I think it's been about four months now since we got our first hens. I set up a chicken tractor, but it's really too big and heavy to move, so it sits in a permanent spot in the yard. It had grass in the run part, but of course that died pretty quickly. Now it's just dirt.
For the past two months, the run has been a smelly mess. Right now, when the wind blows you can get a whiff of it from the back door of the house, and it's just disgusting. The worst is when is when it rains, because the mud and poop mix together, and then the Atlanta sun makes it hot, and it just reeks. It's not really possible to just scoop up the poop from the run, as it would be a lot of work to regularly reach every corner of the run, plus it's not real easy to spot chicken poo on dirt.
What can I do to keep a clean chicken run? Is there something that I can cover the ground with? What kind of maintenance will it require? I miss having a pretty little chicken coop that had no smell.
Thanks!
For the past two months, the run has been a smelly mess. Right now, when the wind blows you can get a whiff of it from the back door of the house, and it's just disgusting. The worst is when is when it rains, because the mud and poop mix together, and then the Atlanta sun makes it hot, and it just reeks. It's not really possible to just scoop up the poop from the run, as it would be a lot of work to regularly reach every corner of the run, plus it's not real easy to spot chicken poo on dirt.
What can I do to keep a clean chicken run? Is there something that I can cover the ground with? What kind of maintenance will it require? I miss having a pretty little chicken coop that had no smell.
Thanks!