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

[dizzychicken]

I had 30 one weekers in my living room in two separate totes full of pine shavings that I changed daily and even sometimes twice a day. They still stunk up the place so we just put them outside in the wooden brooder with pine shavings and two lights for heat. They are doing fantastic.

The power even went of for 2 hours and they did great. I turn one light off in the daytime and turn both on at night. They are happy and we sure are happy! No more chirping and stinky poo smell to wake us up.

Hope this helps.

 

[antiquebuff]

I have gone thru this many times and after a week old they are going smell! Not to mention the dust that layers everything including your lungs! Its best and healthier for you and them to move them on out with a heat lamp even if you have to bring them in during the night and take them out during the day.

 

[Lady Lavendar]

What are they being housed in? What size is it? Solid floor or wire? When I got my chicks I kept them in rubbermaid tubs with very fine pine shavings like the stuff janitors use. I found that some of the pine shavings on the market are more "woody" and don't absorb as well. My house smelled of pine not poop but once I moved them into a wire bottom cage.. the smell was noticeable. Maybe separating them out into two containers might help so they aren't constantly trampling through the poop.
I currently have two one week old geese (messy little poop machines) living in a sm. guinea pig cage with soft shavings in my living room and no smell.

I hope you find a solution, keeping chickens really is a great deal of fun.

 

[Fudgie]

The very first thing you can try to combat the smell is get TRIP-L-Duty All Purpose Poultry feed. Our Orschelns carries it and a few Wal-marts do. That stuff does not make their poo stinky at all. We use that on our chicks and ran out and used chick starter and MAN I could not stand to walk in the house. It hit you hard in the face. I immediately drove to get a bag of the Trip-L-Duty and within a day the stink was gone!!!!! No change in the bedding nothing else changed. Just the feed. try it!!!

Oh yeah, mine are kept in long rubbermaid containers with a hole cut in the lid for air exchange and a heatlamp if they are small

 

[redhen]

exactly how big is the cage they are in, please? thanks ( the actual measurments)...

 

[amartinlb]

My chicks poo stinks. We had them on Pen pals medicated chick starter and it smelled like dog poop.

I called the company and found the animal protein was porcine(pork) - I know that made it smell. Also as a nurse I know some antibiotics make poop smell. I just changed to medicated vegetarian chick grower and I think it will make a difference, will let you know tomorrow.

 

[Harleys-n-Goats]

I keep mine in the wash room with a heat lamp, I use pet pads from Target, they absorb great, and I change them 1 time a day, last month I had 45 BR chicks in the house useing those pads and no one even knew there were any chicks in the home, no smell.

 

[cmom]

Can you post some pictures of your setup?

 

[HobokenChickenEmergency]

Seriously, it they smell that bad I would get them out of the house altogether. Do you have a shed you could run a line out to for a light?

Last summer, I talked dh into getting 6 baby ducks to raise for the freezer. I kept them in the kitchen until it was warm enough to put them outside. In that time, a cop came to my door to collect money for some charity. He didn't say anything to ME about a smell, but 4 days later, Child Protective Services showed up, saying someone complained about the smell (gee, I wonder who it could have been?

). Nothing ever came of it, but it was a HUGE pain in the rump, with follow-up visits and all.

 

[amartinlb]

I changed to the vegetarian (blue seal) and the icky poop smell is gone!!!