Have you ever smelled your chickens?

[Tomhusker]

I honestly do not know what my chickens smell like...... tonight. I imagine tomorrow my wife will be rolling her eyes at me when she sees me holding a chicken and burying my face in it's neck.

ETA: Regarding deep litter method, I have a wood floor in my coop and use DLM. It works for me, but I admit I mix the shavings a couple of times a week. Not because it needs it, I just like working around the coop. I haven't changed the shavings since we added the addition on a few months ago.

 

[Chicklette 1]

Years ago, my daughter told me the dog's feet smelled like Fritos. I like the smell of their paws but did not relate it to Fritos and now many, many, years later, I am hearing from other people that they get the same thing!! Only on a BYC forum!! I have never had a bad odor in the coop or pen and I do clean it on a daily basis, eliminating as much of the droppings as I can but I am going out soon and actually smell a chicken close up and personal. I hold them all the time but never really buried my nose in them. I enjoy just being around them when I clean the coop so I get my fix and they get a clean coop. I do use the deep pine shaving method and it is easy for me to maintain.

 

[cutechick2010]

I have smelled my chickens plenty of times too, LOL. Something like 12-15 years ago when I got my first chickens for 4-H, I snuggled and held them all the time, especially the baby chicks. My mother and I agreed when we got our first order of baby chicks that there is nothing like that "new chick" smell, ROFL!
Something that I think someone mentioned earlier in this thread, is that if you can a lot of time tell if your birds are ill or mite infested by their smell. I know if I have one that isn't acting right, I can sniff around the beak and face and if they are having respiratory issues there will be a very bad smell to their faces. And if they do actually smell dirty, they usually have bugs.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Ok, I had to capture one of my bantams when she got out of the run today, so while I was holding her I took a sniff. Smelled like chicken.

 

[new chick 203]

Quote:
Where do you get your chaff? I just contacted a roaster here in NH (organic & free trade... bonus!

) and fingers crossed that they can supply us with coffee chaff for our coops!

We found a local roaster. It took a couple of calls to find one. I'd love to tell you more, but I don't want to highjack the thread. fell free to PM me if you like.

 

[chooniecat]

The actual chickens smell OK(yes,I've sniffed them!) but their house has gotten nasty even though they're only in there half the day. just added 6 girls to 19 others and it WILL need picking everyday. Just like my horses have a sweet smell no matter what but if they were stalled-ohhhhhohh-it gets nasty quick. so you can hold the chickens without fear of smell(unless they go of course) but I don't roll around their shed (often).(In fairness to the chickens I just remembered my 2 pekin ducks are housed in there at night now also and they HAVE to be the new stink, altho they themselves smell OK they have horried poo)

 

[chickiemommy]

All of my chickens smell good except my 2 and a half month old partridge cochin bantam. I don't know if it is her breath but there is a sour odor around her neck and head area. As a newer chicken owner, it has me puzzled. They have a clean coop, plenty of water, and access to dirt/dust. Any guesses?

 

[Mrsfoote]

Quote:
I totally understand you my husband thus my mother in law are full and i do mean full Native american...Northern Cheyenne...and for some reason she always knows when someone is sick or getting sick says they "smell" sick

But I do love the way my chickens smell...just as my husband always smells me and my kids says if they blind folded him and lined up a bunch of different women he knows how my skin smells...weirdo.

 

[chicksbestfriend]

Quote:
Yep...I agree! I love the smell of horses, cows and my chickens. We are a strange and wonderful group! (or maybe it's the REST of the world that is "strange"!!!)

What smell are you all talking about? I dont smell anything unusual or different until the people come, then we are talking about some funky smells! Chickens, cows, horses, ducks and pigs all smell wonderful and natural to me, its that fresh country air that you all must be talking about! Yah, the smell of nature at its best.

 

[dlgd]

I have ALWAYS loved the smell of my girls! I think they smell of Cheerios My little cockerals smell a bit different though, not bad, just different. I clean my coop often, esp. since it's a smaller type. I do have a Polish hen that has fought gangrene feet and lost most of her toes. She's still fighting swelling, but doing a lot better. However, she has a hard time keeping as clean as the other birds and she can't roost, so I have to keep her and her "nest" a lot cleaner than the others. HOWEVER! My grandson's birds live in a place that's rarely cleaned. It's a large coop house and smallish run, AND we're fighting MICE! (ugg!) They don't smell a fresh as my birds...
My grandson is always telling me I smell like chickens. I ask him if it's a bad thing and he says, no, just like chickens...oh well. Hope other people think I smell like Cheerios too!