# Keeping the smell down?



## Righteousrich

Since I lost a hen to a hawk after the leaves came down I've been keeping my flock in a 10x20 kennel cage. I've just planted grass seed in the chicken yard, and am waiting for good growth, and leaves to appear on the trees before letting them in the chicken yard again.
Question is: the caged area has gotten pretty funky smelling over the winter. Should I be able to put lime down, then straw...or just DE and then straw? Will the lime hurt their feet?
What do you do for keeping the funk down?


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## Righteousrich

This is my chicken ranch


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## 7chicks

I rake mine out once a week and toss in cold wood ashes from our outdoor wood boiler. Keeps the smell away and if I toss a bucket full in a pile in one spot of their run, they dive in for a bath. Free entertainment for them.

The junk I rake up, goes into my gardens and around my shrubs. Great for the soil!


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## haley4217

Righteousrich said:


> Since I lost a hen to a hawk after the leaves came down I've been keeping my flock in a 10x20 kennel cage. I've just planted grass seed in the chicken yard, and am waiting for good growth, and leaves to appear on the trees before letting them in the chicken yard again.
> Question is: the caged area has gotten pretty funky smelling over the winter. Should I be able to put lime down, then straw...or just DE and then straw? Will the lime hurt their feet?
> What do you do for keeping the funk down?


When I started my flock I read a lot about "deep liter" as a way to control the smell in the coup. After 2 1/2 years I am still sold on this method to control smell in the coup area. What I can't stress enough is when it is described as deep liter, it does need to be deep. So, first off my coop is 12x14 and I keep between 12 and 18 chickens. They have additional areas to get out into during the day, so the coop only sees use at night and in foul fowl weather.

I put two bags of Tractor Supply pine shavings on the floor after I've dusted with DE. About two weeks later I dust with DE and put one more bag down. The hens will scratch around and stir up the shavings and turn over the poop covered top shavings into the deep liter. The shavings make excellent insulation for them in winter or summer. In the heat of summer 100 degrees they all make nests on the floor digging deep into the shavings to keep cool.

The liter will keep the coop pleasant for quite a while. If the chickens don't keep it turned over and fluffed up I go in the coop about twice a month and turn it myself. I've been reading in other threads that adding a little hay to the litter will entice the hens to scratch it up. I may add another bag after about 3 or 4 months depending on when I'm planning on cleaning the coop out. Somewhere after 6 or 7 months, depending on the time of year (spring / summer sooner fall / winter later) I get the wheel barrow and leaf fork and get 90 percent of the old litter up. The start all over with DE and fresh shavings.

The side benefit of this is that the chicken poop has time to compost in the shavings and is now not to hot to put down on your plants. Plus the shavings help to put organic matter in the soil. Watch though if you use pine shavings it might bump your PH up a little.

Presuming I use 8 bags a year (4 every six months) this is costing me about $48 per year for shavings, but I find the control of smell and insects worth the investment.


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## RiverOtter54

Whats DE again?


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## haley4217

RiverOtter54 said:


> Whats DE again?


Diatomaceous Earth


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## RiverOtter54

haley4217 said:


> Diatomaceous Earth


Thank you!


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## Righteousrich

Has anyone used lime? I was thinking of raking everything out in the pen. Then dusting with garden lime and DE. Then putting down a good layer of hay. Just don't know if the lime would hurt their feet any.


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## Wrigley

Lime has a High Ph, which, after prolonged exposure to skin can cause chemical burns. I'm sure if you didn't put too much down and you covered it with hay like you said, it probably wouldn't be a problem, but I would check with a Vet, just to be safe.


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## cgmccary

Righteousrich said:


> Has anyone used lime? I was thinking of raking everything out in the pen. Then dusting with garden lime and DE. Then putting down a good layer of hay. Just don't know if the lime would hurt their feet any.


However the best litter for deep litter method is leaves, such as oak leaves, due to their higher carbon content. My coops have dirt floors and I use about a foot of dry leaves. It smells like a forest floor in there. I have lots of leaves.

I am not at home so I can't look at the bag, but the powder you put in horse/ cow stalls to freshen them and make them smell better is good to use with poultry too.


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## camel934

I am in the process of setting up my chicken area. I haven't bought any chickens yet and this will be my first experience. I found out that the build behind my house was once used for chickens. There is an outside area that I plan to fence in: about 20' x 25'. I feel that should be large enough. I plan to dig down a foot or so where I am placing the fence in order to make sure critters can't dig their way into the coop. There is a "whole" in the side of the build made for chickens to go inside. I plan to build a ramp for them. Inside, I plan to fence in part of the building for their roosts and nests. I figured 10' x 8' should be big enough inside. I will make a gate so I can go inside and retrieve the eggs and clean their area. For the nests, i plan to use small cat boxes filled with straw. i thought that would make it easier to remove and clean. The floor is cement. I am unsure what to out on the floor to protect them, keep them insulated and to keep down the smell. I am open to any opinions here on all the I formation I provided.


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## Energyvet

Smell generally means time to clean.


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## kahiltna_flock

cgmccary said:


> However the best litter for deep litter method is leaves, such as oak leaves, due to their higher carbon content. My coops have dirt floors and I use about a foot of dry leaves. It smells like a forest floor in there. I have lots of leaves.
> 
> I am not at home so I can't look at the bag, but the powder you put in horse/ cow stalls to freshen them and make them smell better is good to use with poultry too.


Yes, sweet pdz. I have that too, but I really don't use it much. I have been doing the deep litter method, through the winter with hardly any smell. I did notice with the rising temps there is a bit more odor. I love the fact that I have nearly an inch of 'dirt' under the straw in the coop. All composted straw, pine, and poo.


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## kahiltna_flock

camel934 said:


> I am in the process of setting up my chicken area. I haven't bought any chickens yet and this will be my first experience. I found out that the build behind my house was once used for chickens. There is an outside area that I plan to fence in: about 20' x 25'. I feel that should be large enough. I plan to dig down a foot or so where I am placing the fence in order to make sure critters can't dig their way into the coop. There is a "whole" in the side of the build made for chickens to go inside. I plan to build a ramp for them. Inside, I plan to fence in part of the building for their roosts and nests. I figured 10' x 8' should be big enough inside. I will make a gate so I can go inside and retrieve the eggs and clean their area. For the nests, i plan to use small cat boxes filled with straw. i thought that would make it easier to remove and clean. The floor is cement. I am unsure what to out on the floor to protect them, keep them insulated and to keep down the smell. I am open to any opinions here on all the I formation I provided.


I really like using a mix of straw and pine. In the fall I did use leaves, but I don't have any left. I know many use sand, never tried it. I like the idea of having compost able materials to use in my garden.


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## fodderfeed

I put my old Christmas tree in after Christmas every year no smell at all!


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## kahiltna_flock

fodderfeed said:


> I put my old Christmas tree in after Christmas every year no smell at all!


That us a great idea. I could only put in a few branches, but it wails smell great.


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## fodderfeed

A few branches would work doesnt smell like a chick house now its great.


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## Righteousrich

Today I cleaned the coop, new shavings and DE. I then raked and shoveled out the run area down to dirt. Hit that with the DE and put down some straw. It did cut down the smell a lot, but not completely. Maybe need to give the DE a little time to work. I also through some in the igloo, which is my dust box for the girls. They loved that. They went in their right away and made a cloud from all their wing flapping.


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## kahiltna_flock

I can't wait for things to warm up and dry out so I can muck out the run. I think there is 8-10 inches of straw in it. We still have about that much snow left to melt, not counting what will still fall. Got to keep those girls dry!


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## Energyvet

Yes. I changed out my hay in the nest boxes, put out the outside food and water bowls again. Had a little chicken TV time with my son. Waiting for the green.


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## Mamachickof14

My hens covered outside pen was getting pretty stinky so I raked it all out and put down a fresh bail of straw...that did the trick! It should be OK for another month. Their house that I lock them in every night I clean out every 4th day. I use pine chips and they smell really good! The girls just love it! They told me so...  Jen


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## rkendrick

When we revamped the chicken pen, after we moved the chickens to temporary quarters, I shook a lot of lime all over the dirt of the old outside pen. I probably got a little heavy handed but the spring in OK had been VERY wet and the mud was VERY deep and filled with all kinds of VERY bad things that like it wet and warm and muddy and it stunk! Afterward, we covered the whole outside area with gravel and rebuilt the pens. I bleached the walls inside of the one communal chicken house and left it open to the sun and wind. The big house still has gravel floors but I will put down several bags of bedding (buy stock in Tractor Supply now!) before the Favorelle girls go back in. The new smaller coops (Americanas, Cochins and Welsummers) have linoleum floors which will have litter put down. In the fall, I'll add leaves and twigs, but right now there isn't much. Thank heavens we planted all those oak trees 20 years ago! I have used the horse stall deodorizers, too with grateful success. Like on the ducks and geese night pen. Ugh. I have used deodorizer on my chick brooder floor when I brooded in the house and needed it not to stink like chickens. The big thing with all chemicals if to use in moderation. More doesn't mean better control. And then let it sit and air for a few days. Good ole sunlight is still the cheapest, easiest way to deodorize and sanitize. I know hens like it dark and private to nest, but that equals a perfect place for bad things to grow (and snakes to hide---eek!) so I made it clear to my girls they would have to make due with nest tubs instead. Easier to clean, too. Clean equals no smell. Make it easy to keep that way is my motto.


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## Bee

I feed fermented feed, so the chicken poop doesn't smell like much anymore and it doesn't attract flies any longer. You can put your nose right down to it and barely catch a whiff of anything resembling poop. I'm so loving this FF!!! Even when I had 54 broilers in this coop you couldn't smell a thing and no flies were around in 98* heat and high humidity. My ol' Ma was amazed...that sure wasn't how chickens smelled in her day! 

Then I use deep litter that doesn't ever get cleaned out, just added to and it composts in place which absorbs all the nitrogenous droppings and sort of digests them into the soils below. You can pick up a handful of my bedding and not smell much but dirt. 

I use leaves, pine needles, pine shavings, small twigs and anything else that gets raked up in the yard...you can find deer bones, possum teeth, deer hair, feathers and an old turtle shell all buried in this compost. This coop consumed 4 32 gal. trash cans of compressed leaves this winter, plus several piles raked into the coop in the fall and hay residue, pine shavings, etc. The bedding is currently only 6-8 in. deep...the composting is working right along. 

I don't use DE or any such in the coop as I don't want to kill any beneficial, predatory bugs that prey upon parasites and their larvae. The composted bedding is a great place to breed your own mite and lice control. 

I also have a coop with tons of ventilation...you really can't ever have enough ventilation. I have an open air cattle panel hoop coop, so the air does flow! 

My chooks have been living in this coop in its present location since last Oct and the bedding is the original bedding that has been built upon and you can't tell that chickens live there. No smells, no flies.


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## jaystyles75

Bee said:


> I feed fermented feed, so the chicken poop doesn't smell like much anymore and it doesn't attract flies any longer. You can put your nose right down to it and barely catch a whiff of anything resembling poop. I'm so loving this FF!!! Even when I had 54 broilers in this coop you couldn't smell a thing and no flies were around in 98* heat and high humidity. My ol' Ma was amazed...that sure wasn't how chickens smelled in her day!
> 
> Then I use deep litter that doesn't ever get cleaned out, just added to and it composts in place which absorbs all the nitrogenous droppings and sort of digests them into the soils below. You can pick up a handful of my bedding and not smell much but dirt.
> 
> I use leaves, pine needles, pine shavings, small twigs and anything else that gets raked up in the yard...you can find deer bones, possum teeth, deer hair, feathers and an old turtle shell all buried in this compost. This coop consumed 4 32 gal. trash cans of compressed leaves this winter, plus several piles raked into the coop in the fall and hay residue, pine shavings, etc. The bedding is currently only 6-8 in. deep...the composting is working right along.
> 
> I don't use DE or any such in the coop as I don't want to kill any beneficial, predatory bugs that prey upon parasites and their larvae. The composted bedding is a great place to breed your own mite and lice control.
> 
> I also have a coop with tons of ventilation...you really can't ever have enough ventilation. I have an open air cattle panel hoop coop, so the air does flow!
> 
> My chooks have been living in this coop in its present location since last Oct and the bedding is the original bedding that has been built upon and you can't tell that chickens live there. No smells, no flies.


Bee, could you please post some pics of your coop?


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## Bee

You can find pics of it in the large coop section of "chicken coops". Do you want pics of the inside and the bedding or just the coop? The newly built coop pics are in that section but I can also show pics of deep litter as well.


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## jaystyles75

Bee said:


> You can find pics of it in the large coop section of "chicken coops". Do you want pics of the inside and the bedding or just the coop? The newly built coop pics are in that section but I can also show pics of deep litter as well.


Ok thanks. I was interested in your bedding.


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## jaystyles75

Just checked out your coop. Looks great. You can see ours in the large coop section. It is under greenfield12. (My husband put it on)


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## Bee

I'll try to show some pics of the bedding, though I have none specifically of the bedding but you can see it in the pics of various birds. My bedding transforms with the seasons, so you will see some pics with more pine shavings, some with more leaves, some with a good mix of both.....



















Here's a pic of a pile of leaves raked into the coop in the fall....










I don't have any current pics of the bedding but I will try to go and take some today...should be a good time to show it during all this wet season...we've had rain every day for 2-3 wks it seems.


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## Bee

Here is a pic of the bedding today...now, keep in mind that this is a soil floor coop sitting at the bottom of a hill. We have had weeks of torrential rains and storms and it rained last night as well.

Here's the bedding when undisturbed by me and this is directly under the roosts...










And here's a pic of when I lift up two big pitchfork full of bedding and put it to one side....you can see the moisture lies below and the smell is much like the forest floor or good compost. Earthy..like dirt.










And you can also see some dampness in the corners of the coop where the chickens have been digging for bugs and worms that move upward in the bedding when the bottom layers are too moist..then the chooks nab them!










Bedding in the nest boxes consists of leaves, hay, cedar and pine shavings, etc.


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## jaystyles75

Thanks bee! It never occurred to me to put all of that in the coop. The bottom of our coop is an old 8x8 raft, so it's off the ground. I think I will put some leaves in there in the fall. We have had tons of rain this year as well. Are you in New England?


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## Bee

WV..which is close enough!


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## Chippets

Bee, will that deep composting work in my dry drought stricken Wyoming? We hardly ever get rain. When we do it's very brief and usually not much but some spitting. Sure is windy in these parts too.


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## blblanchard

I just want to second what Bee has said. Because of him, I feed my chickens fermented feed (which they absolutely adore!) and I use the deep little method in my coop. Before we started these two things, our property within a 50 ft. radius smelled like a farm. I don't smell a thing now. I can even put my head in the coop and sniff and I don't smell anything! It's truly amazing. Our fly problem is nearly gone. They're bothersome only when I have given watermelon or almost any other treat. I would really consider taking his advice! He knows what he's talking about.


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## Apyl

I use the deep litter method most of the time. Of course we got flooded with spring/summer so we were stinking to high heaven. It was awful and under water. This week I was finally able to rake out all the gunk and put in some fresh straw. I find in our situation that fresh straw makes all the different. In the summer I change the bedding about once a month, during the winter I do deep litter.


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## chickenmommy

What is fermented feed?


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## Chippets

chickenmommy said:


> What is fermented feed?


Bee has a post in the Beginners Forum. It's called "What to Feed the Chickens." At least that's one place - I know there are many posts from Bee about this. I'd put a link here but I don't know how on my phone.


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## chickenmommy

Ok thanks chippets


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## Chippets

Chickenmommy,
Also a better description by Bee under Feeding and Watering called Fermented Feed (go figure! )


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## Bee

Chippets said:


> Bee, will that deep composting work in my dry drought stricken Wyoming? We hardly ever get rain. When we do it's very brief and usually not much but some spitting. Sure is windy in these parts too.


Sure will, if you use litter materials that pull in moisture...hay, grass clippings, weed cuttings and even mulch if you can. Build it deep enough that the bottom layers hold some level of moisture so that it composts the manure and bugs and bacteria can grow and thrive in it. The droppings will also have moisture to add and trying to keep them lightly turned under the top layer will conserve that moisture and keep it from evaporating.

Some folks even throw some water into the litter when they live in arid areas. Anything you would do to conserve moisture in a garden in your area, do for your litter and it should start to compost the manure.


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## chickenmommy

Ok thanks. That chicken in ur profile pic is so cute!


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## Chippets

Thanks, Chickenmommy! It's one of my EE's. I love those girls!

Bee, thanks for your post as well. We do have a horrible time here keeping moisture in the garden. I spread clippings or old straw over my garden bed to try to keep the moisture in. And we water, water, water!! The place for my chickens is a big square sand pit that was in the back corner of my yard when we bought the house. I'm thinking maybe I should dig a corner up and fill it with dirt and some of my compost from the bin, and then spread the pine shavings over that. That's where I will put the roosts. I had planned on raising up the coop, but I think that would be more difficult with the deep compost method, wouldn't it? We are having a chicken coop building party next Saturday with some folks from church and a gal who just stopped keeping chickens after many years of loving it. None too soon, either, as the ladies and Rooroo are quickly outgrowing their temporary small home!


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