how to manage maggots in the coop?

[lazy gardener]

Don't know if this has been suggested, but you might try giving your flock fermented feed. It is totally consumed every day, no waste to draw flies, no feed spilled in the litter.

 

[Aronia]

Use dairy bomb.

Works every time.

 

[HugHess]

they come from a beautiful bouquet of feathers! How could that be disturbing!

If anybody ever says something 'stupid' about that in front of me, I am going to quote the heck out of you! Perfect retort! Thanks.

 

[The Triplets]

Don't know if this has been suggested, but you might try giving your flock fermented feed.  It is totally consumed every day, no waste to draw flies, no feed spilled in the litter.  

Thank you. What is fermented feed and where can I get it?

 

[lazy gardener]

Go to the feeding and watering your flock section and look for threads regarding fermented feed. Or do a topic search regarding it in the Advanced search bar. It's made from the feed you are already using, is fed to the chickens in a "cooked oatmeal" consistency, and is super easy to make. It's loaded with probiotics, which gives the chicken a healthier gut and helps them to utilize the nutrient in the feed so they eat less, and their poo doesn't smell as bad. Health benefits are comparable to the benefit of eating yogurt vs. drinking milk.

 

[Lady J]

My chicken pen is a 15x30 enclosure under a leanto of my barn. One of the 30' sides is hardware cloth. The ground under the enclosure stays damp most of the time just due to the nature of the soil. Rain blows in too. I have been keeping their feeder in there on the ground. The spillage has caused the pen to become VERY stinky. I have some fine gravel I was going to put down over the wet areas, but I first decided to take up some of the stinky mud. That's when I discovered maggots just below the surface. Gross!!! I can't stand maggots!! I dug out the "impacted" area the best that I could, removing the rotten feed and maggot infested dirt. I then covered it with construction sand and plan to further cover it with the gravel screenings.

Any other advice out there for getting rid of the rotten odor and maggots? My birds don't spend a lot of time in the pen. They mostly free range and only come into the pen to eat what feed they want. They forage outside on bugs and grass the rest of the day. I don't keep their drinking water in there either. The moisture is strictly from the ground and any rain that has blown in.

 

[aart]

My chicken pen is a 15x30 enclosure under a leanto of my barn. One of the 30' sides is hardware cloth. The ground under the enclosure stays damp most of the time just due to the nature of the soil. Rain blows in too. I have been keeping their feeder in there on the ground. The spillage has caused the pen to become VERY stinky. I have some fine gravel I was going to put down over the wet areas, but I first decided to take up some of the stinky mud. That's when I discovered maggots just below the surface. Gross!!! I can't stand maggots!! I dug out the "impacted" area the best that I could, removing the rotten feed and maggot infested dirt. I then covered it with construction sand and plan to further cover it with the gravel screenings.

Any other advice out there for getting rid of the rotten odor and maggots? My birds don't spend a lot of time in the pen. They mostly free range and only come into the pen to eat what feed they want. They forage outside on bugs and grass the rest of the day. I don't keep their drinking water in there either. The moisture is strictly from the ground and any rain that has blown in.

Don't keep the feed where it's wet.
Put good bedding down(wood chippings) where the rain comes in.

 

[Lady J]

I put down ag lime to help dry it out and control the odor in their pen. So far, so good. I am pleased with the result. One 50 pound bag gave pretty good coverage in the 15x30 enclosure. I even had enough left to do a light dusting in their house.

 

[HayleyCrum]

i need your help. i am having this problem. I have ducks though and my ducks have food and water at all times of the day. They are in a small coop right now, but im building them and about to move them into a bigger run about 8 ft. I have there water sitting on a rock and its a 5 galloon tank so theres no way i could hang it. I need a break down of what i need to do. i have a sand bottom coop.

Do they have an outdoor run? Can you move their water out into the run? Only do this if you are able to let them out for fresh water just as soon as they come off their perches in the morning. Can you move their feed out into the run? What style feeder are you using, and what type of feed are you giving them? I do a deep litter in the lower level of their coop which consists of hay, leaves, and grass clippings. During the winter, i kept their feed and water in the lower level, setting it up on a pallet to keep them from kicking so much litter into the feed and water. Unless we've been in a deep freeze where mid day temps in their sun room did not get above 20 degrees, i gave them fermented feed. If the weather was colder than that, I gave them crumble. But, i can tell you that they prefer FF, and their poops do not smell and are not as nasty when they are on the FF. Just as soon as the weather warmed up a bit, i moved their feed and water out into their run. They get FF 2 - 3 x/day, and they lick their bowl clean. Their poops melt into the DL in the coop. So, the flies really don't have much of a breeding ground. Check out the fermented feed thread. It's super easy to do, and gives your flock an extra nutritional boost. I suspect that your girls are billing a lot of feed into the shavings, and mixed with the water they are spilling, it makes an excellent breeding ground for flies, not to mention an attractant for rodents. Fermented feed will save you a whole lot of money b/c they will not waste so much as a grain of feed, and the feed that they do eat will go much further.