Stinky Coop Problems

[mmerritt]

Eggscellent8 - Go to Lowes.com and search "wood pellets". The first result should be "40 Lbs. Wood Pellets". They are $5.97 per bag. I've gotten different brands from different Lowe's stores, so the brand isn't specified. If you go to a Lowe's store, ask somebody in the outdoor/gardening section. At this time of year whatever they have is probably tucked away on a high shelf somewhere, but they'll be happy to get them down if they can find them. There are other places you can get them as well, like if you have a local hearth and grill store or whatever. Otherwise you might ask around at places like Tractor Supply, Wal Mart, etc.

 

[zion11]

What kind of floor does your garage have? I'm imagining it to be cement, which would mean there's no absorbtion layer at all, which would be pretty gross. We also use sand, but it's outside. Under the sand is gravel and under that is dirt.

 

[Eggcellent8]

Rock Home Isle, I think I might have that rotten egg smell in the coop. It's really bad... I don't have pictures at the moment of our set-up, but I know that it's not the best. We did not have time to finish it completly, but hopefully we will be able to finish it up soon.
Mmerritt, I found the pellets that you were talking about.

They look promising (and inexpensive compared to sand), but for now the priority is getting that window in! If that does not work as much as I'd like though, those pellets will definitely be an option. How do they compare to wood shavings? How absorbent are they?

Zion11, the floor is epoxied cement.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[mmerritt]

Quote:
Eggcellent - I only used wood shavings when I had tiny chicks in a plastic bin, but not in the big coop, so I'm not sure. I don't think I would like wood shavings as well which is why I'm using the pellets. I keep reading how sawdust is great bedding. Well, these wood pellets are just compressed (extruded) sawdust, so when they come apart they just turn back into sawdust. After a year you end up with a big batch of sawdust infused with decomposed chicken dung, which (from what I read) is one of the best things you can put on your garden. As for absorbency, mine seems dry as a bone after about a month. Working great.

 

[mmerritt]

Eggscellent8 - By the way, you can see my coop at https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/occupy-the-backyard. About halfway down is a picture of the inside of the coop and the chicks in the pellets right when I put them in for the first time. Here is a close-up of how it looks now after a month: https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/album/6207579/id/5088757/sort/display_order.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Here's a link to my coop project. It's about half the construction of the coop and half is details of my chicks and such.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/656727/coop-project-maken-the-plunge-getting-chickens

 

[Eggcellent8]

Wow! Sweet coops!

Mmerritt - I was doing some more research about wood pellets. I found, some people think it may be a problem for chickens since they could eat it and then swell up in their crop.

<who knows>. I am glad it works well for you. I think I might put the sand that is currently in their coop out in the run, and then maybe use pine shavings in their coop.

 

[Eggcellent8]

We got the window in Monday night! Yeah! You can already smell the difference.

 

[PDXcluck]

If you have sand over concrete, are you cleaning it often? You will probably need to scoop the poop every day or two to minimize the smell. For that type of set-up I would agree that shaving are by far your best bet.

I put sand and gravel over dirt in my outdoor run and have had four 10 wk olds out there for two weeks. There is no smell, I rake it every couple days but the poop just gets dried up and ground up and settles into the ground. I think this is a great application for sand...though the true test will be four full grown birds through a soggy PacNW winter!

Good luck, good to see the window helped!