smelly chicken run

[ronnie]

it has been raining here in georgia for 3 weeks and is very hot....the chicken run is all muddy and very smelly. what can i put down to kill the smell.....i hope someone has an answer.......ronnie

 

[ranchhand]

Hi ronnie,

from South Carolina!

I have the same problem, and want to see what the pros have to say! I have been throwing down fresh straw and wood shavings every day, after raking out the old. The compost heap is overflowing with stinky straw!

Anybody got an easier way? Besides moving to high ground?

 

[patandchickens]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run


Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Straw (at least here) is a temp fix, at best. Sometimes it makes it worse.

I put sand in my chicken run - a half ton of sand in a 8x16 run lasts me a year (then have to do it again the next year). Where I buy sand it costs about 17 bucks for a half ton (I pick up with my truck, they load it, and I haul it myself). Of course, this is bulk - not those handy little bags of playsand from Lowes.

The chickens love it when I put new sand in their run - they dig and roll and dustbathe in it like they've never seen the stuff before

silly chickens

meri

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Stall dry and wood chips for now. In the fall, stock pile some leaves to dry somewhere and sprinkle those out in the spring.

Here in the Pacific NW and non-draining clay soil the wood chips work best for me. I'm able to get them delivered for FREE from a tree trimming company that runs the limbs through the chipper.

Love the stall dry in the coop as well. Once a month or so, I sprinkle down some then add a new bag of aspin shavings. (I like the spell of aspin better than pine).

Good luck

 

[rancher hicks]

I'm new to this too. I've been putting down straw after throwing some "scratch" that way they've got to work the straw before getting to the scratch. I fiqure I can just keep piling it on till I get enough to rake some off and throw in the compost. Been raining here too (NY). Anyone see a problem with this?

 

[valentinebaby]

I saw a BYC post that suggested using "Stall Dry" that you can buy at Tractor Supply (my feed store doesn't carry it) and that's where I found mine. It has DE and crystals that absorb the water (they claim up to 140%). We've had unbelievable rain here in North Texas and even if I had done everything the article above said to do (which I've done some of), my run would still be wet because of the angle the rain hit us at 50+ mph!

The major reason my run smells is the feed that the girls kick around - it "ferments" like mash and stinks to high heaven. Just this morning I had to scrape out all that I could and added a light layer of Stall Dry. Gonna check it in a bit to see how it did and I'll let you know. Had great luck with it earlier this month---it did seem to help a lot with the smell (that's the DE at work!).

 

[SportTees]

I moved my chickens to an old dog run that has years of gravel pushed into the soil. The gravel helps with drainage more than anything. I put hay on top of the ground so it will be soft on there feet. This works great for the chickens but I tried it with the ducks and it helped but no where near as much. An added benefit is lime in the gravel helps control parasites.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
No, you can do that, but it's a lot of work on an ongoing basis so it is worth trying to fix the problem *constitutively* as much as possible, too. See my 'fixing muddy run' page for options, link posted above.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[valentinebaby]

Ronnie - just went outside to check on the run and it's amazing how quickly that Stall Dry worked. I know it's just a temporary fix, but if it gets rid of the smell - great! I went ahead and added a light layer of large pine shavings over it as it's all I have right now. So, I guess I can recommend the product since it's helped on both occasions that I have used it.