I don't see any kind of litter over the substrate at all. Seems like the dirt is absorbing the liquid from the droppings and because the ground is already saturated it can't go down very far so the droppings kinda sits on the surface and just below, adding their own 'perfume' to the mix. This will be especially true in those saturated areas you are talking about. You are so right - sour dirt has the most disgusting smell ever! You've got some anaerobic breakdown going on in that soil, and that's the first cycle you have to break.
I'd start with a couple of bags of pine shavings. Try to start with a layer at least 4 inches deep, preferably 6. They are cheap, and for a run that size it would take a few bags. But seems to me that you're going to have start somewhere, and you're going to have to do some spending to get a handle on it. Those pine shavings will wick some of that moisture up. Go with large flake pine shavings if you can - more cut surface area to wick moisture. Add in some dry leaves (I know, not easy to find in a very wet Florida). If there are some little twigs and such in the leaves, so much the better - provides little air pockets. Although it sounds contrary to add more nitrogen to an area already abundant with it from droppings, after a few days of drying from the pine shavings, some fresh cut grass clippings added on top of the pine shavings will actually help some too. You won't need a ton of those - just a bag full spread thinly on top. It will be an immediate odor improvement and they'll dig them down very quickly.
If you have power out there, running a heavy fan and blowing it directly across the worst spots when the rain finally lets up will start some surface drying for you. But bare dirt in a chicken run rarely works, so get some kind of litter in there. If you want to use sand, get the area as dry as you can (block access to that area from the chickens with a chicken wire barrier if you have to, just to keep them from using it while it dries) and put it down. Sand is great - a lot of people use it with great success. But it is also much more compact with very little air flow (if any) through it down to the dirt, so it will just hold the wet in there. So I would think that for sand to be successful in this case, at least the are would have to be starting out somewhat dry.
My run uses the deep litter system. Part of my run is covered, part is open to the elements. So part of it gets pretty wet with every rain, and the other part is dry. After a heavy rain, I just take my trusty rake out there and kinda mix the dry with the wet, pulling from area into the other. I don't dig the rake down deeply, just skimming across the top. Toss a little scratch in and the chickens do the rest for me.
I wish you so much luck getting a handle on this. But once you do get it under control, you'll have healthier chickens and a much happier nose.
thats crazy
