Smelly Turkey Droppings

[Farmer Gab]

Hi! I have two toms and two hens (heritage bourbons) that I boughts as chicks in March. They appear very healthy and happy! Recently, the monsoons hit and we received a lot of rain. Ever since then, the odor coming from the turkey pen is HORRENDOUS! We have pigs, goats, and chickens and NONE of them smell this bad. The odor seems to be triggered by water. Does this sound accurate? What is causing this smell? We had wanted to butcher one tom and keep the others for breeding, but now that we almost vomit every time we near their pen, we are not so sure......

Also, is anyone aware of a discussion site dedicated to turkeys?

Thanks,

Gabrielle

 

[SueNH]

Big birds make for big bird poo.

I think it's the higher protein in the turkey/gamebird feed. Clean out the pen and spread lime.

Yahoo groups has the Rare Heritage turkey list.

 

[ivan3]

What's your drainage like (pools up or runs off)? Our run is sloped and bedded with large grain sand and (except when ours eat too many grapes - big stinkers) we have very few flys and minimal odor.

Flooring in turkey shed is layered: Sand&DE/Pine Shavings/Straw - run and shed raked daily.

 

[SandraChick]

take any bird droppings (chickens, turkeys, etc) and add water and you'll get high levels of amonia. Additionally, wet straw rots pretty smelly.

The key to a healthy coop is to keep it DRY. Also, I don't use straw because it harbors mites (although the DE should take care of that).

It's really unhealthy for your turkeys to be in that coop right now. I would clean out the bedding....especially anything that is moist/wet. Then add fresh shavings and DE. Make sure it's well aired out also.

Try to fix the moisture problem...is it a leak? It could be the birds themselves. Putting up a temporary eve over the doorway area that stays dry helped with my chickens. They "drip" a bunch there before getting into the henhouse, so the henhouse stays dry.

Good Luck
Sandra

 

[ivan3]

SandraChick, we've not had a vermin problem with the straw here. Hay would probably work just as well. We get our straw from a neighbor and I check the stuff on occasion with a x20 loupe. The straw/wood chips catch most of the droppings from the roost so it's easy to clean (no deep litter method with turkeys!). In a 7`x8` shed started with 200Lb. large grain sand mixed with 2Lb. of DE over linoleum attached to 1"x2" treated plywood. This way when we spring clean we can toss the pine shavings/straw and just add the old sand/DE to the run.

Raking and changing bedding daily seems to be the key here (but we don't have to contend with that much water).

 

[SandraChick]

The hay doesn't bring in the mites...it makes good daytime homes for them....

But like I said...the DE you use takes care of that.

Good luck on getting the smell out!
Sandra