jbltecnicspro
Hatching
- Aug 30, 2021
- 2
- 6
- 4
Good evening all,
First time chicken owner and first time poster. Can't wait to be involved here. As the title suggests, I've been fighting an ammonia smell in our coop for about a month now. It's not very strong but it's there, and I need to figure out how to get rid of it.
As a coop, we're using half of an old tool shed. The tool shed itself is 10x12 feet, and half of it is partitioned off as a coop for 15 Buff Orpington pullets. Total area of the coop portion is 10 x 6 feet, giving 60 sq ft of space. The nest boxes rest inside the coop but are high enough off the floor so that some of the chickens go under.
During the day, I leave the two front doors to the shed fully open. In addition to leaving the doors open, I have about 13 sq feet of ventilation. I plan on adding more ventilation so that when I close the doors I have enough. But right now, I just leave the doors open, exposing (more or less) the north wall to open air.
Beginning in May, after I put the chickens in the coop, I have been doing deep bedding with pine shavings. No poo boards, just mainly stirring the litter every week until recently when it starting smelling. The smell that I'm smelling is ammonia, I'm pretty sure. It's never strong enough to be offensive, but it's definitely there. For the first couple of months, I had hardly any ventilation in the coop. And since then I've cut out portions of the walls (and covered them with hardware cloth) so that there's about 13 sq ft of ventillation. So far the ventilation that I've cut out is only where the chicken's partition is. I probably (realistically) have another two sq ft left until I run out of reasonable room to cut ventilation for them. If I cut away the walls for ventilation where the tools are, then I figure I can add another six sq ft of ventilation.
During the day, I'd say bout 75% of the time, if you go in you don't smell any ammonia. The smell is usually only present right after I stir the bedding or if the chickens are all in there and scratching away at their bedding. Is this normal?
Yeah... For some reason, even though I have half-shaded run (50% shaded, 50% sun - their run is 16 x 12 ft), they still like to go in the coop during the day and hang around until late afternoon, when the sun is over the trees. Also, there are times where if I first walk into the shed, I smell ammonia. But then if I go into their area and stand there and crouch down, I smell nothing. I'm wondering if the fact that only half of my shed is ventilated is making it so that pockets full of air containing ammonia are lingering where they shouldn't be?
Anyways - I plan on adding the additional ventilation around the other parts of the shed that aren't the "coop." Was just wondering if I'm on the right track here, or if I need to be checking other things out first. Thanks! And I look forward to being on this forum.
PS - one of my hens has started laying. She's only laid three eggs though, but we've only had the chickens for 19 weeks now. I guess I also need to start a "what breed is this" thread too because my Buff Orpingtons look a little too dark brown. But that could also be what I get for getting my chicks at the feed store.
First time chicken owner and first time poster. Can't wait to be involved here. As the title suggests, I've been fighting an ammonia smell in our coop for about a month now. It's not very strong but it's there, and I need to figure out how to get rid of it.
As a coop, we're using half of an old tool shed. The tool shed itself is 10x12 feet, and half of it is partitioned off as a coop for 15 Buff Orpington pullets. Total area of the coop portion is 10 x 6 feet, giving 60 sq ft of space. The nest boxes rest inside the coop but are high enough off the floor so that some of the chickens go under.
During the day, I leave the two front doors to the shed fully open. In addition to leaving the doors open, I have about 13 sq feet of ventilation. I plan on adding more ventilation so that when I close the doors I have enough. But right now, I just leave the doors open, exposing (more or less) the north wall to open air.
Beginning in May, after I put the chickens in the coop, I have been doing deep bedding with pine shavings. No poo boards, just mainly stirring the litter every week until recently when it starting smelling. The smell that I'm smelling is ammonia, I'm pretty sure. It's never strong enough to be offensive, but it's definitely there. For the first couple of months, I had hardly any ventilation in the coop. And since then I've cut out portions of the walls (and covered them with hardware cloth) so that there's about 13 sq ft of ventillation. So far the ventilation that I've cut out is only where the chicken's partition is. I probably (realistically) have another two sq ft left until I run out of reasonable room to cut ventilation for them. If I cut away the walls for ventilation where the tools are, then I figure I can add another six sq ft of ventilation.
During the day, I'd say bout 75% of the time, if you go in you don't smell any ammonia. The smell is usually only present right after I stir the bedding or if the chickens are all in there and scratching away at their bedding. Is this normal?
Yeah... For some reason, even though I have half-shaded run (50% shaded, 50% sun - their run is 16 x 12 ft), they still like to go in the coop during the day and hang around until late afternoon, when the sun is over the trees. Also, there are times where if I first walk into the shed, I smell ammonia. But then if I go into their area and stand there and crouch down, I smell nothing. I'm wondering if the fact that only half of my shed is ventilated is making it so that pockets full of air containing ammonia are lingering where they shouldn't be?
Anyways - I plan on adding the additional ventilation around the other parts of the shed that aren't the "coop." Was just wondering if I'm on the right track here, or if I need to be checking other things out first. Thanks! And I look forward to being on this forum.
PS - one of my hens has started laying. She's only laid three eggs though, but we've only had the chickens for 19 weeks now. I guess I also need to start a "what breed is this" thread too because my Buff Orpingtons look a little too dark brown. But that could also be what I get for getting my chicks at the feed store.
