How do you neutralise run smells?

[Mairead87]

Hello,

I've looked after chickens in a large grassy area before, but recently got a few bantams for my back garden coop. The run area is partially covered (there is a mesh panel in the middle to allow sunlight into the run). The floor is a mixture of sharp sand, gravel and some soil as the run was constructed where an old shed used to sit. It drains well with our rainy British weather but the run is starting to smell and, as my garden isn't that big, it's starting to overpower the garden on warm days. I've dusted the ground of the run with ground sanitiser and dried herbs and the inner coop is cleaned out weekly. It's the run that smells.

I'm wondering what people use on the floor of free draining external runs. Will raking the ground of the run help - as it is - or do I need to add some wood chip then rake? How often do I need to rake? Is there a specific type of woodchip which is best for odour/external runs? Does anyone have any effective external odour neutralising treatments? The more natural the better really. Any advice is appreciated.

I've included a picture of my coop/run.

Thanks in advance.
Mairead

 

[Weeg]

I love coop n compost deodorizer on amazon! It works great, and then I get nesting herbs to go with it, but I don't know if you would wan to use that for a run.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Hello,

I've looked after chickens in a large grassy area before, but recently got a few bantams for my back garden coop. The run area is partially covered (there is a mesh panel in the middle to allow sunlight into the run). The floor is a mixture of sharp sand, gravel and some soil as the run was constructed where an old shed used to sit. It drains well with our rainy British weather but the run is starting to smell and, as my garden isn't that big, it's starting to overpower the garden on warm days. I've dusted the ground of the run with ground sanitiser and dried herbs and the inner coop is cleaned out weekly. It's the run that smells.

I'm wondering what people use on the floor of free draining external runs. Will raking the ground of the run help - as it is - or do I need to add some wood chip then rake? How often do I need to rake? Is there a specific type of woodchip which is best for odour/external runs? Does anyone have any effective external odour neutralising treatments? The more natural the better really. Any advice is appreciated.

I've included a picture of my coop/run.

Thanks in advance.
Mairead

Untreated wood shavings and have you heard of stall freshener which is Zeolite granules or powder. It’s used in all kinds of poultry, reptiles, horse, cow, etc cages to keep smells and flies down. You can order off Amazon or find at feed stores.

 

[Weeg]

You could also try putting pee gravel down, or growing grass in the run, but you would have to cover the grass seed up pretty well for the chickens not to eat them, or you would have to get some sod, and roll it out, the chickens might still demo it though, depending on how wet ground is. Grass and plants would help absorb the moister, though.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

I put pine shavings down. I've heard crushing charcoal minimizes smells.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I love coop n compost deodorizer on amazon! It works great, and then I get nesting herbs to go with it, but I don't know if you would wan to use that for a run.

If you just have bantams I would think for their run it would be more or less like me using it like I do in my coop to freshen it up once a week. It is safe for them to eat it and all that. From chicks and up. So it won’t hurt your outside animals etc.

 

[Mairead87]

Thank you so much everyone, so helpful and really good suggestions. I'll look into these options and let you know how it goes.

 

[Weeg]

Glad we can help!

 

[3KillerBs]

I recommend deep litter -- a mix of wood chips, straw, wood shavings, fall leaves, etc.

Just gravel and/or sand allows poop to sift down into the substrate and rot where you can't get it. But if you give the high-nitrogen chicken poop some high-carbon organic material to work with it will compost instead of rot.

It might take some time to figure out the right balance of materials, but I kept my in-town run odor-free for two years with deep litter.

 

[Mairead87]

So, before I had a chance to try any of these suggestions we found the real culprit of the smell. It was actually coming from a bucket of garden weeds and cuttings that had filled up with rainwater and been forgotten about down the side of the run. Emptying it was not a pleasant job, but at least I'm not blaming the poor chickens anymore. If I do experience this problem later down the line at least I know what to do now. Thanks.