The smell help!!

[ronott1]

You can try putting hay in the run. Wait a week and turn it into the dirt. Spray litter life and cover with hay.

https://www.southlandorganics.com/collections/animal-health/products/poultry-litter-amendment

You can experiment with either turning in the hay weekly or etc and or moving the old hay to a compos bin.

 

[aart]

Its not the house they stay in it is the run I wrote it wrong. I am sorry. Their cook I clean out and put pine shaving in. Its their lot. It stinks. Smells sour. Its a 15 x 30 but they are not grown yet They are like 3-4 months old. I am going to be moving some out to a different lot soon.

That's plenty of run space for 14 birds.
Is it bare dirt?
Putting down any dry plant matter should help immediately, just a thin layer of straw every few days worked here. Then start adding more of a mix of materials, including larger wood chippings, not too much of any one thing.

Add carbon or brown stuff. Leaves, wood chips, hay, pine needles, compost or other. I had the same issue after the rain kept everything wet. I added more wood chips and things improved. I keep a lot of wood chips in there now. Trying the deep litter method, but I need more chips.

I don't stir it. I toss BOSS or bird seeds and let the hens work. They really like digging through leaves and wood chips to get all the tasty bits.

Ditto Dat^^^
The larger wood chips last the longest.

 

[newchick64]

Would Sakrete Multipurpose sand work in a run? I don't know if it's course enough. I think I'm going to put some wood chips on top also. I'm new to this whole chicken thing! lol

 

[aart]

Would Sakrete Multipurpose sand work in a run? I don't know if it's course enough. I think I'm going to put some wood chips on top also. I'm new to this whole chicken thing! lol

IMO, no, sand will not work to reduce odors.....just use the woods chips.
You need carbon to break down and 'compost' the poops.

 

[bajabirdbrain]

This is very interesting. Our run is
10'x24', covered and we have 10 chickens. Floor is mostly bare dirt but we have added a little sand to fill in depressions. BB cleans up poop every day and sometimes twice per day and we NEVER have had any smell. Summer we hang a spiraled fly strip or two but, again, we do not have many flies. We assume that getting rid of the poop is the key to cleanliness.

 

[coach723]

Ok I live in the city and have 14 Chickens. I noticed they are starting to smell!! What can I do to help with the smell?!? I live away from everyone and so far no complaints but I am scared. I use to live in the country and quiet a ways away from the next person so the smell wasnt a problem. I am kind of freaking out!

Its not the house they stay in it is the run I wrote it wrong. I am sorry. Their cook I clean out and put pine shaving in. Its their lot. It stinks. Smells sour. Its a 15 x 30 but they are not grown yet They are like 3-4 months old. I am going to be moving some out to a different lot soon.

As everyone has said, adding dry organic materials can help immensely. If you are having a lot of rain and your run is open that may be a lot of the issue. When droppings mix with moisture you get stink. If it gets wet/damp a lot, and stays wet, even adding organic materials isn't going to help. If it's getting wet then check your drainage and and try to deal with low spots that may allow water to sit, consider covering all or part of it to direct rain away from your run, even just a tarp could help in the short term. Runoff from surrounding buildings can amount to a lot of water in short periods of time. If it stays mostly dry, and you have dry materials to help absorb the moisture from droppings your odor will be very greatly reduced. The only other solution would be to rake and clean a lot more often to keep droppings accumulation down.

 

[aart]

BB cleans up poop every day and sometimes twice per day and we NEVER have had any smell.

Not everyone can, or wants, to do this.
So the sand is not the magic ingredient, it's the constant poop removal.

 

[boskelli1571]

Would Sakrete Multipurpose sand work in a run? I don't know if it's course enough. I think I'm going to put some wood chips on top also. I'm new to this whole chicken thing! lol

Regular sand is not ideal. Coarser material such as builders sand or river rock sand is much better.

 

[newchick64]

Thanks for the advice. I do keep it clean and rake it regularly. I don’t have a cover over the top of the run so it gets muddy when it rains. Do you think pine shavings would be ok? I only have 4 chickens. It’s not super stinky but I guess I’m thinking prevention at this point.

 

[boskelli1571]

Thanks for the advice. I do keep it clean and rake it regularly. I don’t have a cover over the top of the run so it gets muddy when it rains. Do you think pine shavings would be ok? I only have 4 chickens. It’s not super stinky but I guess I’m thinking prevention at this point.

You could use pine shavings, but they will get mucky fairly quickly and cost you money.
When autumn comes around, start raking like mad - I use pine needles, leaves etc. or go to the local council/maintenance folks and ask if they have any wood chips, they usually give them away for free.
If you are a gardener, once the chooks have finished with the mulch/leaf litter, you can put it on your garden