food odor

[beeksnfeet]

Recently moved our 5 girls out side and they love it. All are 12 weeks old, 3 buff orps and 2 white plymouth rocks, They are still on the chick starter and get fruits/veggies, oatmeal, stale bread etc. as treats daily. I just started using DE and thought that would help with the mystery odor I am getting from the coop/run area. It's not bad, just strange. A friend recently visited & said the smell reminded her of puppy food. When I mentioned the chick starter to her, it seemed to make sense. Puppy food smells kinda stange too. We were one of the hard hit areas for flooding this past spring, but were spared that unfortunate circumstance. It has rained for days on end every week since April and now temps are at 90. I think the moisture from the humidity might be causing the odor. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this happen, or do I just happen to have a sensitive schnoz? :/

 

[GuppyTJ]

First, you probably want to move them to grower food at some point soon. At about 10 weeks, you take them off the 20% protein starter food and move them to the 16% grower food. Check your local feed store or Tractor Supply or whatever you have in your area and they should have these different options.

In terms of the weird puppy food smell, have you cleaned out the coop really well lately? I would suspect there's food under the litter. Chicks are messy and depending on what type of feeder you have, they can spill an amazing amount of food out of the feeder into the litter. They flick it with their beaks and will try to climb in it to scratch it given the chance. I made my own feeder to prevent all this and hang it at chest level so they can't spill any. Truly, they spill zero feed. I hate wasting money so this method works for me.

Hope this helps,
Guppy

 

[beeksnfeet]

First, you probably want to move them to grower food at some point soon.  At about 10 weeks, you take them off the 20% protein starter food and move them to the 16% grower food.  Check your local feed store or Tractor Supply or whatever you have in your area and they should have these different options.

In terms of the weird puppy food smell, have you cleaned out the coop really well lately?  I would suspect there's food under the litter.  Chicks are messy and depending on what type of feeder you have, they can spill an amazing amount of food out of the feeder into the litter. They flick it with their beaks and will try to climb in it to scratch it given the chance. I made my own feeder to prevent all this and hang it at chest level so they can't spill any.  Truly, they spill zero feed.  I hate wasting money so this method works for me.

Hope this helps,
Guppy

 

Hope I haven't been hurting them by using chick feed. They lady at the feed store said they should be on it until they go to layer feed. I will get some this weekend. I clean the coop weekly. I wipe it down with vinegar and I use pine shavings and just started using DE. There is also ACV mixed with the water. We have a home made feeder. It consists of a PVC pipe with a 'dish' (actually a PVC cap) connected to the bottom. We load it from the top and it self fills the dish. It works really well. They hardly ever waste any. I hate wasting money too. Thanks for your reply!

 

[GuppyTJ]

Being on starter 20% protein feed won't hurt them. They just don't need all that protein and you're paying a little more for it. Plus, that much protein causes them to continue to grow too fast, which can cause them to lay earlier. Laying early may seem like a good thing but when that happens, they then lay smaller eggs and don't lay as well for some reason. Not a big deal, most of this is just guidelines anyway, not really hard and fast rules. For example, I ran out of starter feed at 8 weeks so just switched my chicks then to grower food.

There is one feed thing you do want to avoid and that's giving layer food to chicks. Layer feed contains too much calcium and chicks can't process it at that age. It will damage their liver and cause major problems. So, if you ever have a mixed flock with chicks and adult chickens, the experienced people recommend feeding them all starter and then grower feed and adding oyster shell for calcium on the side for the adults to eat. The adults need the calcium to make the egg shells for the eggs they lay.

Not sure what that "puppy food" spell is, then, if you cleaned the coop and still smell it right after. One thing... I had 10 chicks 10 weeks old and then brought in an additional 6 chicks that were 8 weeks old. The new chicks smelled different, a little like puppy food maybe? The new chicks came from a hatchery which I visited to pick them up. There were maybe 1000 chicks of different ages there so a pretty high concentration of them in one place. So, the new chicks smelled strongly of, I guess, chicken! Eventually, the new chicks lost that weird smell and now all 16 chicks smell the same and much less strongly. Not sure if this is helpful but it made me think... how confined are your chicks? My 16 chicks free range completely and have a 10 x 14 coop which I clean the coop of droppings every morning. I also turn their straw with a pitch fork daily as well. So, there's only a very faint smell of chicken and it's a pretty clean smell.

Hope this helps,
Guppy

 

[beeksnfeet]

Being on starter 20% protein feed won't hurt them.  They just don't need all that protein and you're paying a little more for it.  Plus, that much protein causes them to continue to grow too fast, which can cause them to lay earlier.  Laying early may seem like a good thing but when that happens, they then lay smaller eggs and don't lay as well for some reason.  Not a big deal, most of this is just guidelines anyway, not really hard and fast rules.  For example, I ran out of starter feed at 8 weeks so just switched my chicks then to grower food.

There is one feed thing you do want to avoid and that's giving layer food to chicks.  Layer feed contains too much calcium and chicks can't process it at that age.  It will damage their liver and cause major problems.  So, if you ever have a mixed flock with chicks and adult chickens, the experienced people recommend feeding them all starter and then grower feed and adding oyster shell for calcium on the side for the adults to eat.  The adults need the calcium to make the egg shells for the eggs they lay.

Not sure what that "puppy food" spell is, then, if you cleaned the coop and still smell it right after.  One thing... I had 10 chicks 10 weeks old and then brought in an additional 6 chicks that were 8 weeks old.  The new chicks smelled different, a little like puppy food maybe?  The new chicks came from a hatchery which I visited to pick them up.  There were maybe 1000 chicks of different ages there so a pretty high concentration of them in one place.  So, the new chicks smelled strongly of, I guess, chicken!  Eventually, the new chicks lost that weird smell and now all 16 chicks smell the same and much less strongly.  Not sure if this is helpful but it made me think... how confined are your chicks?  My 16 chicks free range completely and have a 10 x 14 coop which I clean the coop of droppings every morning. I also turn their straw with a pitch fork daily as well. So, there's only a very faint smell of chicken and it's a pretty clean smell.

Hope this helps,
Guppy

 

Maybe I'm just nuts.....I have been told that before. But I do agree with you about the chicken type smell. Maybe that's what it was, especially with the dampness we have been having the past month or so. We have 5 chickens in a 3x4' coop (not counting 2 nesting boxes), along with an 8x8' run. They are set up in the "Back of the Shed" neighborhood. The odor was not as strong today, and we haven't had any rain in nearly 24 hours. I do hold them and pet them just about everyday and my clothing does not smell after I have my time with them. Could be I'm just not used to that smell and that it will take time for me to adjust. Time will tell.

One more question if you don't mind about the food. I have about 1/3 of a 40lb bag of starter feed left. Do you think I should buy the grower and just mix the two or finish off the starter then get the other? Not sure when they will start laying, but I was told most do between 16 & 20 weeks. That gives me anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks of feeding before I start the layer feed. I'd appreciate your suggestions.

 

[GuppyTJ]

About the coop and the dampness... does it have good drainage? Chickens and dampness are not a great combination. Not sure what the floor of your coop is made of and what litter you're using and how much ventilation you have. The reason dampness is not good is in the summer, it causes mold, which can lead to coccidiosis, plus other things. In the winter, dampness combined with cold can contribute to frostbite. There are some good posts on improving drainage on this website and how to determine if you have good ventilation without drafts. I just saw a good one Ridgerunner wrote about drainage.

I have one area of my coop that when it rains, the dirt gets a little moist. I turn it with a pitchfork to help it dry. I got a little mold in that area under a hanging feeder so I scraped off the mold and then move the feeder to a dry place. I use straw as my litter and I turn it with a pitchfork every day, to make sure it stays dry and to help the chicken poo decompose. A lot of people do the deep litter method. I may try this at some point but for now, I use poo trays under my roost and clean them daily, putting the poo in my compost pile.

I also just installed some rain gutters on another part of my barn that is not right next to the coop but is connected to it. The moisture on that side of the barn wasl funneling air moisture into my coop. I got some free gutter from a friend who has a siding business and put them on yesterday. I then dug a 1 foot deep by about 30 foot long ditch to move the water from the downspout away from the barn. I share this mostly to say that it seems like there is always something we can do to improve things.

In terms of your feed... I'd probably just finish out the 1/3 bag of starter feed and see how far that gets you in terms of how old they are when they're done eating it. You're right, they start laying as early as 16 weeks, usually between 18 and 20 weeks and some later than that. You might be able to just skip the grower and go to the layer when it's time.

Guppy

 

[beeksnfeet]

Plenty of ventilation in the coop. One whole wall is screened doors, with covers to be applied as the weather changes. There are two vents along the top and bottom of the opposite wall, top vents on the other two walls along with the coop door which is always open, except for night. The run is all hardware cloth and beems. This whole unit was built so it would fit behind the shed on one side and privacy fencing on the other two side, to protect them from winter winds and critters. The run is just dirt, but I am seriously thinking of pea gravel or sand. Under the coop the dirt is dry and they like to bath under there. I had put some sand in that space also and they seem to like it. I do throw some shavings on the dirt. I am starting to loosen up the dirt/mud because it is driving me nuts. They don't scratch much at whatever I put down for them. So far no mold anywhere. I clean out our homemade waterers (PVC & water nipples) with vinegar I use pine shavings in the coop with DE sprinkled lightly and clean it with vinegar. I have a poop board covered with pine shavings also, so I do not clean it daily, but usually once a week. We have had so much rain that I have never had to clean the run as any poop has been washed away. The bottom of the run has been secured with cyclone fencing attached to the beem work and then cover with dirt. It has been put into the ground so nothing can try to get in. All rain water flows away from the area.

I wish I could let them free range, but it is not an option. They seem to be thriving and are always happy to see me, so I hope I am doing them right. Thanks for all your help. I really do appreciate it. Oh, and by the way, the bottom of the coop is wood covered with linolium. Works great!

Thanks again,

Beeksnfeet

 

[GuppyTJ]

Well... that all sounds very nice to me! I'd be happy if I were a chicken to live at your place! Great luck to you, nice "talking" to you.

Guppy