How to keep chicken poop from smelling so bad

[muffinmom]

I sprinkle DE in and around my deep litter coop every week. It dries out the poop. No problems with a bad smell.

 

[stargazingmommy]

i just dd another layer of pine shavings in the coop.
outside in the run, every 2-3 days I turn the dirt with a shovel or tiller. the duck run I till deep every 1-2 days.

 

[elmo]

Is it an ammonia smell coming from your bedding, or do the fresh chicken droppings smell? If it's the fresh ones that stink, try switching to a different brand of feed. Fresh chicken droppings (other than the cecal poops) should be odorless.

 

[onthespot]

Also, more room per chicken helps keep it dry, i f your run is covered from the rain at least. They say four feet per chicken, but more like ten or fifteen feet per chicken really helps too. If you are talking about the smell of it after you remove it from the pens, then putting a light layer of dirt over top of it if you spread it out to go back to the earth will kill the smell. If it smells really strong, use a thicker layer of dirt.

 

[tony49055]

Thanks for all the posts! I think I can get free sawdust and shavings from a saw mill nearby.. What does the seven do>? I assume keeps it clean of bugs?

 

[Blue]

Quote:
Seven is used to help keep your coop from housing lice or mites mainly.

 

[harrisville chicken]

I use pine pellets in my coop (which I have photos of on my BYC page). It quickly absorbs the moisture out of the poo, does not smell (well, it smells of pine, not poo) and only needs a bit of a stir 2 to 3 times a week. It's about 8-12 inches deep.

When there's more poo than pellets, I add it to my compost heap about once or twice a year.

There's a little Diatomaceous Earth in there to keep the mites away.

 

[sammyh312]

spot sprinkle with food grade DE, then sprinkle through the run area to keep the area and any other poop dry, and itll keep flys down too. id pass on ag lime, itll dry their feet out.

 

[Needycowgirl]

I use landscape bark. The medium size that is not treated with anything. Its probably about 2-3 inches deep. It smells wonderful and I never smell chicken. It also works as a filter, spray it down once a week or if it rains that works too and everything filters down to the bottom. Or when the chickens scratch. Then once the bark has started to break down it gets added to the composter. Organic and works great in the garden or flowerbeds. The bark also encourages bugs that the chickens like to eat to go to that area.

 

[janbcoo1]

We use food grade DE (diatomaceous earth) as a sprinkled on layering with straw or shavings. We had two juveniles in an indoor infirmary (the kitchen) after they were pecked pretty badly by a protective hen. They stayed in the box for two days and unless you could hear them "talking" to each other, you would never have known they were inside. We have used DE for sprinkling over the run and inside the coops and in the laying boxes layering alternately with straw until the boxes are about six inches deep. We've not had any problems with odor at all.