Really bad ammonia smell

[scratch'n'peck]

I have lots of oak leaves; I'll give that a try. By the way, welcome to the forum, Sharon.

 

[Lollipop]

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I thought lime was caustic to their little feet and respiratory systems?? no?

~Tammy

Used it all my life with no problems, Tammy...........Pop

 

[chickendude]

The moisture in the air is tough in our area. I use pine shavings about 6-8 inches deep in my 10x6x8 coop with 10 birds. It is never wet and smells as fresh as a coop can be expected to smell. Why are some of you using sand? It holds moisture for long periods of time if it is not super well ventilated. The pine shavings are relatively cheep and freshen up nicely with a rake. Try loosing the sand and go with pine. You might find it works better. JMHO.

 

[chickendude]

Sometimes I feel like a thread killer.

 

[Beth G.]

I wanted to add that lime is a excellent solution however, it will burn the chickens feet if any is ontop exposed. Always be sure to scrap down the deep, put in the lime, add new dirt/sand, then the DE is more of an oder absorber but, like you all in NJ I have had tooo much rain!!! No matter what it's musty and that is with cleaning alot, lots of ventitlation an DE etc..

Glad it sounds like you got it under control! Nothing worse then being knocked over by that nasty smell

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[jerseygirl1]

Quote:
I thought lime was caustic to their little feet and respiratory systems?? no?

~Tammy

Used it all my life with no problems, Tammy...........Pop

Yup

Agricultural lime is what you want, not the other kind. AG lime is sold at the feed stores.

I agree about the DE< waste of money for the past two years, I still had mites and lflies and TONS of dust in the coop. Now I use Sevin dust and lime. Works much better
Also, DE cannot get wet; it becomes useless

 

[crazyhen]

I mix Stall dry or sweet-pdz with my sand. It makes all the difference. It is non toxic and used in horse stalls and cattle barns to kill ammonia odors . De for me was useless also. Stall dry ,drys out the poop and makes it easy for me to clean out. I hope this helps. Oh be careful what you clean out the floor and coop with. A lot of the cleanners have ammonia in them or vinegar. gloria Jean

 

[ladybug99]

I used DE because it is what I had on hand...I have always used it on my floors.... I guess it is just personal choice and besides the feed store did not have any lime... I would not use the lime you get from the hardware store.. it burns my hands I could only imagine what it would do to my chickies little feet. I use sevin for mite control.

Why I use sand....I used wood shavings when I first started and to tell you the truth even with the deep litter method my coop always smelled of ammonia... like knock you over ammonia smell. I also have a terrible back and cleaning out a coop full of soggy wet wood chips is just not for me even if it only a few times a year....I would rather take my little pooper scooper in each day and sweep up the hard little poop balls and toss them into my much pile bucket...I fill one up a week between my 40 something chickens. No "muck " boots needed

 

[Beth G.]

Quote:
Sounds like a great system. I don't care if you use AG Lime or not. It still irritates their tootsies. I worked for a vet for years and you wouldn't believe all the animals we would get calls about that had exposure to lime and burned the soles of their feet

SO sad to see especially since most animals mask their discomfort or pain to avoid being picked on. Anyway I guess what ever works for one is best thing to do. I really like the idea of sand for my outdoor pens. Does the sand drain out the rain easy or did you have to do process down then sand for better drainage?

I just paid 3 guys to spend 6 hours at my poultry farm to move all the birds to a fenced in pasture away from their normal places, scrape out all chicken housing, scrap down 4 inches in the pens/runs and clean out all wet gunk. they then sprayed all area's with a watered down Oxine solution inside and out. In the pens we let the sun hit it all day to dry it out and then i sprinkled DE on the dry part. I then put fresh sandy gravely soil back ontop lightly. I sprinkled it again with DE and hung up a ton of those vanillaroma car air freshners. For inside the coops my husband built them with Lexan plastic on the walls and ceiling. He put a thick layered insulated plastic floor down with a pitch. He did this so the guys can come in, spray down the whole inside of the coops and scrub them out, the roosts, and all nesting boxes are removed and then scrubbed outside separately. They then rinse everything well and let the coop drain into a pan that is disposed and put fans on the coops till the end of the day. Then we sprinkle Sevin dust all over, put our bedding in, sprinkle more sevin all over that. rebed the nesting same way, and waalahh everything is super cleaned. I do this twice a year. Once in the spring and then in the fall. I had to do it early this year b/c all of the rain in New England its awful here. So, I may do this one more time on a warmer day in early November.

I just love seeing them go into the freshly cleaned coop all bauking at each other in excitement of all the new bedding and like little kids in the candy store kinda reaction. It puts a big ole smile on my face