What to use to make run smell fresh and clean?

[ChickyCh00k]

Oh, does anyone know the name of the charcoal stuff for horse stalls used in the runs?

You can try BioChar.
This article on the Wakefield website discusses using BioChar in poultry yards:
https://wakefieldbiochar.com/learning-center/poultry-and-biochar/

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

So kind of you to respond. What do you mean by building up the substrate so it would drain from run? And what is substrate?

Just the material on the floor of the run. My soil was really clay-rich so I added sand and wood chips until the material into the run was at least six inches higher than the area outside the run. That way water was less likely to settle and make a stinky poop soup.

 

[Jimmy W]

I use the PDZ and barn lime on a sand and dirt coop run floor (my coop is elevated). Under the coop I threw horse pellets, about 6 bags. With moisture, the horse pellets broke down into a sawdust like state, which the chickens really like to bathe in, so I threw in some DE. I did that back in late spring, so far its been minimal raking and the smell is also minimal. I have 6 chickens, the coop run is 7 by 16. The coop run opens into a fenced outdoor run of about 25 x 25 which opens into the whole yard when I am outside which is about a half acre.

Like everyone else here mentioned, there is a farm like smell when up by the coop, dry days hardly noticeable, wet days it gets stronger. 2 ft away from the coop not noticeable at all on wet or dry days.

I have found that area of access (poop disbursement) is the key to cost and labor effective smell reduction.

So far this has worked for me thru Spring and Summer. (first year having chickens).

 

[aart]

What does everyone else think about this product? Would you recommend or use it? Did you find it helpful or better than other products?

I think you're not hearing some good advice and questions.
There is no magic product to eliminate all odors.

I dont know what happened to the wood chips. They seem to be gone but the dirt smells but not horrendous. I just dont want it to get worse and have neighbors complain.

What kind of wood chips did you use?

...and please answer the questions that @rosemarythyme asked

We'd more info to pinpoint the issue - how big's the run? How many chickens? What's your climate and soil type at the location like? Is the run roofed/covered or not? What is your litter currently (sounds like a form of deep litter, but what all is in the mix)?

Some pics would help too.

 

[Sefirothe]

Thank you for your reply. I dont want to mislead you in thinking that my run is gross and horrible. It is not. There is some poop on the dirt run floor and the area needs to be raked and debris removed. I dont know what happened to the wood chips. They seem to be gone but the dirt smells but not horrendous. I just dont want it to get worse and have neighbors complain.

If your wood chips are disappearing quickly, you arent putting enough in.

I've never once cleaned anything out of my run, I've topped the wood chips off maybe....twice? I think? in the past year with two or three wheelbarrow-fulls of chips. I try to keep them at least 6 inches deep. Plus dumping them in a pile in the middle of the run gives the girls something to do, scratching thru and spreading it around.

No smell. No cleaning needed. I imagine at some point I'll have to take some compost out of the run to make sure the next load of wood chips arent over topping the wood 6x6 base.

 

[ChicNmom]

I think it's helpful. I also sprinkle it on the area beneath the roost between cleaning and it does help with the ammonia odor.

 

[aart]

If your wood chips are disappearing quickly, you arent putting enough in.

...or they are shavings rather than chips.

The depth you have there @Sefirothe should last a good long time.
I too use coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer, and just a few inches work very well in my mesh topped run.

 

[Sefirothe]

...or they are shavings rather than chips.

The depth you have there @Sefirothe should last a good long time.
I too use coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer, and just a few inches work very well in my mesh topped run.

Could definitely be a terminology issue here true.

We had some oaks cut down last year. I asked the tree trimmers to leave me all the wood chips.

These piles will turn to compost before I can use it all in the chicken run. So I have no problem piling it up deep for the chooks.

 

[FourintheRun]

I scatter the straw & poop from my coop out into the run. That straw and the ground which is mostly dirt now, mix when the chickens (4) scratch around. Some smell, but on dry days, the run (about 10’ x 14’) is mild in smell.adding more straw tends to help, and stirring/raking over fresh poops deters the flies. Most of our run smell comes from the fly trap containers, !

 

[SoCal Chicken Mama]

I love sweet PDZ, and I too am picky about how fragrant my coop is, since I live in a neighborhood. I haven't got it all figured out, but this is what I am doing now.
By the way, the sweet PDZ for horses (granules) is the exact same thing as the chicken stuff, but the 25 lb. bag packaged for horses is about $15 dollars, and the one packaged for chickens is a 10 lb bag for $23. So buy the horse stuff.
I live in Southern CA, edge of the desert, and cold is never a thing here. I have a small coop for 4 chickens that has a run underneath that is sand (no bottom). I use a child's leaf rake to pull the poop out every night after the chicks have gone to bed. A little sand comes out, but not too much. I pull out all the old feathers, too. After I've raked the poop out, I sprinkle a scoop full PDZ wherever there is a wet spot, from spilled waterers, or from hosing off the patio which is adjacent to the coop.
The coop itself is a little house, about 11sq. ft, and the whole floor comes out, so I have pet mats from Walmart cut to cover the entire floor (no bedding), and I remove all the poop to the compost by rolling up the mat and shaking it into a bucket, every morning. I hang the mat on the side of the compost bin (pallets) and hose it off and leave it in the sun. I have 4 of these, and smaller ones cut to fit the nest boxes (which are blocked off with a hardware cloth screen since my chicks aren't laying yet.) After they've dried in the sun I wash them twice a week (and do a "tub clean" cycle on the washer after a few times). After taking out the rugs I sweep the dust out with a little hand broom. Once in a while if something is wet there, I use a chicken rag (little cloths with chickens on them so they don't get used for anything else) with a little vinegar and water to clean it off. So they have a clean poop free bed every night, and every morning a clean under coop run where they eat.
Out in the bigger run (87 sq. ft., counting the under coop area), I use natural bark mulch (not the painted kind), but it mostly migrates to one end, which is under the roost. I sort of do a deep litter method there, and flick whatever poop is laying around to that end and cover with more bark. I do have to add water because it is so dry here that composting would not happen if I didn't, and the tree in the run needs water, too. I do throw some scoops of PDZ over there too. I use only one bag of bark (maybe there were two at first), and I haven't fully replaced it yet because my chicks are only 3 months old. I'm about to, though because my compost needs more carbon and the used bark will provide that. I have a lot of lavender and rose scented geraniums growing around my dog poop composter, and when I prune it, I hang bundles of it in the tree branches in the run, and sometimes I throw one in the coop house during the day to freshen it. I have the coop house closed to the birds during the day (to keep it clean for when they go to bed), but both of the doors on the front and back are open all day to air it out. So it does smell like roses, a little bit. But in the mornings it smells like poop. I don't let the poop pile up on the roof either. They seem to like to leave very big piles there. I sweep or hose it off after they are inside for the night. My main strategy for keeping the run cleaner, is to have them spend time in other parts of the yard part of the day, in a chicken tractor. I have a beat up lawn I will put them on when it gets cooler, and a jungle of wildflowers under some orchard trees. Or in the vegetable beds between crops. The orchard picture was before I planted the "cover crop" of wildflowers and grasses. It keeps the soil alive and cool.
Our biggest problem right now is the heat. 111 today and worse predicted for the weekend. That little run under the store bought coop is the coolest place in the yard. Today I brought them inside in a dog crate for a few hours because I couldn't get them to drink or eat after 11 am. They were happy to get back outside in the evening, even though it was still wicked hot out there.