Stinky!!!!!

[quercus21]

I have to agree with Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay, no live stock in the house. What temps are you talking about? I have some meaties that I received this past sunday in the garage. It's about 50 degrees in there and they are doing fine. They have a light bulb with a metal cone for heat and all the food they want.

 

[ilovechickens]

They are heading out to the coop TODAY!!!!!!, I will keep my brooder of baby chicks in the basement until they are 3 weeks old, then they go out to the coop with a heat lamp. I live in West Central Wisconsin, the nights are cool in the 30's but with a heat lamp they should be fine. Thank you all for your input,

 

[Southern Gardener]

I had mine in the house for one week - then outside on the patio and I could still smell them through the kitchen window - I moved them to the chicken tractor last night WAY out in the yard!

 

[brandywine]

I've got 100 range broiler chicks, 4 cornish crosses (for comparison in my meat experiments) and 14 assorted eggers in three potato bins in the basement. The youngest (all the broilers and three of the layer pullets) are a week old.

No smell. None. Just cheeping and fat.

They are on a thick litter of horse bedding (sawdust), which I have stirred once, and will stir again today.

What am I doing that everyone else isn't? Or vice versa?

It's very convenient to be able to nip downstairs and check on them, plus the basement is very warm, so less need for heat lamps. I'll keep whatever livestock I darn well please in my house.

Now the ducks -- the @&^!@ DUCKS, on the other hand -- I couldn't get them out to the barn fast enough.

And now I'm desperate to finish their little duck house and get them out of my #@!&^ barn.

At which point, the broilers will move to their stall until they are ready to move to range shelters.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

*SHAKES HEAD* Clean, clean, clean... When you think you've spot cleaned enough, clean some more. Like seriously, make several trips a day down there to do "housekeeping". It really helps if you have to have them inside!
I had 60 in my dining room for over 3 weeks and you could hardly smell a thing!

 

[the_great_snag]

I just moved my 3 broiler chicks outside today. I had them in a rubbermaid tote, and after 2 weeks they were starting to stink a bit, but I changed out their shaving every couple days.

I've run 100 in my basement in the past and never had an odor issue though. The key for me was keeping the bedding dry and providing the birds enough space.

My only recommendations are:

pine shavings
sufficient space
keep everything DRY

Try elevating your waterer up on blocks as high as you can get it while still allowing your chicks to reach it. It keeps the litter out of it as much as possible, and seems to keep things dryer and cleaner in the brooder.

 

[cassie]

People keep talking about how bad meat chickens smell, and I have no idea what they are talking about. We bed ours on shavings. We make sure the shavings are dry. If they seem damp or look dirty we add more shavings. The pen gets cleaned when the chickens go in the freezer, not before. I have 25 Cornish X in a 12' X 12' box stall. There is very little odor. The chickens are clean and white.

 

[the_great_snag]

Quote:
I agree 100%. I have read that some commercial producers actually run 2 or 3 batches of birds on the same bedding before changing it.

Keeping the waterer clean and up out of hte bedding is the best thing you can do to avoid smell and filth.

 

[JohnL11935]

My neighbor insists on doing his meat birds in the fall. Chicks arrive ~ September 1st and spend three to five days in the brooder and then its out to the tractor. No lights necessary and little concern for drafts. He just covers the tractor with a tarp if overnight temps are expected to drop.

Come harvest time (end of October) the daytime temps have cooled off and it makes processing much nicer.



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