How much do they smell?

[Adamd]

I have some pretty pesky neighbors. And while my city does allow poultry/fowl as long as they dont become a "health nuisance", I am worried they may complain unnecessarily just to make my life miserable. Yes they are those kinds of neighbors...

I didn't think it would be a problem until I talked to a friend of mine whose grand mother had chickens when she was younger. She commented on how much they smelled, though followed it up with the comment "they never cleaned the coops after the kids were old enough to not get sick from the waste".

Long story short... though I might be too late on that.

How much will 3 Barred Rocks, or RIR hens smell? And/or how much will I have to clean the coop to keep it from smelling? Are there certain design elements to the coop that can make it easier to clean or make them smell less?

 

[trishok8]

I have found that as long as you clean out the poops in the morning or daily you should not have a problem.
I have a galvanized bucket that I keep in the coop with a small dust pan and broom and I simple sweep up the poops and toss them into the bucket.
I sprinkle a little DE once a week, more int he hotter months and your good.
Have fun with them.

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

Chickens really don't smell much. The best way to keep the smell down is clean clean clean. I use a lot of wood chips to keep the sell down. Also keeping the area dry is a plus.

 

[miron28]

would have to agree with everyone clean clean clean! i use the DE too and that helps out alot!

 

[Adamd]

I work long hours M-F about, 11-12 hours a day, if I did a thorough cleaning sat or sun would that be enough or will daily be necessary to keep the smell down? I live in Arizona so its very dry, so I dont think I would have to worry about keeping the coop dry.

 

[hennypenny9]

If your chickens have a decent sized run, and you clean their hen house they won't smell at all. We always shut in our hens at night to keep out predators, so we have to clean the hen house out around once a week. But even at the end of the week, you have to put your head in the house to smell anything.

I'd say that your grandmother's memories are of chickens on a farm, where they are kept in VERY close quarters. They may have been kept 100% indoors, also. Are you letting yours have fresh air?

 

[Adamd]

Quote:
I am still in the research phase, I dont do things very spontaneously. I dont want to get into this just to find out I have to get out.

I haven't even started the coop construction phase yet, because I havent decided what kind I want to build, or how big. I have an area in the side yard near my work shop where I could put in something around 16'x8' max.

 

[hennypenny9]

That seems plenty big for three hens. As far as the hen house goes, our solution was a "tray" that slid out so that at the end of the week we just pull it out, dump the poop and slide it back it. Less trouble then cleaning a cat's litter box!

 

[Opa]

Quote:
Plus you never get eggs from a cat.

 

[Adamd]

Quote:
I like the tray idea, I think I will have to incorporate that into my design.

And yes I figured that was over kill I just mentioned that because thats the max space I have to work with in the design.