Smelly run

[Debs992993]

Hi, I have had my 3 lovely girls for over 2 months now, when we first got them they were in a 3 meter run with the coop attached, As the run was on soil we used some wood bark on top of the soil. - after raking it every day the wood bark has started to degrade in to the soil and hardened with the sun, giving off a horrible rotten flesh smell - in return this in now attracting a lot of fly's, I've started to dig up and fork over the soil to help with drainage ect, but now I have other problems, HOW DO I GET RID OF THE RANCID SMELL? IS THERE ANYTHING NATURALLY I CAN USE? and IS BARE SOIL OK FOR CHICKENS TO BE ON OR DO THEY NEED SOMETHING LIKE A FLOORING UNDER THEM?

 

[Mrs. K]

i t needs to be dry. I put a lot of bedding in my run. I use old hay. Periodically I have to pile it up, so that they ground under neath it dries out. After if is throughly used up, I pile it and compost it, for use on my garden.

If you have smell, your bedding is wwet. You need to get it dried out. A lot of the country has gotten so much rain this year, that this complaint has come on often.

Check for good drainage, add or change out your bedding. Add fresh bedding to help dry it ip.

Mrs K

 

[Debs992993]

your not wrong about the rain lol, I don't have any bedding down at the moment. the coop is raised up off the ground so all the bedding is stored in there, then there's a separate run attached to it which is currently soil based - it originally had wood chips down but as they have degraded in to the soil its caused a hard skin over the top which I have tried to break down but it still smells really bad

 

[TalkALittle]

What are the dimensions of your run and is it covered? How deep a layer of wood chips did you put down?

Here's the story of my stinky run and how I eliminated the smell.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/959402/help-springtime-stink-in-the-run

 

[ECBW]

Bedding material like straws and wood chip will retain moisture more than bare soil. I have just soil and good drainage and very little oder.

 

[Debs992993]

This is my set up I'm not sure about the depth but the run is 3ft long, I've started to turn over the soil at the front to help they dry do you think I should put dome hay on top to help?

 

[TalkALittle]

Your area doesn't look that wet to me.Unfortunately, I don't think you have a moisture problem as much as I think your problem is that your run is too small for the amount of poop that your birds generate. It builds up in the soil quicker than it can break down. Then if the soil gets wet it amplifies the smell.

On thing that would work is to move your coop and run to fresh ground every week so that the poop doesn't build up. Turn over the soil in the old spot to give the poop in that area a chance to break down.

Another thing you could do is to put in at least 6-8 inches of a mixture of wood chips, pine shavings, and chopped straw down as a kind of deep litter. I dont think yyou will be able to do a true deep litter (cold composting) because the space is so small. I think you'd have to clean it all out after a while because your poop will likely still build up faster than it can break down in such a small space. Even still, I think you will have some decomposition and will offer you better odor control than you currently have.

 

[Debs992993]

It's more that the wood chips,we originally used the stuff that you use to help control weeds in the garden) have created a hard crust therefore the water doesn't drain great which I think has caused the smelly problem. The girls have the run of the garden when we get in from work but I will be looking at extending there running area and try adding some hay and see where that gets me

 

[olderoo]

Straw is your friend.

Add a 6" layer of straw and let them walk around on that. Before laying down the straw add hydrated lime to the soil. Keep adding straw as the bottom layers break down, the idea being to keep them on this elevated "mattress" of straw.

What you are doing is called "yarding," albeit on a micro scale. Because of this small, highly concentrated scale, you have overloaded the soils ability to process the waste from your birds. You're not keeping chickens; you're in the waste management business (and doing badly at it.)

Yarding in the sense Im recommending reached its zenith in the 1950's, thanks to a man named Geoffrey Sykes in Britain. He devised a way to keep concentrations of birds in small yards using straw bedding. I used to have his book, but loaned it to someone and they lost it. It is rare and very hard to come by nowadays.

Here is a link to the wiki article on the practice. Pay close attention to the paragraph on Mr. Sykes.:

:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarding

Here's a commentary by our old friend Bob Plamondon:


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[TalkALittle]

Sounds like you're missing a key ingredient. Aeration. Decomposition needs oxygen. Normally, chickens are pretty capable of turning the litter over enough with their scratching around to fluff the material and incorporate air into it. Using litter with a variety of sizes and textures also allows for air pockets that keep the composting going. If your mulch/wood chips have matted down then try to rake them to keep them fluffed up.

Hay can be a good addition to bedding and litter but I wouldn't use hay alone. It mats down, holds moisture, and will get moldy. Try for a mixture of materials. Think brown and dry carbon to balance out the wet nitrogen in the poop. Shredded leaves, shavings, chopped straw. If the chickens aren't scratching through it enough to aerate it enough then mix it up with a rake.