The Smell...THE SMELL!!

[hereorthere]

nobody else use straw hay........ i buy a bale of hay, put 6 inches or so in the coop,,, put it in the egg boxes..... change it out every 2-3 months.... i buy a bale of hay every 6 months or so....... way cheap............

Are you putting anything in with your hay? Like DE?

 

[starletblue]

We are in the Pacific NW and use deep litter method in the roosting area. We're having a tough time finding the right thing to use in the run area. Obviously we are dealing with a ton of rain here. We started with pine shavings which turned into a big soggy smelly mess. So we pulled those out and tried gravel. That was even worse because we couldn't really scoop it out for compost so we turned it every day instead, but within a week it made a horrendous stench. Yesterday we removed the gravel and put in 3 inches of straw. We'll see how that goes. I don't want to do sand because it will ruin my compost and I have heard that it doesn't work well in Washington because of the moisture. Does anyone else in our area use something that is working well in their run?

Thanks!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

We are in the Pacific NW and use deep litter method in the roosting area. We're having a tough time finding the right thing to use in the run area. Obviously we are dealing with a ton of rain here. We started with pine shavings which turned into a big soggy smelly mess. So we pulled those out and tried gravel. That was even worse because we couldn't really scoop it out for compost so we turned it every day instead, but within a week it made a horrendous stench. Yesterday we removed the gravel and put in 3 inches of straw. We'll see how that goes. I don't want to do sand because it will ruin my compost and I have heard that it doesn't work well in Washington because of the moisture. Does anyone else in our area use something that is working well in their run?

Thanks!

I am in WA and use sand inside my shed coops. I scoop it daily with a kitty litter scoop after raking it up (off topic I know but had to give sand in coops a plug since I am new to it and so thrilled).

For the run, I dump sand in front of the coops where I walk all the time. It helps tremendously. Shavings in the run totally smelled bad and turned to mush. Leaves turned to mush.

But what I wanted to mention was that I - every day- get a bucket load of chicken poo from my two shed coops, all nicely coated with sand and can put it anywhere I want to add fertilizer. Currently I am burying it for the large fowl on future garden ground, and for the bantams I just throw it over the fence and cover it with grass clippings near the fruit trees.

Here is the mud page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-fix-a-muddy-run-chicken-coop

 

[bigpapa69]

i have neighbor that cuts trees and get wood chips to put in the run works good as long as there is not to much rain and it floods in and wets them change them about every 2 weeks or as needed and there free

 

[Nikki99]

We are in the Pacific NW and use deep litter method in the roosting area. We're having a tough time finding the right thing to use in the run area. Obviously we are dealing with a ton of rain here. We started with pine shavings which turned into a big soggy smelly mess. So we pulled those out and tried gravel. That was even worse because we couldn't really scoop it out for compost so we turned it every day instead, but within a week it made a horrendous stench. Yesterday we removed the gravel and put in 3 inches of straw. We'll see how that goes. I don't want to do sand because it will ruin my compost and I have heard that it doesn't work well in Washington because of the moisture. Does anyone else in our area use something that is working well in their run?

Thanks!

We're in the PNW as well. This is our first winter with chickens and the smell (I'm pretty sure is from the run/critter yard) is awful!! We even have to wear different clothes to do "chicken chores" or we will smell like it all day long! This thread has given some good tips so I think I'll be heading to town today to pick up a few things. We haven't had a problem with smell until winter set in, our coop has good ventilation, poop boards, shavings, water kept outside but there's a few tweaks I think need to be made. Mostly I'm pretty sure it's coming from the run, it's more like a yard so keeping it dry is impossible. Hopefully something I've read hear will work because this is getting to the point where it's almost to much!

 

[Runawaylobster]

I heard of this stuff called Sweet PZ for horse stalls.... that is supposed to get rid of smells,
I haven't used it myself but i heard it works.

 

[Nikki99]

That's the same stuff we bought yesterday (sweet pdz). We sprinkled that inside and picked up some gardening lime to sprinkle outside, hopefully we will notice a huge difference very soon!!

 

[starletblue]

Thanks ChickensAreSweet! The straw ended up working pretty well for us since the chickens don't spend much time in the run area of their coop anyway. We also have straw in the entire animal yard though, and when things get really wet it's hard to clean it out without taking everything out and starting new. It's great in the sunshine and warm weather but after days of rain it all breaks down into muck. I posted an article on this on my blog where I was trying multiple materials in different areas of the animal yard. I think I will try a section of sand and see how it compares.

Nikki99, I'd like to hear how your changes turned out and if the smell improved!

 

[wolfpup]

Being in the NW of England I also have a problem with wet weather. I did research before we got our girls, dismissed sand because of our high winds and rainfall (I get sand in the house because of our proximity to the beach as it is) as the base of the run is concrete I wanted/needed something for them. I went for hardwood woodchip because I had read it kept its form better than softwood woodchip and only needed to be changed once or twice a year. It was only down for 8 weeks before it had turned to mush and smelled dreadful - mainly because of the excessive rain we have had I am sure. Currently we now have gravel down - and whilst I dont like it - the smell is much improved - to the point there is none. Once the girls are in bed the run can be hosed down quickly and easily and it drains easily. However if anyone can suggest something better for the girls than gravel that can cope with rainfall please let me know. I do have three large potting tubs in the run for their dust baths and occasionally throw in worms for them to forage for, and I was wondering about filling the bottom of their run with soil to make it softer than gravel - but would then have the problem of mud - and after reading the post on How to fix a muddy run https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-fix-a-muddy-run-chicken-coop - have gotten my thinking cap on again.

The coop is a small one, supposedly sufficient for 6 large hens (I only have three at the moment but considering getting another two) - I clean the nest boxes daily (it appears to be their favourite place to poop) and add more pine shavings (scented with eucalyptus) on a daily basis so have no buildup of poop or smells, and hubby cleans out the bottom of the coop - this usually has a large plastic bag laid down under the roosting poles and is removed and replaced every other day. If any actually goes on the bottom of the coop itself, it is easily cleaned as it has a metal pull-out base. When I manage to get hold of newspapers (we tend not to read them) then the used ones go straight to the compost bin.

I realize it is so much easier to clean a small coop and run rather than a large one and hope you get your problems sorted soon.

 

[calliescluckers]

got in 50 chicks yesterday... afternoon.... go in there today and... THE SMELL THE SMELL. what the heck does one do about the smell....? i have pine in there. i may add most of them are meaties.....


its stuck in my nose.