no tomatoes thrown, but...

[Mahonri]

I had a friend that lives around the corner who stuck her nose up when I told her too. She said (and I quote) "They are dirty, filthy, stinking birds." When she was a kid, they raised meat birds and processed them regularly.

Well, our coop gets swept and mopped (linoleum floor) each and every week. My wife says she can smell the odor from time to time. I also put down a little DE in the coop, on the roosts and in the run. The chickens seem healthy but this heat the past two months has been hard on them... can't wait until October.

I need to get some way to keep down the flies though.

 

[oandrea]

I thought mine would be more grody than they have ended up being. If you are concerned about their poop smelling I read somewhere that if they have the proper food then they poop less because the nutrients are being used right and there is less waste. It's all about how you care for yoru animals I suppose.

 

[onthespot]

I know someone with dozens and dozens of chickens and somewhat haphazard upkeep with the waste. She bought some fly predators and you can see a HUGE difference afterwards.

 

[newchickenfamily]

Lots of people turned up their noses when I mentioned that we were getting chickens too.

So far, the chicken coop smells better that what my 2 dogs leave behind! I just keep the run raked out and a layer of fresh pine shavings once in awhile and they are good to go! Little to no smell.

Keep in mind that I only have 3 hens!! That makes a difference too!

 

[HidingInTheHenHouse]

I have 21 meat birds, and 19 Hens and 2 roosters. They have a coop with attached run 13 x 16. I put wood shavings down on the ground in the run. The smell is not bad. The flies are more bothersome.

What are fly predators? Are those the stinky traps?

If they smell worse than the chickens, I probably don't want them, but I hate all the flies. I have guineas, but they are only 6 weeks old, and don't seem to eat the flies.

 

[scooter147]

Chickens are like any other animal. They will be as clean and odorless as their owners let them be.
I have found in my experience that the smelly chicken coop is the one that is overcrowded and NEVER cleaned.
I have 23 hens in a 8x12 coop with run and my "operation" never smells.
I use a dropping board under their roost that is cleaned and disinfected weekly. I keep deep litter that is changed at least three times a year and I till in lime each spring.
No odor at all!

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
Are ya'll referring to the regular glue type fly traps that you hang out ? IF SO , funny our fly traps work really well and HAVE NO SMELL .

 

[arlee453]

Not the glue traps that smell - it's the kind that you add water to, that attact the flies from far away and they go in and drown.

They work GREAT to keep the fly population down, but they do stink. (says on the label....DO NOT USE INDOORS.... for good reason!)

I'll hang one up and will have 3-5 INCHES of dead flies in it within a week -10 days.

Fly predators are predatory parasites (beneficial insects) that you buy and release where you have a fly problem and they kill the flies. See:

http://www.marchbiological.com/L/fly_parasites.html

 

[AhBee01]

We have a covered run, it is roofed and it stays pretty dry when it rains, so the smell is way less.
My neighbor has about the same number of chickens as we do and his run does not have a roof, and from all the rain we have gotten last week, he run smells really bad. We told him to try and put pine shavings in there to help.
It is a mud hole. Having ample room for your chickens will keep the smell down. We clean the coop as needed, and scrape under the roosts when we notice it piling up. We use pine shaving in the coop, and right now just some old hay was in the run, they are doing a nice job of shredding it for the compost heap!!!
We also let our chickens free range and it helps keep the poop down in their run!
Brenda
PS I was a nose wrinklier at one time, I always said no chickens they are smelly dirty, just yuck, and when my husband brought them home I was so sure I would be telling him "I told you so" but come to find out, it was the ducks that smell up the place!! LOL!!!
I had duck, chickens and geese housed together as a kid, so the run was always a mud pit. I always blamed the chickens, don't know why, all along it was the ducks and geese, making the mess, and the smell!!!

 

[lovethepeep]

thanks for the replies everyone! It looks like I have a lot of reading to do on this site. We've got the supplies ready to build a coop this week, next thing is determining how and when (at what age) to get the chicks, and what kind!! I am VERY excited!!! If any of you have recommendations, pm me PLEASE! I have some ideas, but can't wait to read more of what you guys are saying! thanks again!