what is the key to a less smellier coop

[Mahonri]

I'm going to have to buy some stall dry for the run.. .it's my only problem area.... also I'm going to have to buy some sand.

What's it made of?

At present we have a 8 X 10 coop with a linoleum floor that we SWEEP & MOP each and every week. After it's mopped, we put a light dusting of DE followed by pine shavings. Come August when my garden has all dried up, we begin digging little trenches to put the shavings with poo in.

We move from west to east until the garden is full with poo & shavings. I have a GREAT garden this year. Huge tomatoes, lots of squash and peppers, cabbage, broccoli. It's been wonderful.

 

[sondra]

Where do you purchase stall dry and what is it exactly. Thank you so much for all the advice. I really appreciate it.

 

[chookchick]

Yep, I vote for pine shavings and Stall Dry. Both of my coops are really small--like 4 by 4. One has 4 chickens and one 2. I pick out poop every other day or so and change litter only every couple of months, and throw in a handful of stall dry (most feed stores should carry it). Only time anything smelled was when one of the hens went broody on the nestbox, which is straw, and it got nasty.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I change mine every spring only and what I do is sprinkle a good amount of DE on the bottom of my painted (with outdoor paint) floor, then add about 3 inches of pine shavings over the top of that and every month add a clean batch (about 1/2 bag (3cubic feet)) to 8*8 coop. Oh and I have a dozen hens in there but had more for 1/2 the year and there was hardly any smells at all.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

The secret to a coop and run with no smell is diatomaceous earth on wood shavings that never get wet in the coop and diatomaceous earth on the at least six inches of sand in the run and diatomaceous earth on the poo in the poo catcher under the roost. It's that simple.

I totally agree with this...it has worked for me, and I only have to clean mine out once a year. I have no leaks in my coop though so it stays nice and dry. I just sprinkle DE around each time I add new shavings too. It's also in the nest box , and anyplace they dust bathe so it keeps bugs off of them

 

[MamaJohnson]

Have to agree with everyone here. My coop is 10X20, and there are 38 happily pooping birds in there (until I eat those 4 nasty roosters anyway!

). I do the deep litter method, using layered pine shavings and DE on the vinyl covered wood floor, adding a new layer of both once a month or so. It's water tight and dry in there, and there's good ventilation from vents and windows. And it never smells. Not even when you're standing right in the middle of it on a hot humid day in mid August.

Definately, pine shavings and DE (or Stall Dry), keep it dry, keep it ventilated = no stink.

 

[Judy]

I can't even get Stall Dri at my TSC. But I can get pelleted lime, cheap, at the local feed store. Not dusty and stops odors. I also have dirt floor coops and live in a wet area; water seeps into the dirt floor from the outside, even though the coop is higher than the surrounding dirt. So I use pine shavings and pelleted lime. I also use DE, but it would cost a fortune to use nothing else for odors.

Wet is never good -- but some of us have to live with it.

 

[tracker1860]

I use grass clippings, straw, pine straw, leaves, just about anything! Keep it dry and deep! Clean it out and put it in the compost pile every 4 to 6 months. or put it in the garden at the end of the season till it in and you will have best garden ever, next year! Great info on this at the Mother Earth News site.

 

[LynneP]

We use Stable Boy and food-greade DE in the litter, no probs.
I avoid deep litter method and keep everything DRY!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-Coop_Hygiene

 

[mrsgibber]

I'm reading in this thread that people put sand down in their runs. What kind of sand and the chickens don't mind not having earth to peck at?