Official BYC Poll: How Do You Keep Your Coop Smelling Fresh?

[BYC Project Manager]

One thing any chicken keeper will tell you is that chickens can get messy and keeping the coop clean(ish) and odor-free can be a challenge. So please share with us: How Do You Keep Your Coop Smelling Fresh and odors under control?

Please place your vote above, and please elaborate in a reply below if you chose "Other".

Further Reading:

• Managing Manure: What to do with all the poo
• Some Thoughts On General Coop Hygiene And Ventilation
• Keeping Your Chickens Healthy
• DIY Poopscoop for Poop Boards

Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!...

 

[DobieLover]

A thin layer of Sweet PDZ on the poop boards, poop boards scooped daily, hemp bedding on the coop floor, hemp bedding changed out annually, 22 sq ft of year round ventilation with an additional 22 sq ft opened up for warm weather ventilation and probably most significantly, a predator proof run attached to the coop where the pop door is never closed where the chickens immediately retreat to when coming off the roost.
The run is covered with wood chips that get raked about every other month to even them out and everything cold composts in there. I've never removed material from the run. My brother-in-law commented when he entered the coop for the first time "I can't believe it doesn't smell in here."

 

[Kiki]

Dry dry dry.
Keeping it dry keeps the smell away in my yard.

 

[3KillerBs]

The coop is absolutely dry and extremely well-ventilated.

My other is Deep Bedding -- which dries the poop out very quickly.

 

[BReeder!]

Poop boards to the rescue! Keeps most of the nasty stuff in one place that's easy to clean.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Deep litter method, dirt floors and very well ventilated. About once a month I hose it all down in the inside to knock down the dust and help the compost along. I live in a dry climate, I can go over a year without cleaning out the bedding. It never smells.

 

[K0k0shka]

Another vote for dry dry dry. And ventilated ventilated ventilated Nothing else, really. I don’t have poop boards and I clean the coop twice a year. It doesn’t smell.

 

[SueT]

In case this hasn’t already been mentioned, Sweet PDZ coop refresher, sold in the poultry aisle, is the same product as Sweet PDZ stall refresher, sold in the equine aisle for a whole lot less. In this example below, the poultry product is $3. 60 per lb as opposed to 44¢ a lb for the equine product.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I live in a wet environment, so keeping the coop as dry as possible at all times is the goal. I have around 3 sq ft of ventilation per chicken, so well over the recommended amount of ventilation. Waterer stays out in the run. I use wood chips as bedding with hemp under the roosts and I clean up under roosts each morning. Currently trying to see if I can go a year without doing a full cleanout, and so far so good.

 

[Ascholten]

Smelling Fresh... That's a thing?

I have extra long tongs like you'd use on a grill, Generally, I Try to clean it out every day, get to it before they scratch and bury it, and get it removed. I use a few inches of mulch too so that even if some is missed, it gets buried, so that keeps the smell down a bit, I use pine shavings. They also absorb a bit so when I use the tongs to stir things back up, and even it back out, since they LOVE for some reason, piling it into the corner. if I come across a buried turd, that is now dried, or lumped in a clump of pine, I can snag it and remove it. regular turds tend to dry into little raisins, cecal dumps ted to clump together with the pine and you take a moist wad out.

Unless it's been really rainy for several days and everything is just wet, it's generally not really noticeable, if it is soaked, it can get a little sour but not wretchedly so.

Aaron

Edit: I have had folks ask before, Why Bother? Why not just open floor it, the reason is, I use the chicken crap for fertilizer, so grabbing it does have it's uses, plus if one of them is sick, that will be one of the first signs that something is not right and hopefully I can catch it early