Best liner/ bedding for drop tray

[Jane Aitch]

Hi

got my three hen poults 8 days ago. Cleaned the coop for the second time yesterday and there was a strong smell of ammonia. Have an Eglu go up. Use wood shavings as bedding. Weather is hot. My girls are fed in growers pellets and have fresh corn .Any  tips welcome.

[Beantree]

It is probably just the smell of composting chicken poo left for 4 days in hot weather. I clean ours out every day and have done since we started keeping chickens 15 years ago. However it may be made worse by them not drinking enough. It is important to keep the drinker out of direct sunlight and keep it fresh, even if you have to change it every day. We use plant pot bases and clean and refill them every day as the water soon goes stale. For bedding under the perch we use feed bags or better still newspaper The newspaper sheet can be lifted and binned, unless you want to compost the poo. It's a lot cheaper than wood shavings as well. Best save them for Winter when you want to insulate the floor.

[Jane Aitch]

Thank you -very helpful advice