What to do about the smell.......

[Tuffoldhen]

I use the Dry Stall and DE both with my wood shavings....

 

[Moonwalker]

Sweet PDZ rules! We use it in horse stalls and it REALLY gets the ammonia.

 

[speckledhen]

No, they don't seem to eat the wood ash at all. PDZ is pretty expensive to use outside since you have to use quite alot to work well, but it does work in adequate quantities.

 

[silkiechicken]

Talk about a bad smell... I had cornish in a tractor and kept layering down straw.. well after butcher I moved the whole thing, it rained for a week, and then thought, might as well move the thick pile of poo stuff as the weather cleared for a bit.... I flipped over a chunk and boy the hit of ammonia was terrible.... Water from the ground soaked up and was deteriorating the bottom of the pile which was about 12 inches deep if not more... in addition to wet rain water soaking down though the pile. It was fine at chicken head level till I turned it over! A month later I dug a holes into it and put in 4 zucchini plants. It was one happy pile of zucchinis and it's all deteriorated now. .

Dampness is defiantly what makes things smell bad with chickens. Dry chickens are fine. I can't wait to sniff my box of day olds! I think they smell good as sick as that sounds.

 

[Churkenduse]

I use sweet PDZ I get it at Agway, yu can go to their web site they have a store locator.

I even use it in my cat boxes. I get 40 lbs. for $10.00

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Sounds like most folks agree the smell comes from the damp/wet stuff in the pen and ya'll mostly agree the PDZ stuff works without harm to the chickens, so I think I'll get some wood ash, because that will be free, lol! and also see if maybe Tractor Supply might have that PDZ or even the Dry Stall..never used either one but I need to experiment alittle before hot weather and find something that works because if it smells this strongly in cold weather, no one is gonna like the smell of hot, wet chicken coop lol!!! Thanks ya'll for the advice

 

[Wildsky]

http://www.useful-items.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UI&Product_Code=060&Category_Code=HNDY

If you can buy it local you'll save a TON on shipping!

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I'm not too sticker shocked anymore since my feed, scratch and pine shavings are a higher price every week, lol! Thanks Wildfly, I bookmarked the site!

 

[Wildsky]

You might be able to get it cheaper somewhere else.

Be aware - I had two bags shipped to me last year - and BOTH split open in the mail and I lost half of it - the company promised to send me more but never did - it wasn't that one I gave you the link to....

 

[nccountrygirl]

Darlene mine is smelling the same way because of all the rain we had too. I think I will put some shavings and DE down in there and see if that helps. I think TS in Carthage carries DE, I'll call tomorrow and find out. Our Purina store carries Sweet PDZ also.