How do you handle the smell?

[laputa]

I am planning to let the poo just drop to ground. But then I got a few questions.

1. Do you put dirt underneath or something else, like sand? wood shavings? Would cement brick work because I think it will help the poo dry faster.

2. Now this is ok for seasons with no rain, what about rainy seasons? Here in California, the ground hardly is dry in winter time. Wouldn't that be a big problem of smell?

3. If you use lime, is it the only choice to collect them and put in gabage bin? Here we have garden recycle (green) bin as well, mainly for collecting things that are good for compost, is it a bad idea to dump this lime stuff in the green bin?

4. When you say you fence the bottom in, I am assuming you use hardware cloth, or something else? Do you actually build the hardware cloth all the way to the ground, or it is somewhere between the bottom of the cage and the ground? If all the way to the ground, you would need to move the whole cage away in order to collect the poo with lime right?

 

[quail newbie]

I'd do sand on the ground, it's easy to rake then put the poop in the garden or compost.

 

[CARS]

Quote:
I let my indoor (barn) quail just drop on the cement floor for a few days......

NEVER AGAIN!!! OMG, the stench was so bad. I will eventually build some racks to hold trays but for now, a bag of shavings helps 100 fold!!!

 

[laputa]

Quote:

Thank you, this is great tip. Taking notes: "no cement floor directly receive droppings"...

 

[nnbreeder]

I used to use Alfalfa hay under the outside, elevated coops. Helped to keep the mess and smell down. Basically I made compost right under the pens.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Cement would be good if you rinsed it off. That, of course, would only work if you had good drainage!

 

[CARS]

Quote:
Your correct to a point. What about all the run off? It will eventually build up and become a problem too.

I was really thinking about building long trays, set at a slight slope under my pens. I would have a drain at the low side and rinse it into a bucket which would then be dumped and stirred into my compost pile.

But dreams of 12'x3' stainless trays are alot cheaper than actually buying them

 

[bigjohn]

I have posted this somewhere else before, but I use some top soil under my pens and try to keep it as dry as possible. Twice a day, I rake the top of it over so the poop dries and gets turned under a bit. Then about once every week and a half, I sprinkle HYDRATED line lightly over the top. Hardly any smell at all. Then you have instant soil for your garden every few months. I just buy cheap top soil at the garden center and keep a bag or two on hand.

In the fall, I just turn the falling leaves under in that soil and have the beginnings of a very rich compost.

You should have seen my beans this year. No fertilizer, just dirt with quail poop.