I'm sorry you're having such a hard time getting your system established.
The first thing that struck me is that the tractor pictured is quite small. Crowding chickens causes both health and behavioral problems.
The Usual Guidelines
For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:
I find that the Deep Bedding system in such a dry, well-ventilated coop is almost completely odor-free: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/
Likewise, Deep Litter in the run allows the poop and the bedding to compost together, neutralizing germs and preventing odor.
This stood out dramatically to me.
As a general rule, dry chickens are healthy chickens. Wet poop not only reeks but attracts flies and breeds bacteria.
I suggest that until you can work out alternate housing, you park your tractor in a corner with natural shade and put in several inches of some kind of dry, organic material for bedding. Wood shavings are very popular because they are readily available (in the US at least), and easy to handle. Chopped straw is superior to long straw because it's less prone to packing, matting, and developing anaerobic pockets. There are other options two, but shavings and straw are the baseline that most people begin with.
Then forgo all wet cleaning.
Some people scoop poop, others just cover it with more bedding. Both ways work and, as my article discusses, suit different people in different situations.
This won't keep them off your steps because the tractor is too small to confine them in, but you should find that the odor, fly, and disease issues improve.
Also, try a some kind of gate at the bottom of the steps. They *may* fly up anyway, but if the top of the gate is floppy rather than a firm rail -- netting rather than solid, perhaps -- they are less likely to go over it.
The first thing that struck me is that the tractor pictured is quite small. Crowding chickens causes both health and behavioral problems.
The Usual Guidelines
For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:
- 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
- 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
- 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
- 1/4 of a nest box,
- And 1 square foot (.09) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.
- 20 square feet in the coop. That's 4x5, but in the US lumber comes in multiples of 4 feet so it's easier to build 4x6 with fewer cuts and less waste since you can buy 12-foot boards and cut them in half.
- 50 square feet in the run. The simplest way to provide this would be an 8' square dog kennel -- which is a little bigger than the minimums so the poop spreads over more area.
- 5 linear feet of roost.
- 2 nest boxes to give the hens a choice.
- And 5 square feet of ventilation, best located over their heads when they're sitting on the roost.
I find that the Deep Bedding system in such a dry, well-ventilated coop is almost completely odor-free: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/
Likewise, Deep Litter in the run allows the poop and the bedding to compost together, neutralizing germs and preventing odor.
This stood out dramatically to me.
As a general rule, dry chickens are healthy chickens. Wet poop not only reeks but attracts flies and breeds bacteria.
I suggest that until you can work out alternate housing, you park your tractor in a corner with natural shade and put in several inches of some kind of dry, organic material for bedding. Wood shavings are very popular because they are readily available (in the US at least), and easy to handle. Chopped straw is superior to long straw because it's less prone to packing, matting, and developing anaerobic pockets. There are other options two, but shavings and straw are the baseline that most people begin with.
Then forgo all wet cleaning.
Some people scoop poop, others just cover it with more bedding. Both ways work and, as my article discusses, suit different people in different situations.
This won't keep them off your steps because the tractor is too small to confine them in, but you should find that the odor, fly, and disease issues improve.
Also, try a some kind of gate at the bottom of the steps. They *may* fly up anyway, but if the top of the gate is floppy rather than a firm rail -- netting rather than solid, perhaps -- they are less likely to go over it.
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