the smell!?! Any tips? Give them a bath?

[greytmommy]

my chicks are a LOT smellier now. Their poo stinks way way more than it did a week ago. Any tips for helping it? I want to hold them and such, but the smell is pretty offputting. I change the shavings regualrly. Can I give the chickies a bath? Will that help? Can I feed or suppliment w/ anything to help the rank poo smell?

 

[Gypsy07]

Bathing them won't make their poo smell better! If it's the actual chicks themselves that smell, your brooder probably needs to be cleaned out more often than you've been doing it up till now. But even if the brooder's clean they will probably step in their own poo right before you want to pick them up. That's just chickens for you though...

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

I can't stand the smell of chicken poop either! By the time mine got to be four weeks old I used a plastic glove and picked the poops out morning and night. That was the only thing that helped!

 

[Pele]

Change the litter, then change the litter again, then change it again. I am up to changing my chicks' cage twice a day now. Nothing else will work unfortunately since it's not their bodies that smell.

 

[BooBear]

Yal are funny.

I only change mine once a week. At 4 weeks they go from the baby brooder to the grow out brooder.
DE sprinkled into the bedding helps control oders.

 

[greytmommy]

Quote:
OMG..thank you SO much. I will get some DE....

Mine are only 2wks, so the thought of them getting SMELLIER is terrifying! i am cleaning out the brood box once a day already! and I love to love on them....and they just STINK! I might wash thier legs and feet, b/c I am sure that is part of the smell on them.

And I dont think it is normal, but they sometimes have runny poop. Isnt it supposed to be pretty firm?? Maybe I am giving them too many treats? They have access to sand/gril and have been eating it....

 

[mcjessen]

I know this has been asked before but what does DE stand for? I feel silly for asking but can't figure it out. I get what it's for but don't know what it's called.

 

[BrattishTaz]

My outdoor brooder flooded during a bad storm last week. The chicks were soooo gross!

I wiped them down as best I could but it was too cool to bathe them. I finally took them out to a sandy area of the yard and let them dust bathe which helped a lot.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Yep, me too...whats DE?

 

[KZ]

JustAChickenLittle&More :

Yep, me too...whats DE?

DE = Diatomaceous earth

Google it, its pretty amazing - many uses.