Stinky brooder!

[Mountain_artist]

Hi, I am new to chickens, so my apologies in advance for my cluelessness. We have 4 barred rock babies, 3 weeks old, in a brooder in the kitchen. Overall, they are delightful and we all enjoy them tremendously especially our two little girls ages 4 and 8. Very early on, I switched out the scalding hot fast food heat lamp for an electric hen brooder because of numerous reasons including the smell of roasted chicken poop. We use pine shavings as bedding in a big plastic tub in our kitchen. This is pretty much the only place we can keep their big box, which they are quickly outgrowing, until they move outside in the chicken coop that has yet to be built.

One of my reservations about getting baby chicks was keeping them in our house for that first month or two--I suspected they would be stinky and possibly loud, but all my chicken friends assured me that they do not stink!
Well, I have a sensitive nose, and...
They stink!!

My husband changes the pine shavings every few days and I wipe off the huge amounts of poop that accumulate hourly on the electric hen brooder top. We change their water multiple times a day because they poop in it and kick pine shavings in it. They eat Purina organic chick feed as well as some treats, but they are not overly interested in the many treats they've been offered.

We have cats and dogs and have had indoor and outdoor fish, AND we do have two kids whom we cloth diapered, so it's not like we are completely horrified about the reality that *everybody poops* and have unrealistic expectations about it, BUT!

But! This chicken poop seems excessive in both amount and odor for 4 tiny creatures! They are continually pooping. They seem healthy, active, and happy, but am I doing something wrong to cause these cutie pies to produce such a literally never-ending stream of atrocious poop? My house smells like poop. Even my husband, who has an underwhelming sense of smell, says it stinks in here.
(bonus: He is now super-motivated to get that coop built this weekend!!)
I type this with lightheartedness and a sense of humor, but it really is an issue that I would love some feedback about.
How soon can I move these babies out to the coop? They still look very much like babies with some awkward tween feathers going on. We live in western NC in the mountains, and this weather is crazy with lows in the 20's and 30's lately. Our coop probably won't be near electricity. Right now, these spoiled babies chirp loudly at night until our dog comes and lays by their clear plastic box, then they cuddle up next to him like he is their mamma! (he is outside the box, they are inside.) I can't imagine them coping with being outside in the cold alone, but I also can't imagine them stinking up my house much longer!!

 

[SueT]

Are you feeding anything other than chick crumbles? As for cleaning out the brooder,
for the first week, I cleaned it out once, then every day by 2 weeks, and by 3 weeks of age, I was changing bedding 2X a day! I weaned mine off heat by 4 weeks and moved them out to coop at 5 weeks, lows in the 30's, no heat, they were fine. Now they're 2+months old and have been thru several spring freezes. I wish winter were over, but they can take it, they have down jackets!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Can you move the brooder to the garage, shed, anyplace out of the kitchen?

In the mean time putting down some sweet PDZ under the shavings, raising the water dish on bricks and weaning them off the heat should help.

 

[azygous]

Look on the positive side. Lots of poop means healthy chicks.

Three weeks is old enough for your chicks to start spending time outdoors during the day. This serves a multi-fold purpose, not the least of which is to get them out of your hair (and nose) during the day. It also will serve to acclimatize them to cooler temps so they will be very primed to move into that new coop.

You'll just need to rig a safe pen outdoors, predator and wind-proof, and provide a shelter/huddle box https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wool-hen-anyone-else.1169926/ for them to scoot into to snuggle to share body heat to re-warm. Choose a day in the 60s to begin, and bring them back inside when you see signs of chilling. Remove their heat from their brooder during the day, using it only at night for the time being.

The chicks will very quickly adapt to the cooler temps and be able to remain outside for longer periods.

After a few days, your chicks should be able to handle temps in the 50s,
meanwhile enjoying having lots of space to flex their wings.

 

[Spartan22]

We have kept chicks as later as 8 wks in our garage the first year, I don’t remember it being stinky. We normally keep them for 2 weeks in our laundry then move to the garage until theyre 6 wks old off to the coop. We’ve been brooding in the House for 5 yrs straight. One thing is keeping everything dry in the brooder, to prevent smell, I don’t use the brooding plate, since after the 1st week they will just jump on it and poop on it. We top the beddings every couple of days and replace and clean once a week(like you I can’t stand the smell so we prevent them, I got serious allergy).

Make sure you elevate the drinking container with a stable prop like brick to the height of their back to prevent soil and shavings, we replace the water every morning and take it off at night. Most of the time wet feed are actually worse than poop smell. Size of the brooder matters also reason we brood in big boxes (breath better than plastic) we can actually add room to it by cutting sides and taping multiple rooms (boxes) in case the move get delayed. I’ve posted my photos few times, hope this will help. So your kids can enjoy them in your house while you build.

 

[Mountain_artist]

Are you feeding anything other than chick crumbles? As for cleaning out the brooder,
for the first week, I cleaned it out once, then every day by 2 weeks, and by 3 weeks of age, I was changing bedding 2X a day! I weaned mine off heat by 4 weeks and moved them out to coop at 5 weeks, lows in the 30's, no heat, they were fine. Now they're 2+months old and have been thru several spring freezes. I wish winter were over, but they can take it, they have down jackets!

No, not really feeding much else. We do TRY to offer them some tiny kitchen scraps, but after they mess with them for 2 seconds, we take them out to avoid spoilage. They liked canned corn though, but that was only offered once.

Good to know others clean out shavings daily!! We need to do that ASAP then!!

Can you move the brooder to the garage, shed, anyplace out of the kitchen?

In the mean time putting down some sweet PDZ under the shavings, raising the water dish on bricks and weaning them off the heat should help.

Nope, nowhere else to put them right now. What is PDZ?

Look on the positive side. Lots of poop means healthy chicks.

Three weeks is old enough for your chicks to start spending time outdoors during the day. This serves a multi-fold purpose, not the least of which is to get them out of your hair (and nose) during the day. It also will serve to acclimatize them to cooler temps so they will be very primed to move into that new coop.

You'll just need to rig a safe pen outdoors, predator and wind-proof, and provide a shelter/huddle box https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wool-hen-anyone-else.1169926/ for them to scoot into to snuggle to share body heat to re-warm. Choose a day in the 60s to begin, and bring them back inside when you see signs of chilling. Remove their heat from their brooder during the day, using it only at night for the time being.

The chicks will very quickly adapt to the cooler temps and be able to remain outside for longer periods.

After a few days, your chicks should be able to handle temps in the 50s,
meanwhile enjoying having lots of space to flex their wings.

Thanks for that affirmation! As soon as I read it, I put them outside on the covered porch! We lifted their lid for a while and they got their first glimpse of outside. They are now napping in their stinky brooder box in the sun!! My house smells much better and moving forward, I will be putting them outside during part of each day!

We have kept chicks as later as 8 wks in our garage the first year, I don’t remember it being stinky. We normally keep them for 2 weeks in our laundry then move to the garage until theyre 6 wks old off to the coop. We’ve been brooding in the House for 5 yrs straight. One thing is keeping everything dry in the brooder, to prevent smell, I don’t use the brooding plate, since after the 1st week they will just jump on it and poop on it. We top the beddings every couple of days and replace and clean once a week(like you I can’t stand the smell so we prevent them, I got serious allergy).

Make sure you elevate the drinking container with a stable prop like brick to the height of their back to prevent soil and shavings, we replace the water every morning and take it off at night. Most of the time wet feed are actually worse than poop smell. Size of the brooder matters also reason we brood in big boxes (breath better than plastic) we can actually add room to it by cutting sides and taping multiple rooms (boxes) in case the move get delayed. I’ve posted my photos few times, hope this will help. So your kids can enjoy them in your house while you build.
View attachment 1333105

That's a swell brooder box complex! My husband insisted cardboard would get filthy and spent $15 on a clear plastic bin, which broke my frugal little heart! I think he will listen to me more in the future! Their water is elevated, but they are flying and jumping all over like maniacs in there so we've had to clean it every few hours which is kind of maddening. They also bury their food in shavings. We cut back on shavings, which doesn't help with the odor :/

Y'all have been super helpful! Confirming these spoiled babies can and should indeed spend less time stinking up my kitchen and more time outside getting used to living in fresh air makes me feel much better!
Also knowing we should change that pine every day makes a whole lot more sense!

 

[21hens-incharge]

It is used to keep odor down in horse stalls. Many people on here have found it useful on the poop boards in their coop.

http://www.sweetpdz.com


Don't leave their brooder in the sun! It can become very hot very quickly.

 

[HenHouse4Life]

Hi
My hubby has a sensitive nose....i change the pine shavings every day, at least where the poop is.
I keep our chicks water on a little pottery dish turned upside down. .. keeps it raised enough for them to still reach but also keeps them from kicking shavings into it.
Our chicks stay inside until they are fully feathered. The soft down of a chick doesn't insulate from the weather and we live in Michigan so. ... lol
Good luck with your babies!!!!

 

[llombardo]

Mine are in the bathroom.i just changed out the bedding Sunday. It was first time in about a month. It really didn't even need to be done. I was surprised that it didn't smell...lol

 

[usmcpilot06]

here is what I do. Take a piece of the fine fence with the 1/2 inch holes, use t as a sift. Put it over a 5 gallon bucket and catch all of the poop and the fine stuff in the bucket. put the larger stuff back in the box. Take everything in the bucket out to the compost bin or put it on your flowers garden. To keep my chicks from scratching wood shaving into the water I put it on top of a couple bricks, just high enough that they can still drink from it but not scratch wood into it....it wont stop them, but it does help. Today I switched to a hanging water bucket with chicken nipples, it took the a bit to figure it out. But soon as one figured it out the rest joined in.