Yuck! It STINKS!

[Den in Penn]

Try raising the ground level for better drainage. Cut down on adding the things that can rot, grass clippings and leaves.

 

[azygous]

Your run stinks because it's wet. The key is to make the ground inside the run higher than the area outside the run so it stays dry in there. It also helps to cover the run so rain and snow won't make a swamp out of it.

The second key to odor control is not to let the poop build up. When I first got my chickens, I accepted the challenge to keep an odor-free coop and run. It's a bit more work to rake the run every day, carting off the day's poop, but I feel it really is worth it not to have any odor and flies.

My run is sand, and I find it easy to use a cat box scoop to pick up the poop whenever I go into the run. It also makes it much more pleasant to play with my chickens when it's clean and not smelly.

 

[stonerd]

thank you. i was wondering if i can put sand in my chicken coop. its dirt and swamp and stinks soooo bad i can smell it in my house, i hate my chickens living this way as i would not want to. so should i put alot of sand in there, i know sand soaks up water. thank you

 

[carol-ann]

i use straw for bedding in the coop, and i also put straw in the outside run. the straw outside became very wet and at one point became a stinky swamp!

so a couple of weeks ago, hubby and me cleared out all teh damp, wet, sodden straw from the run and replaced it with pebbles and sand. i also put a little polythene sheeting on the top of the run to give some protection from the rain.

this seems to have worked and the run looks a lot better and has a much cleaner feel to it

however ..................

the little darlings have started to empty the straw from the coop into the run each time i change the bedding in the coop!! So when i change the bedding in the coop, i also have to clean out the run!

carol

 

[FireTigeris]

@carol-ann

use less bedding into the coop, sand on the coop floor would work - straw in the nest boxes.

I did sand in any nest box they emptied of aspen shavings - they cut out that in about every other box, they do lay in the sand- no one notices the 'sand laid eggs'

I just keep the current config - I use a cat litter scoop for the sand nest in case of broody poop- also the broody prefer the straw nest they don't often set the sand eggs...

 

[carol-ann]

tks fire, i guess that is where i am struggling

the coop is just a small hutch - apparently big enough for 6 hens. but they dont have roosts they just snuggle down on the coop's wooden floor - mixed in with poop as well. they lay eggs in a corner of it. i ahve cut down the emount of straw i use, and even with the cut down amount of straw, they stil remove what they consider to be excess to the outside run. it looks very sparce inside.

they seem to be happy and healthy enough, so am hoping that i am doing something right

carol