How to deal with chicken smell in rainy areas?

[Rchixright4me]

We are contemplating getting 2-3 hens but everything I read in the threads leads me to believe that the smell of the chickens gets bad when things are wet. In the Pacific Northwest there are only varying degrees of wet for most of the year. What do all of you in rainy areas do to keep the smell at bay or is that pretty much impossible?

 

[BantamFan4Life]

 

[liz9910]

I think the best bet is to post in your state's thread to find someone local who has experience with that type of weather https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you good luck to you. I use sand in my run, easy to keep clean and doesn't smell.

 

[Rchixright4me]

Thank you!

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[farmgirlroots]

I live in Oregon and have 5 hens in an urban setting. I have neighbors 20ft away from my coop so I am very conscience of keeping our chicken area from getting stinky. An unattended run will get smelly when wet in our weather. I had dirt and an uncovered run and within a month of our rainy spring weather this last year after getting our chicks and quickly found myself putting down several inches of sand mixed with Sweet PDZ, and adding a roof to our run. The sand helps emensly with drainage in our wet weather. The PDZ helps dry poop up quickly, thus eliminating a lot of stink. I use a kitty litter scoop to remove poop every day or so, which takes me 5 min because my area is small. There are certainly things you can do to reduce smell, with a little research, good planning, and effort on your part to clean up after the hens you can have a pretty sanitary coop and run. If you are able to free range them part of the time that will help even more.

 

[sumi]

I live in Oregon and have 5 hens in an urban setting. I have neighbors 20ft away from my coop so I am very conscience of keeping our chicken area from getting stinky. An unattended run will get smelly when wet in our weather. I had dirt and an uncovered run and within a month of our rainy spring weather this last year after getting our chicks and quickly found myself putting down several inches of sand mixed with Sweet PDZ, and adding a roof to our run. The sand helps emensly with drainage in our wet weather. The PDZ helps dry poop up quickly, thus eliminating a lot of stink. I use a kitty litter scoop to remove poop every day or so, which takes me 5 min because my area is small. There are certainly things you can do to reduce smell, with a little research, good planning, and effort on your part to clean up after the hens you can have a pretty sanitary coop and run. If you are able to free range them part of the time that will help even more.

X2 Sand will help a lot! There are a couple of threads here on using sand in coops/runs, just type the word "sand" into the search bar above if you want to read them. Good luck and Welcome to BYC!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
x3 sand is the way to go

It drains well...even better if you can do a covered run.

I use it in the coop in a very thin layer and scoop it out after raking, daily, with a kitty litter scoop. You should see the "got sand you should" thread. Also the "poop board convert thread"- you can search BYC for them if interested!

My run outside is large and grassy but I use sand in front of the coops and waterers.

 

[chooks4life]

Sand is great but even with mud hydrated agricultural lime is helpful. It sweetens the ground, kills diseases and parasite eggs including worm eggs, and since it's the stuff they can eat it's no issue unless you make them inhale great clouds of it.