Odor from chickens

[maggiegigs]

Would three chickens (cleaned daily or at least every other day) cause an odor?

 

[dsqard]

I would have to say no. I have four and I clean their pen only once a week and it does not smell. I do use DE in the coop to help dry up the poops though and I do have them in a tractor so when I clean the coop I move the tractor. I spread the bedding and poops out so they don't pile up and smell if it rains.

ETA - I saw that you posted this question twice and on the second one you asked about near the house. I would have to say that my coop is less than 100' from the house most of the time. I do not smell them at all. When I cleaned out their coop today (I was remiss last weekend so it had been two weeks oops

) there was quite a bit of poop but no smell. I have to stick my whole top half inside to scrape the coop out and still no smell. Hope this helps!

 

[johny]

Three chickens, adult size in a coop that is 6+ square feet for each bird will not need not cleaned more than 3-4 time per year if you put in a generous amount of wood shavings. Put a tray under the roost to collect poop and the floor will stay cleaner even longer.

 

[dirtsaver]

We have thirteen chickens in a 4'x10'x6' tall coop with plenty of venting and a 12x12 run that is 20' from the house and no smell at all. We use the deep litter pine shavings method of bedding,DE as needed ,rake the run a couple of times a week and change the pine shavings every two to three months(dirty bedding goes in the compost pile). No Smell,no big deal to keep things clean and happy chickens(and happy us!).

We do let our girls out to free-range a couple of hours each night before bed time. That cuts down a little of the mess in the coup and run.

Larry

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If the bedding gets and stays wet, it will smell. If ammonia builds up, it will smell. However, barring a period with lots of rain, you should be able to prevent odor. Sweet PDZ is very good at chemically altering ammonia and drying up wet spots. Absorband bedding, whether you use deep litter or regular changeouts will help. Keeping the chickens healthy and parasite free will go a long ways towards preventing odor.

 

[poltroon]

I've noticed that meat breed birds tend to poop more and be stinkier.