UGH! It stinks so bad...what can i do???

[granmahen]

I would also ask how many are all together and how big is the space they are in? Seems crammed together in a small space would be stinkier. If all 27 are in a small brooder I'd get a bigger box. Maybe?

I've only had five at one time in the house, so it isn't so bad.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Until their coop is done, I would defiantly get the shavings for them.

 

[RickiHupp]

Ohhh I know what you mean about the stink!! We had 10 in the laundry room and that was really bad!!! Now I put all of mine in the basement, we built a little "stall" down there. I used it for my goats to kid and now I have 8 baby chicks and 3 ducks down there. They are doing great!! Just try and find a draft free space, attach a heat light and they should be fine!! Chicks are much stronger than what we think

Good Luck and Happy Smellings

 

[Ms Ellen]

Change your bedding, as has been suggested. They have some newspaper based bedding with lavender or rose petals in it that works pretty well but is expensive. Of course the chicks do eat the petals. Otherwise pine should work. The other thing to do is increase your ventilation. If you can, open windows and turn on a fan. Another option, which is again expensive, is to get a portable HEPA filter unit for the room with the chicks in it. Chicks put out a terrible white dander which gets on everything and is probably not good for you to be breathing anyway. If the odor is bad and you are keeping the chicks clean and dry, the ventilation in the house is probably not what it should be anyway.

 

[Southernbelle]

I brood all mine outdoors - I'm with you - after brooding 36 in the basement last year - the smell and dust wasn't for me. I promised DH I'd never brood chicks in the house again! Do you have any outbuildings at all you can put them in? Where do you live?

Most of my chicks are hatched under a broody hen and I was amazed at how hardy they are. All they have for warmth is Mama Hen and they still spent a remarkable amount of time out and about - they just tuck under Mama if they're cold. I imagine a heat lamp would meet their needs, if you could put the brooder box in a shed or something.

In the meantime can you use something like DE or Stall Dri in the brooder? I don't know if that's safe or not, some other people might have to weigh in on that.

Good luck!

 

[cassie]

If it smells really bad you are doing something wrong.
Too many chicks in too small a space or the wrong bedding are two things that come to mind. You should be using shavings.

 

[lil_chick_chick]

Actually we have a really huge cage that we put them in, we were using 3 smaller cages but we knew that wasnt going to work so we got one huge cage, its pretty big, the chicks have room to jump around and flap their wings and all that, infact its so big its taking up alot of space in my living room, also i do have them on newspaper, they seem cozy with it and all, i think we will switch to shavings though. I just got done cleaning their cage out again, and their all looking really cozy now and settling down and taking a nap. Also we live in missouri so the average temp during the day is around 65* But we been in a cold snap this past week, so its not to warm out right now, so they havent been outside at all.

 

[Akane]

And I didn't even change their bedding daily

I change the bedding when I move them to a larger brooder.

That's usually weeks. Really my house does not have much smell. I do have a very sensitive nose. Smells just don't bother me despite that. There's more smell coming from the garbage I forgot to take out than there is chicken/quail smell in my house and I'm behind on cleaning button pens. I don't understand why some people just seem to have smelly chicks unless the bedding makes that much difference. Maybe the food does contribute but all I buy is whatever brand is at the store I'm closest to when I need feed. Usually that's a cheap local brand of gamebird feed since I can't get unmedicated starter anywhere around here.

The only time I absolutely could not stand the smell was when I gave my chicks some fresh mint as a treat. The bedding smelled like mint, the chicks smelled like mint, the chick poo definitely did not smell anything like mint and you could tell every time one pooped from across the house....

 

[kycklingar!]

Pine shavings do a great job of keeping the smell down, as long as you change them before they turn dark, and don't let them stay damp. Definitely go for pine shavings!!! I barely notice the smell, and I have the nose of a bloodhound!
(Also, they make SUPER covering for my garden beds afterwards, since they hold the moisture in the soil... so, no trash!)

 

[addicted2chicks]

You should definitely use the pine shavings. We have a heated gameroom that is attached to our garage. I have all our chicks out there. 4 brooders with a total of 134 chicks. I don't smell a thing out there. I add a little pine shavings to it everyday, stir it up a bit and call it good. I empty it out totally about every 5 days. Today was the day and even when I scoop all the pine shavings out I don't smell anything.