I cant imagine 4 chickens would smell too badly?

[thndrdancr]

Well, I went across the street to grab a the door from the chicken pen that the community garden had last year. I had called to make sure it was ok, and they told me no prob, go ahead and take it. Plan was to use this door as part of a chicken tractor for my chicks.

Anyhow, I grab it up, and the neighbor says..."Can I help you?"...thot I was stealing it in broad daylight...

anyhow, we got to talking...he had done most of the caretaking of the chickens last year, and said they had had six but two were roosters, so the city took them away, (after complaints) which left 4 hens. He said, the neighbor behind the house next to them ( good 100 yards away) complained about the smell to the police all the time. (He said he NEVER smelled them and he lived right next to them, about 25 to 30 foot away).

I looked the pen over (abit overgrown, but the pen was about 30 foot by 30 foot...I just cant imagine that 4 hens could smell up that big of a space. Not only that, but they also frequently let them out in the block wide garden area to free range for bug control.

I loved hearing the lil darlings clucking away last year, we live on a VERY busy street and cant imagine how someone could think hens were more annoying than that. Frankly, street is busy enuff, I dont know how she even heard them. I know I can barely hear on the phone with the windows open....sigh...we could definitely use a lil farm noise, methinks!

 

[Gracefulspice]

I have 6 hens in a 6.5 X 10 foot coop, and I never smell a thing. I do clean it every morning because all the poop is right there in a pile. And spot clean if needed later in the day. But i usually don't need to because there out in the yard half the day.

It's sad that some people are not happy unless they are making life diffucult for others. I guess since their not happy, no one else is allowed to be. un
Makes you wonder why we can't just all get along. Sure would be a better place to live.

Good Luck with your Hens

 

[ChrissyNC]

My guess is that whoever complained just said the chickens smelled because other than roos, that's probably the only complaint that could be lodged that would result in the chickens being banned. Now why someone would want to do that is beyond me. Some people are just cranky and live their lives to make other people cranky. We should put them all in their own coop.

 

[SpottedCrow]

I agree Chrissy...
If you take care of your animals, they don't stink...
If your animal pens smell, then you need to clean them more...which I why I have to clean the chicken room tomorrow...

 

[poppycat]

4 hens shouldn't be smelly if their coop is kept reasonably clean, and more importantly dry. When chicken poop gets wet or even damp it STINKS. Our old coop developed a leak in the roof and you could smell it a mile away. It was quickly replaced and we have had no more problems with stink.

 

[SkeeredChicken]

Quote:
You know what the sad thing is? Most of their unhappiness, if not all, is self imposed. If you don't like the way your life is going, only you have the power to change it.

Quote:
You can take care of your animals, and they can still stink. Wet Bedding causes that, from my experience. My chickens knock their waterer over ALOT. Still working on a way to cure that. Also, ever noticed how feed alone can stink after only half a day wet? I feed mine before I got to work. OMG, does it get rancid!?!?

 

[Gracefulspice]

SkeeredChicken,
You had said your chickens knock their water over alot. Mabey you tried this? But we built a shelf for the waterer to sit on. With it no longer being on the ground they haven't dumped it at all. They still manage to get shaving in it some how, so I need to dump it 2 to 3x a day. It's not a high shelf, mabey 4 inches off the floor, but it made a big difference.

 

[SkeeredChicken]

I was thinking more like screwing the waterer to a weighted platform, so they cant do either. If I wanted to change it 2-3 times a day, I could just leave it floor level, lol. Which it is, right now. I'd rather them dirty the water, rather than the waterer wet the bedding. But I still feel like a bad chicken owner when they soil their water with the shavings. Makes me feel bad because they're drinking shavings water at times, ewwwwww.