coup smells sour...what the heck?

[citychicken1]

Hi folks, hope your holidays will be wonderfull! The last few nights when I have been "cleaning" my coop down on at floore level I have been smelling something sour in the back of the coop. I have pine shavings about 3 inches deep and I pick out the poo every night then stir the shavings and add a little fresh shavings. This is not an amonia smell . It smells sour. What am I dooing wrong? Am I not cleaning enough? It smells fine after I "clean" up but the next night it stinks again. I usually replace all bedding every two weeks at least. Should I replace it more frequently?

 

[PamB]

Could it be food spilling and getting moldy? I had a problem with wet food once and when you said "sour," that is what it reminded me of.

 

[caspernc]

Is it a dirt floor or wood? If it were dirt I would think it would be moisture and add some of the probiotic stuff to add good bacteria into the ground or ag grade lime? If it is a wood floor I would think it is your floor is wet and is rotting. If concrete It may be your wall is wet and is rotting. Sour smell to me means something is rotting. JMHO

 

[swimmer]

Any broken eggs that you didn't know about??

 

[citychicken1]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. My floor is vynal over plywood. I suppose it's possable that they are getting food over there, do chickens hide treats for later? I feed them in the run. but mabe my son is feeding them in the coop. Oh! I did give them some alfafa sprouts in there last night could that be it? Also I have been cleaning up a lot of clumps of wet looking shavings, n ot poo. Could one of the girls have sour crop?

 

[Qi Chicken]

Where is their water? That smell reminds me of wet shavings. I really don't know why/how but our water is set of 12 x 12 landscaping bricks and the bricks get wet.

Did water somehow get under the vinyl? That would make a smell that doesn't go away.

 

[citychicken1]

My water sets on a crate in the front of the coup. The vynal extends to the edge of the plywood ,with 2x4s that support the outer walls on top of the vynal. I don't think it is getting wet between the two surfaces because when I sweep out it dosen't seem damp.