4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[AJuff]

My chooks live in a lovely green eglu with a 4m long covered run which leads into a large walk in half sheltered run. Under the eglu is paving slabs and easibed and in the walk in run is earth and woodchip. As the wind flows through the run and round the side of the house it carries a smell!! I clean out thoroughly once a week and put garlic flakes in with their food but to no avail.

 

Mentioned to OH the possibility of buying another eglu and 3 more hens. He wasn't shocked at this but did mention the awful smell which would get worse. Any advice?

[Tessa the Duchess]

How often do you clean out and replace the Easibed and wood chip areas?

I replace the Auboise in my walk in run every 4/6 weeks, and I have not noticed any bad smell. The only time I have noticed a smell is if I am a lazy chickenkeeper and don't clean out the poo tray for 5/6 days especially if the weather is warm Maybe you have a very sensitive sense of smell?

 

Tessa

[ruth1]

Only had my chooks a few weeks so not sure if i can offer advice really, Ive seen mention of folks using stalosan on soil/ slabs etc as a disinfectant and for odours.

In my experience in the garden ive found woodchip holds odours, i mulched my new flowerbed with it and my cat started using it as a toilet and i kept smelling it when the wind blew, i eventually got rid of the chips and that seemed to work.

 

Im sure someone more experienced will be along soon.

[Janepie33]

What sort of smell?

Our girls live about 20 feet from our back door and we never notice a smell. We have 5 chickens. 2 in an Eglu and 3 in a cube. They free range whenever possible and have bark chips in their run. The only smell is from the poo tray, which smells rather farmyardie when it is hot.

Do you both have rather sensitive nostrils?!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Just a thought, do garlic flakes work the same as garlic powder? Try getting powder and upping the dosage .

 

I don't notice any smell from our 3 girls in a fixed run very close to the house. (I use Stalosan F and hemcore)

 

Edited to say: do you give them bokashi bran? That helps with the poo smell too.

[JamesH]

Get a big tub stalosan F, a big bag of Boshaki bran and a big tub of diatom.

 

Diatom

http://www.foranimals.co.uk/product/372

 

Stalosan F

http://www.regencypoultry.com/shoparea.asp?p=af4a39a9-c38f-43c7-8085-d147b3616a20

 

Boshaki Bran

http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop/foundproduct.lasso?product_id=444

 

If the run is getting wet try and limit this as best you can, it's when it's wet that it smells and gets worse. The stalosan and diatom will dry up the poops really quick in combination with the woodchip. Sprinkle stalosan and diatom in the eglu and also some diatom in the run with 50g per metre square of stalosan powder also. Give them Boshaki and their poos are much better too.

[chelsea]

I agree about that if it gets wet - it makes the smell worse.

 

I also use staolsan in the run, we take out the aubiose completely every 3-6 weeks (depending on weather) and sprinkle down the stalosan.

 

I poo pick every day, which helps.

 

I've just made my own citronella/lavender/eucalyptus spray with essential oils and water and spray this once a day in the run, it helps with the flies in the summer and gives a nice smell too.

[Scramble]

Havn't got my chickens yet, so I don't know if you want my advice and I've been reading lots of books and they say that broccoli helps them with minerals and vitamins and... it gives them firm doo-doos and helps prevent diahorrea... also the wood chips should be change often or raked as it absosrbs the poo... well, book advice, no personal experience yet but i'll let you know

[mayflower]

I'm sure it's the rain which causes the smell. I completely changed the aubiose last week, and I religiously pooh pick every evening, but this morning it smelt like a farmyard after all the rain......even though the walk in run is covered, the rain seems to get in sideways with a strong wind, which we have had( well,,,,not me personally....the weather you understand.He He )

[jomo1972]

I've had this problem for ages too. I've just lost all my hens to flystrike actually.

 

But I had a smelly coop which upset my neighbours. I couldn't work out what I was doing that was wrong and I still don't know really. But I used to find that it was much worse in the winter when the weather was wet. As soon as the summer came and the ground dried out, the smell went almost completely. Fixed coops will never smell sweet though but you don't want a noticeable smell.

 

What I did was put a roof on my coop to try to minimise the damp ground.

 

Having said that, flystrike killed them all!!

[AJuff]

I clean out the Easibed once every three to four weeks. I only poo pick the wood chips once a week so that may be part of the problem. Only half of the run is covered so the wet half smells. Only problem is is that if I cover it it will stop any sunlight in that area. The covered eglu run get sun though. If I replace the wood chip I have a huge problem as the run is large and the woodchip very deep, where to put it? And how much to repalce such a large area with an alternative?

 

I have upped the garlic and wait to see if others find it more effective than powder. I tried the garlic powder but I find it awful,it blows around the food and run and makes me sneeze.

[jomo1972]

Personally I don't believe in all these remedies.

 

I think the problem is a really simple one. The chickens poo. Chicken faeces smells as one would expect. A fixed coop does not allow for drain aways and removal of faeces. Therefore smell develops.

 

Would it not be possible to put a see through plastic cover over it? Then the hens would get sunlight but not rain.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I don't know what shape your run is, but could you use corrugated plastic sheeting? It lets the light through but keeps the rain off.

 

Could you put the woodchip on your flowerbeds as a kind of mulch? Then you could use Easibed or Hemcore for the whole run. I never poo pick in the run (unless it's reachable from the door) and it doesn't smell at all.

 

I use Stalosan F and garden lime in the run too.

 

How do you use your garlic powder? I mix it in with the pellets and it just clings to them and doesn't blow around.

[BarbaraJ]

i have a run with plastic corrugated roof, lets the sun through fine, the lover part of run with wood chip has a removable tarapalin on. Get some cintronella and diute couple drops in a water sprayer, spray all round edge it helps! i offer my wood chip on freecycle goes within minutes lol

[AJuff]

I mixed the garlic powder in with the pellets and it doesn't seem to cling to it?? Do I need to do something else?

[Yolky]

I have heard it said to use a little bit of that spray vegetable oil to help it stick.

[JamesH]

Sounds like you have a bog/swamp type decomposition going on.

 

Someone mentioned garden lime and thats very useful too. I would definitely use that for the smelly area.

 

Get a sack of it, ground limestone / garden lime.

 

Builders lime or hydrated lime is not the same stuff, you can't use that in the area if the chickens are there. It will hurt them. Not saying you can't use it, it could be very useful for the problem area. It reacts with water/moisture to generate heat and this can be useful to kill the bacteria etc. The chickens would have to be moved for a while (weeks). It's nasty stuff use a mask and gloves and goggles. It burns skin and eyes and is bad if breathed in. It's very alkaline so go easy if you use this as you can overdo it.

[AJuff]

Thank you for all the advice I have ordered stalosan and will pick up garden lime tomorrow.

 

I gave the eglu and both runs a really good deep clean today and I'm convinced they don't smell.

 

My fly trap has caught lots of beaties and I'm very pleased!

[mayflower]

Sorry but it's late and I ca'nt spell but, I have found that the citranella and eucalyptus oil makes the run smell sweet and stops flies staying in the run.

Aubiose/hemcore is definately great for reducing smells, as it soaks up their droppings......and it's, in my opinion easier to clean.

[Hen Watch]

I only find my lot smell on warm, wet days. The warmth and the wet seem to accentuate smell for me, but wet on it's own in the winter doesn't.

[Olly]

you can add a bit of oil, but I've always found that just makes the pellets clump together. Don't worry if some garlic powder drifts off - enough seems to stick to the pellets to have the effect. I am sure half the powder I put in is lost in the transfer to the Grub, but it still seems to work.

[AJuff]

Smell update -

 

Upped the garlic, poo pick daily now, covered the rest of the run, put down six ton of easibed on top of the raked in garden lime and hey presto fresh smells . . .

 

Thank you all.

[Yolky]

Great news AJuff. I need to get to the horsey store and buy some garlic ready.

[Egg Lou]

I use garlic granules rather than powder as they mix with pellets well and get eaten very easily ..

Also use bokashi bran and I don't really have any smell at all( except when they have just done a rather nasty poo near me!)

 

I poo pick hemcore in run every evening and clean poo trays every 2/3 days..however still early days for me!

[dogs and chickens]

I had one of neighbour complain tha my chickens smelt! They do not have a permanent run, and I move the house every week or so. However I have found, to my neighbour relief that hemcore in the poop tray has worked, I did also at the same time add bokashi bran to their diets. I have also purchased the huge shades from Omlet to cover the run totally. The poop smell that he could smell but I could not has now gone by all accounts !