Help! A stinky situation

[kennyj]

We got our hens just before last fall and have learned a lot. I thought it would be a great idea to take the old bedding (shredded pine) out of the coop every now and then and toss it down for the floor of the run. I have also given my chickens leaves from fall and grass clippings in hopes that this would all turn into awesome compost. In reality however, this has caused a smelly pile of nastiness. The rain creates too much moisture in the "compost" and it doesn't get turned over enough. I have dug down a bit and have noticed that even the leaves from fall have not composted yet.

I'm most likely going to dig out this mess and put down sand instead. I'm not sure if there are any better ideas, would stall dry work to dry up this mess?

Thanks!

 

[foreverlearning]

You either need to clean daily or go fully to the deep litter method. Get some gravel for the run and create drainage around the outside of the run so the rain goes away from the run instead of pooling inside. Also, make the run a little higher then the surrounding area. After cleaning out the run put some gravel down then fill it with sand. This will greatly increase drainage. Put down at least 4" of bedding (leaves, clippings,hay, or anything else you want to compost) to start out with. Add bedding as needed and sprinkle scratch or another dry chicken treat in the areas you want turned. You need to keep adding bedding, some people do it once a week whereas others do it daily.

 

[kennyj]

Thanks Foreverlearning... that's a great idea to create more drainage!!! Unfortunately I still need to do the dirty work to get rid of the filth... hopefully I can dry that out and add it to a compost pile.

 

[recfsh]

This is my spring project, building a new run. Here's what my sand bed looks like. Quarry calls it "Concrete Sand". They also had stone dust but it's dusty. This stuff is fine crushed gravel / stone. They seem to like it so far.

Gus

 

[foreverlearning]

Watch out if you are buying concrete sand at a hardware store in bags. I say this because the same company (quick krete) makes everything from play sand up to concrete mix and the hardware stores have them all right next to each other. Just read the bags well before you buy to make sure you are getting a sand product and not a concrete mix.

 

[kennyj]

Today I scraped all the mess out and hopefully it will compost down in the back if I keep tending to turning it. I bought some pea gravel today and put that down in the run... it's not as fine as I would have liked, but I think it has made a great improvement... it should be much easier to keep clean and dry!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, perhaps I'll still add some sand as well.