Strong amonia smell in hen house???

[patandchickens]

It boils down to: too much ammonia being produced for the amount of ventilation you have.

Usual reason why smell is worse now than in summer: cooler air holds much less moisture, so the coop and litter have more of a tendency towards humidity than in summer, plus you probably have less ventilation to boot.

Simple solution: increase ventilation. Keep it that way. Yes, even when it's colder out. Problem *probably* solved.

More sophistication: either swiftly remove or swiftly dry out the poo before much ammonia gets released. A droppings board under the roost, that each morning you scrape its deposits into a bucket (elapsed time: like, 20 seconds) and empty the bucket onto your compost pile on the way back to the house, will help a fair bit. Adding bedding and fluffing it all together, especially if you use kilndried shavings, will also help by drying out the poo faster so it has less chance to offgass ammonia. (Fewer chickens woudl also help, but I assume none of us are going to consider that <g>)

 

[cjstanman]

I'm very glad this question got posted. I have six 9-wk. olds in an A-frame tractor. Half is coop, half is open to the grass (but covered with hardware cloth). I move it every other day. There is ventilation out the top, plus the pop door is just a doorway - i.e. not closed. I have a length-wise cut of PVC pipe over the roof peak so air can get out but rain can't get in. Also, the side walls overhang the floor by about 1" so rain should run right off to the outside of the coop.

I have been transitioning them over to grower/finisher by giving them a half-n-half mixture, and basically chalked up the slightly more noticeable smell to the change in feed, based on reading other threads. (I figured it was like babies, switching from breast milk to real food - euw! lol)

They have a lower and higher roosts and have figured that out, so at least they're not sitting in their poop. I have been putting pine shavings down, but it sounds like I need to put MORE down. When I move the tractor, I take a hoe, scrape everything out the pop door, and move it up-n-over the pile to a fresh stretch of lawn.

Do I need more shavings? Need to move it more often? Both? ha ha! Thanks for the info - this is very helpful.

 

[vfem]

Aww... you are the one with the coop I showed hubby and asked for! I got the stink eye!

Anyways... moisture is your enemy in the coop, and makes for more work and less healthy chickens. I need to move my hanging water bucket out of the coop when everyone figures out the run right. Right now they all keep spilling and I have to scoop every morning from all the wet litter around it.

:|

 

[cjstanman]

Quote:
Ha ha! Keep working on him - it's a good little tractor.

I think I just need to find the right balance of moving + shavings and just haven't hit it yet. My guys are getting big and I plan on getting rid of the two roosters, so that should help as well (less chicken per sq. ft.) P.S. The food and water are in the outside part, not the coop part.

Hey, I'm up near Creedmoor, any time you want to come check it out, just come on by!

 

[Guitartists]

Quote:
I experienced the same thing... NO smell until the weather changed.... now all of a sudden it stinks

It's my first coop though... so it is a learning process, but I wonder if the temp change killed off or slowed down the organisms that break down the waste???? Just a thought.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I'm glad you discovered the leak. That would definitely cause a problem!

 

[Opa]

Every day is a learning experience for me and I'm sure it is for most of us. Glad you found your problem.

 

[Chez Poulet]

I'm kind of late in the game with my post here, but if anyone is still watching this thread, let me know.

I've noticed the ammonia smell is stronger since the weather got cooler. Living in western Washington doesn't seem to help with keeping the moisture away or dried out. Summer wasn't a problem at all. My coop is solidly built, no leaks and I keep the linoleum that is over the wood flooring clean. I can't go past three weeks without having to change the litter. I can go through a whole huge bag of pine shavings in that amount of time. I turn the soiled litter over to air it out and sprinkle fresh on top, but the smell still accumulates. I have the hen door that is in the coop 'person' door open at all time, but no rain gets in, just chickens with wet feet come in. There is plenty of air with no drafts and the ceiling is 6 ft. and it's and 8 x 8 coop raised 2 feet off the ground (ground stays nice and dry and has roosts under so that the girls can stay dry and dust bathe and sit on the roosts if they don't want to be in the dry dirt.) the waterer doesn't leak either. The windows are a decent size and I keep them open during the day and keep one cracked at night.

The board under the roosts sound like a good idea and can scrape off in the morning to catch most of the poop. It seems they poop a TON at night and most don't want to hang out during the day in the coop except for when they are laying, so this might solve the problem of accumulating poop on the litter.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Just wondering (in a trying to help kind of way), how much ventilation is there in addition to the windows and pophole door? Unless it is a goodly number of square feet, that may well be your problem there... hens with wet feet are not going to make a well ventilated coop especially humid or smelly.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Chez Poulet]

There are screened windows on the west and east side. Around the big door isn't sealed too night and then then highest point of the coop in the front, has some ventilation along the roofline. How does one balance enough air without giving the chickens any drafty conditions. The average temp. of the coop is around 60 during the day and 50-55 at night. Heat lamp is on during cold nights that will get around 40 or below. I keep the eastern window cracked at night, but open during the day and the pophole door is open all day long. When it is not raining, the whole door is open.
Thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated.