My coop smells like a Pig Pen

[Brit4Shains]

We use hoop houses to house our flock and roosters(separately). We muck out our sheep and goat stalls and add that to their "flooring", which the chickens feel obligated to scratch thru looking for goodies... We are currently using straw/pine shavings for the animals so we have a decent area inside the coops.

If the smell does get too overwhelming, we've sprinkled the area with dolomite lime(we buy it in 50# bags) and that takes all the ammonia smell right out.

We also adapted 3'x8'x18" brooders using 1/2" hardware cloth as the "floor" and hang them from the rafters at a workable height in the pole barn. We wired them with lights and it's worked real well for almost 2 years worth of chickens and turkeys. A couple of times a week during the process, we fork the ground under the brooders and again sprinkle liberally with lime and haven't had any issues with smell afterwords.

We've limited the use of DE for parasite control only, since the lime works so well for everything else.

Give the lime a try... I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[speckledhen]

Mine do freerange most of every day except during really bad weather. Still, I have maybe 3 or 4 more than the 4 sf rule allows in my main coop(it was more, but I've moved three birds into other coops). Suede's and the Delaware coop are much, much easier because they have more room. I still scoop poop every a.m. and sprinkle DE and sometimes a light layer of shavings on top. All vents and windows are wide open since it's way warmer than usual here at the moment. I even put a small fan blowing air out of the top vent over the last few days. It's just way too wet.

 

[NCchickenlady]

I came on getting ready to post this stinky issue!! LOL I have been scooping and adding more shavings but man YUK!!

It's supposed to be 70 and drizzle this morning and then the sun this afternoon!1 I hope it drys stuff out a little. Does anyone use mulch in their runs?

 

[swtangel321]

I had this same issue back in the spring time, I did what speckledhen said in another post, got a bag of Sweet PDZ (cost at the most $10 for a 50 pound bag)

Cleaned the coop, put a bunch down and then put shavings back on top... Then I put more down on top and mixed it all up !! I used a real good amount of the stuff.

WORKED GREAT !!! From what I can tell, its cold now so no smell !!

 

[speckledhen]

The trick with PDZ, I think, is to put enough down. It comes in powder and granulated. Usually, it works okay, but cant keep up with the bad weather and the number of birds in my coop. I think the ideal thing would be to mix DE with some PDZ in a shaker jar and use it that way, which I've done.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Speckledhen, what is PDZ and where do you buy it?

 

[speckledhen]

It's called Sweet PDZ. The bag says it's a natural zeolite product. It's made for horse stalls, like Stall Dry. It absorbs odors well, most of the time. Every feedstore here carries it, but the price varies alot. My county co-op has it for less than $9/ 40# bag, but others sell if for up to $15 for the same bag.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Which do you think is the better, granules or powder?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

It's been rainy & ugly here too. These days when I let them out in the morning, they come running out with their wings over their noses. I've been scooping in the mornings, but when they're in the coop lounging around all day, they scatter it. So tomorrow, I'm going to bite it and clean the whole thing out. We're having a bunch of DH's co-workers & wives over Saturday evening and there's a good chance some will want to visit the girls. Can't have a pigpen coop!

 

[speckledhen]

Honestly, I've only used the granules myself. I just found out that the co-op has powder as well, so I may try that in the future.