Keeping the cage clean and odor free?

[cashela]

So I have my two turkeys outside now in a cage that I built for them. It rained a lot this week and the cage has gotten muddy. It's starting to smell. What should I do? Should I maybe buy some stones and put that down as footing and hose it off to clean it? I don't suppose I could throw some lime down?

 

[dbone]

I was out of town for the weekend, and i checked on my turkeys this AM, and it is getting smelly in my pen too. i cleaned their bedding out before i left, my fiance just fed and watered them for me while i was away.
I hear that they are going to smell very bad as they grow. i am just doing my best to keep fresh hay in their pen.

 

[cashela]

Mine are on the ground and have access to a coop with shavings, that is clean, it is the outside that is wet and smelly. IF anyone has some good tips I would love to hear them.

 

[Struttn1]

Go to your local quarry and get a pickup load or hire someone with a dump truck to deliver you a load of block dust to layer the ground in your pens. The turkeys will love it and you will never have to worry again about a muddy wet pen. It works awsome for dog pens too and is a lot cooler for the dogs than concrete.

 

[bkvail]

'block dust'? Is it a gravel? Sand? ::

 

[Struttn1]

It is a mixture of course sand and very tiny gravel particles. I used to use it in all my dog kennels. I think they use it to make concrete blocks. It makes cleaning the pen a breeze with a rake and a shovel. I used to get a pickup load of it for $7. Great stuff.

 

[bkvail]

Quote:
wow - it sounds like it would be perfect in my rabbitry too (hanging all-wire cages over dirt floors)

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

you can go to the lumber yard and buy a bag of
agricultural limestone and it is the same thing and is eatable to the birds
as calcium

it keeps the pens dry and odor free

any questions email me

 

[Zahboo]

patandchickens has a page for muddy stinky chicken runs. I'm sure it could help.

I would put down sand and DE to help with drainage and all that.