Smelly run

[akdunn]

Is there any water puddling inside the run or does it drain well?

BIG wood chippings and some other little stuff.

My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.

No, when it does rain, it never puddles or stays there for very long.

 

[akdunn]

That's probably the primary problem.

Bedding in the run serves two purposes -- to absorb water and to digest the poop in a composting process.

Does water puddle in the run and stand there? Does groundwater runoff flow through the run?

If yes to either question then you need to address your drainage problem because no amount of bedding and no amount of roofing will suffice if the run doesn't drain properly.

Yea, the water never puddles or when it does it evaporates pretty fast. I am going to put bedding down soon, I just haven't gotten the chane yet though. Thanks for the idea!

 

[3KillerBs]

Yea, the water never puddles or when it does it evaporates pretty fast. I am going to put bedding down soon, I just haven't gotten the chane yet though. Thanks for the idea!

The best bedding, IMO, is a mix of materials and textures: Wood chips, straw, pine straw, wood shavings, fall leaves, ... whatever dry, organic material that comes to hand.

If you're raking fall leaves right now you can just rake them right into the run to start the bedding mixture.

 

[akdunn]

The best bedding, IMO, is a mix of materials and textures: Wood chips, straw, pine straw, wood shavings, fall leaves, ... whatever dry, organic material that comes to hand.

If you're raking fall leaves right now you can just rake them right into the run to start the bedding mixture.

Ok, thanks! Will do!

 

[Daisycar]

Also, chickens were jungle animals, designed to dig into the forest duff for bugs and worms, and really want to have that sort of substrate available to them.
Mary

Thank you Mary. I didn't think about this.

 

[yakitori]

I think anything that can get some healthy decomposition going on will cut back the smell significantly. My run does fine just on leaf litter, but I definitely don't get as much rain as you do!

For an easy kick start to the composting process in your run, I recommend pelletized pine bedding. When in contact with water, it breaks down to a bedding a little bit coarser than saw dust, and coats/absorbs droppings really well. I would use this in addition to a few of the the above recommendations (fall leaves, mulch etc.)

This is the floor of my run (the chickens have discovered a snake). It's mostly leaf litter, but if you look closely, you'll see there's quite a bit of leaf mulch under that too. I think the varying sizes of bedding material plays different functions in the run. The whole leaves keep the girls digging for critters, which mulches the leaves. Then the mulched leaves help absorb ammonia and aid decomposition. I simply add more leaves to sustain this process. I'm hoping to have a good amount of compost for my garden this coming spring!

A member mentioned that leaf litter gets icky when wet, so for your situation I wouldn't use exclusively that...