Smelly run... what to do?

[Aunt Angus]

And I love your username! Reminds me of one of my fave cartoons based on one of my fave books of all time!

 

[Criticalicious]

If you have access to free natural materials, use those first. Dry leaves for example. I have acres of pine forest on my property, so I use free pine needles. Don't use grass clippings because chickens will eat those and get impacted crops, but wood chips and sand work well. That's assuming the run is big enough for the number of birds. If they are usually confined, 10 sq ft per bird is recommended.

 

[Maddmim]

Oh, that’s why you are having a problem. The run is not even big enough for three chickens, so five will make the problem even worse. Is there anyway you can move the whole coop and run to a different spot? I think with that many chickens in such a small area, you need to clean it out at least twice a day.

Per the guidelines, it’s big enough. They are also 10 weeks old. Moving it isn’t going to change the size it’s in the most optimal place in my yard with the best drainage and shade. I feel the issue is there is nothing to absorb the waste. Which I have changed based on advice given today

 

[Maddmim]

thanks, all! I have started with adding uncolored, untreated mulch. It’s small but we do not want to tractor it so we went ahead and did the mulch. We are also planning to build an extension onto the run next weekend. At this time, it smells just fine after I added the mulch and the girls enjoyed a sunny day out roaming the yard.

I am going to look into deep liter and do plan to build a coop in the future, right now we need to stick with what we have so I can continue to learn and figure out what I’ll do differently next time

 

[aart]

I feel the issue is there is nothing to absorb the waste.

Exactly!
What did you use?

 

[Maddmim]

And I love your username! Reminds me of one of my fave cartoons based on one of my fave books of all time!
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Thanks! She’s my favorite

 

[Ribh]

I will 2nd DLM. I use it in my coop run. At the 1st sign of any odour I just add another pile. The chickens get excited & within minutes they have scratched through it & mingled it with what was already there & all smells are gone! My breeder recommended a little lime to help control odours but I've never tried it so I don't know.

 

[Aunt Angus]

They will be so happy once they can get out! I love watching mine roam around my yard, pecking and scratching. It's the best.

 

[Maddmim]

Exactly!
What did you use?

I used a bag of mulch I bought from a local garden, it is a mix of hardwood that is not colored or treated. I could have got the same for free probably but wasn’t sure where to go and I needed to fix it immediately haha.

 

[MountainWoman73]

smelly = wet. Anything you can do to dry it out will help.