Smelly penned in large yard

[sherry36]

Can I use lime? Someone told me you use "farm grade". He uses it. What it the chickens eat some of it? I have a dozen girlies. I love them so and they supply me with beautiful eggs.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Is it smelly because of moisture issues? If so lime might not help with that, you might be better off working to reduce the moisture issue first. During the snow melt this spring my run was pretty wet and i had a bunch of straw bales, so I threw in half a bale and let them spread it around. It picked up a lot of the moisture and also the poop. I just raked it out after a week, threw it in compost and added more. I"ve since started to keep straw in the run all the time, wet or dry. Same thing I let them play with it for a week then rake it out and compost it. But I only have a 12x12 run for 8 birds so it cleans up pretty easy.