How stinky are chickens?

[a2ms4chickens]

We clean out their pen once a week and there is minimal smell. We also have a lot of ventilation, so that helps.

Normally once their poo is dry it doesn't smell bad, therefore, try to keep their area dry.

Luckily, we live in Arizona so we only have to deal with rain during monsoon season. Even then, their area is covered, so it doesn't get too wet.

I've not heard of inhaling chicken feathers/down, but the dust when cleaning is a different story. I immediately get into the shower because I do smell like the chicken pen when I am done. I make sure I wash my ears and blow my nose afterwards, too.

Chickens are a lot of fun, they give us eggs, and are great stress relievers. They are worth the couple of hours we spend each week cleaning their area.

Angie

 

[LivingLocal]

Thanks everyone! What's DE?

So it's ok for my almost 3 and 4 year olds to be around the chickens so long as I'm not making them clean the coop? (Not that I would anyway!)

 

[FrenchHen]

My three year old loves to go in the coop and get the eggs. He also likes petting the hens.

I make him wear boots that are only for outside, and we wash hands well afterwards.

Keep kids away from roosters though.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
They should wash their hands afterwards, just like after dealing with any pooey-footed animal, and best not to let the pecky parts of the chickens near their face (chickens are not always reliable at distinguishing between eyeballs and tasty food items

- it is *rare* to get pecked in the eye but it does happen and you only get two eyes)

Really it is no different than being around any other pet animals though. No different at all.

Have fun,

Pat, with one son 4 1/2 and the other approaching 2, both big fans of chickens

 

[Poohbear]

If you kept a human in a small enclosure with no way to clean after eating or using a toilet, it would STINK in just a day or two. Animals and especially chickens are the same. They need a clean, roomy environmet with clean water, feed and somewhere to poop that can be cleaned on a regular basic by the human owner of the chicken. maybe your friend was refering to chicken DANDER which is small particles of feather scales sloughing off of feathers. Chickens will bathe in dust or sand if it is available to remove dander. Like humans bathe in water, chickens bathe in dirt. If the dirt is clean then the chicken will be clean. I find where my chickens are bathing and put some 5% Sevin dust on the ground there. It helps with crawling critters. I HAVE smelled chickens that were badly cared for that had a bad odor BUT I have smelled MORE HUMANS that stunk to high heaven than I have smelled bad smelling chickens!

 

[Momma_Cluck]

DE is Diatomeceus (sp) Earth-- or Fossil Shell Flour depending on where you buy it...
it is an organic powder made from fossils that acts as a deodorizer, insecticide, and descant (keeps hings dry)

There are 2 types: Garden use and Food Grade..
ALWAYS USE FOOD GRADE!

Garden-Use DE can make you and your chickens seriously ill by scratching the inside of your lungs to shreds!

I started using DE when the good folks here introduced me to it-- and it works great! I get it quite cheap at the county feed co-op. I sprinkle it on the floor of the coop-- add hay, sprinkle more, then top with more hay or woodchips.

 

[briteday]

I have 6 hens. Three of them prefer to roost over bedding...no smell. A lot of that is because we live in a very dry climate. The other three prefer to sleep on the bare linoleum floor near the feeders. When I approach the coop in the mornings I notice a slight odor of normal barnyard smells. To take care of the small area of linoleum I shovel it up with a plastic dust pan each morning and dump it into the compost heap nearby.

If the original owners of the hens would have given them roosts early on I'll bet all 6 would roost over bedding. In which case, I just sprinkle a bit of new bedding on the top every few days, clean it completely out every few months, no smell.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I agree.

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

In my personal experience, if you feed your chickens organic layer feed, their poop doesn't smell anywhere near as bad as just using commercial layer feed. Whenever we get a couple of new chickens that were fed commercial feed, their poop is absolutely atrocious smelling until the organic feed goes through their system, about a week and a half or so. I have a very sensitive nose, and have been known to gag until I puke. The commercially fed chickens even in small backyard coops can make me nearly puke, everytime, but those coops that I go into where they feed organic feed, including my own, it doesn't bother me at all, unless I just got a new batch of chickens, and then I very nearly have to wear a respirator, or else hurry and do the chores in the coop while covering my nose with my shirt, everytime until the commercial feed is out of their system. Organic feed makes all the difference in the world to me!!!

Where I purchase my organic feed, it is only $5.00 more per 50 lb. bag than regular commercial feed, well worth the extra $5.00 to be able to actually enjoy being in the coop sometimes for hours, depending on what I am doing that day in the coop.

Edited to add: I clean my coop out usually every 2 weeks, with fresh new bedding.

 

[ashtray]

this is a good thread ... i am currently building a coop to to keep 7-8 chickens. the run will be 12x 8 with a roof over it .. i thought about placing the coop about 90' from the house ,, should i place it futher from the house or will it be fine there . i have had pigs before they cant be worse than chickens