Litter advice

[FF]

Hi. Ive got 50 chickens in my house. It gets real dirt very fast. I cleaned it out a week ago and it looks like something thats never been cleaned. I know 50 is alot but in teh summer I usually just clean the stuff out that needs it and its fine. But now its wet it stinks and my chickens are naughsty. I just don't think somethings right. I use pine bedding from TSC. I have always used that and its done good for the past 5 years but Ive never tryed this many chickens at once. So my question is what do I use?

Continue the pine bedding and just tough it out or use something else?

Thank you all for reading this and replying. Dusty(FF)

 

[E.G.Glayer]

How big is the house? 50 full size birds? Its been cold even in Tennessee yes? They probably dont go out as much which means more doo doo inside and more amonia smell. must stir every day at least and add fresh shavings as needed. But sounds like overcrowding to me with the limited info you provided.

 

[Judy]

If you have a dirt floor coop and the dirt stays moist, that will do it. You might try a poop board cleaned off in the morning. Do you stir your shavings around? Helps a lot.

 

[FF]

E.G.Glayer :

How big is the house? 50 full size birds? Its been cold even in Tennessee yes? They probably dont go out as much which means more doo doo inside and more amonia smell. must stir every day at least and add fresh shavings as needed. But sounds like overcrowding to me with the limited info you provided.

The house is A Uhaul truck bed. And yes It has been snowing snowin snowing here. And yes tehy don't go out nearly as much as they used too. And I honestly never thought to stir theshavings. And I will add them fresh ones too. I didn't think of that eitehr. I usually get it 5 inched thick and stop until the next clean out. Ive got roost where they all stay except feeding time and I do clean that out reguarly. And I believe I have around 40 birds I forgot I sold some to my neighbor and some I moved. I'm sorry for jumping around here and there. Thank you for your reply.​

 

[FF]

Quote:
Hello. Nope its a wood floor. And I never thought of that board either. Maybe since I have different levels or roosts in about 5' of space that I can put lik a sandbox type thing? I clean around that area reguarely.(about every 1-2 days) And I w ill srat to stirrring the shavings around. I never thought about doing that bout I will start to do that. Thank you for replying.

 

[E.G.Glayer]

i will stir in new shavings about every 2 weeks and stir the old daily. I let mine build up to 12 inches or so. as long as they stay dry it should be good.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Is it sealed up rather tightly? Can the truck bed coop "breathe"?

 

[abhaya]

I am thinking for that mny birds you may need more ventalation in the coop. I let the chicken do the stiring for me. A couple handfulls of boos and scratch tossed on the floor and they will dig around in it all day lol. My back is very greatfull for them doing the work

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Stir it up more frequently and also remove big messes every few days (where it clumps under roosts for example). I would also see what you could do about ventilation, maybe leave the big door open all day long and close it back up at night if you can't add any more windows.