
Website - www.wicp.com
Cost per day - .75 - 1.50 / day
Ingredients - Diatomacesous earth (DE) and montmorillonite clay
Safe for poultry - Yes
Composting - Yes
Other Comments - Dry. Absorbs moisture, may build up.

Product - Stall Powder
Website - www.kaeco.com
Cost per day - .28 / day
Ingredients - Calcium carbonate, verxite granules, ferrous complex, proprietary saponins, DE, methyl saliylate.
Safe for poultry - Unknown
Composting - Completely Biodegradable; Non-Toxic – Environmentally Safe
Other Comments - Dry. Fine, gray powder, long-lasting, strong, pleastant mint-like scent. Low airborned dust. Low moisture absorbancy compared to others, but very good odor control.

Product - Sweet PDZ
Website - www.sweetpdz.com
Cost per day - .37 - .57 / day
Ingredients - clinoptilolite clay (zeolite)
Safe for poultry - Yes
Composting - Yes
Other Comments - Dry. Available as a granular form and a pellet. Odorless. Not as wat-absorbent as some other choices but the odor control is excellent. Low to no dust with granular form.

 

[henney penny]

I have used sweet pdz for two years now and I like it very much.I use the granular on my poop boards under the roosts and scoop them every day with a kitty litter scooper.I also put it on the shavings in the winter when the condensation is a problem and it helps.I didn`t know they made a pellet but I got the powder stuff once by accident and did not like that.

 

[Schultz]

PDZ works for us. I used StallDry until TSC stopped carrying it. Since StallDry's main ingredient is DE I use it in addition to the PDZ. The combination of the two mixed in the pine shavings in the coop has worked really well for the odor control and bug control. PDZ converts ammonia into nitrogen and helps to dry out the bedding, DE is great for the bug control and also helps to dry out the bedding as well.
Oh, forgot to mention that the PDZ is also a great additive to cat litter if you have indoor cats! Way better than anything else we have used. I hardly ever smell the cat box anymore.

 

[elmo]

If there is odor or condensation in a coop, isn't that an indication that more ventilation is needed? I'd be concerned that using a deodorizer is just covering up rather than solving a problem.

 

[Schultz]

I know that with our coop ventalation is not a problem and yes is does still get a little stinky if I don't use something to help dry up the shavings under the roosts as I choose not to use the poop board method. PDZ is unique in the fact that it doesn't just cover up the smell of ammonia, it converts the ammonia into nitrogen and nitrogen isn't unsafe for the chickens to be breathing.

 

[sfchickgirl]

The feed store I go to had Dry Stall and said this was good for keeping an area dry. I mistakenly thought it was the same as Stall Dry- which it is not. Dry Stall is apparently volcanic aggregate. So confusing with the names! Since I got a 2 for 1 deal because the two last bags at the store were ripped, I decided to keep them. We put two bags of it over dirt and put my coop on top and then layered with pine shavings on top. I've read it's great for muddy areas, so hopefully it's not too bad for the chickens. I've seen some of them pecking at it. (maybe it'll be like grit for them??)

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

For my largest coop (a shed), I have discovered that I don't need shavings any more! I just sprinkle sweet PDZ on the plywood floor and scrape the droppings every morning into a dust pan and remove.

What a money saver for me. Too bad it won't work for some of my other coops since some have metal pans as the floor. I have to put shavings down for fear of freezing their feet.

 

[MaKettle]

For the products like Stall Dry that contain DE....

is it ok to use these if they are not food grade?

I thought that's what we should be using. I'm very interested in this because I cannot find food grade DE in my area & having it shipped here will cost ~$55-64! I'm currently using an equine pellet bedding in my coop but never thought to see if it had DE in it. It works great--keeps everything dry & keeps the smell down. I was planning on picking up some DE for the winter because I plan to use the deep litter method...

 

[Schultz]

Quote:
The DE used in stallDry I do believe is food grade. I used it for a couple of years and didn't have any problems from it. We have a very very low sickness rate in our flocks. With low, I mean hardly ever. I'm sure if you go to StallDry's website they could tell you for sure.