Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[timhenman]

finally the chickens are due to arrive within the next week (hurrah) thanks to all you guys at omlet who helped me out and made my dream of poultry keeping possible but............

Neighbours are all happy except one..... He is afraid that the smell will be to strong to bear personally I don’t think there should be any problem but some reassurance would be very nice. The enclosure is 14 squared approximately anti fox fence is up complete with one foot under ground trench (boy did that digging take it out on me), no special ground is down yet though only loose earth

My main dilemma is will there de an over powering smell, if so how should i best avoid it and what sort of ground should i put down

Any help would be much appreciated

Thank you all once again for all the help

 

[Sandychick]

They are really very easy to keep smell free I would definatly reccomend Auboise or hemcore to go in the run. It keeps it smelling nice as it absorbes and dries out the poo - also makes life easier for cleaning out etc. If you do use this though, the run would need to be covered as it can get quite smelly if it gets wet in the rain.

 

Also, adding garlic powder to their pellets makes a big difference in making their poo less smelly!

 

I think your neighbour will be surprised at how much they don't smell. I have asked my neighbours and neither of them can smell anything at all.

[Egluntyne]

With good husbandry there should be no problem.

 

Sprinkling a bit of garden lime on the ground where they range ill sweeten it up if it does get a bit whiffy.

[laurmurf]

How many are you planning to get? I've got 6 and it doesn't smell as all until I lift out the poo trays and put them in the compost, then the lid shuts and it's done. I have used garlic powder and bokashi from the beginning and I do poo-pick in the garden every couple of days but I don't think I've gone out of my way to keep smells at bay...

[beach chick]

mine dont smell at all, and I am the sluttiest chicken mummy!! I clean out the eglu once a week (or 10 days if weather doesnt suit), I dont poo pick, I only gave them bokashi the once, umm, but they still dont smell - if you stick your head inside the porthole the day before cleaning, well yes - but outside in the fresh air? no way! good luck.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've only got 3 but don't get any smells at all. I don't even notice a smell from the poo tray when it's full .

 

I use garlic powder & bokashi bran in their feed, hemcore/easibed, garden lime and Stalosan F in the run.

[keyhole kate]

mine dont smell at all, and I am the sluttiest chicken mummy!! I clean out the eglu once a week (or 10 days if weather doesnt suit), I dont poo pick, I only gave them bokashi the once, umm, but they still dont smell - if you stick your head inside the porthole the day before cleaning, well yes - but outside in the fresh air? no way! good luck.

 

 

 

same here

[Hen Watch]

Mine don't smell.

 

- Garlic powder, and sometimes bokashi, in their feed.

- Aubiose (which is horse bedding, or Hemcore is another brand) in the run as it soaks up poo amazingly.

 

On the very, very occasional wet, humid, warm day I can smell a slight "farmyardy" smell if I get close to the run. But I don't smell it from the back door or in the garden generally, just up close in their area. But I think that's only been maybe 2 days that I can think of this year on really warm PLUS wet days. Warm days are OK. Wet days are OK. It seems to be a combination thing. I doubt though that your neighbours would notice.

[JM]

I've only got 3 but don't get any smells at all. I don't even notice a smell from the poo tray when it's full .

 

I use garlic powder & bokashi bran in their feed, hemcore/easibed, garden lime and Stalosan F in the run.

 

Neither do mine - I've got 3 in a cube and extended run. I also put a bit of Stalosan F in the poo trays - but even if you stick your head in the cube, it doesn't smell.

 

I've been pleasantly surprised!

[timhenman]

Thanks to all you guys once again

Should be relatively simple to get the ho"Ooops, word censored!" bedding

And thanks for the great advice: mrgreen:

[bokbokbok]

I'm coming to this one a bit late, hope you still need some help.

 

I started off with *all of the above* - hemcore down, bokashi in food etc. After a couple of weeks I found the hemcore refused to dry out so we put slab paving down with hemcore over the top. That has helped a lot and I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of putting hemcore in their run as it will soak up from the bottom as much as soak down from the top.

 

I have had a spot of bad smells this week though and have to say that chickens CAN smell. I think I keep on top of the cleaning regime as best I can but the run is decidedly pongy at the moment. I think I'm down to the last layer of the hemcore (after removing poo over some time) and it needs totally removed and replaced and I am hoping to get that done as soon as possible.

 

I don't think the neighbour who would be close enough to smell them would be close enough to really worry about it - they would only catch a whiff as they get in to their car.

 

But yes - they can smell

[timhenman]

thank you onece again

[timhenman]

i hope to get some pictures up when the ladies arive should be about half term time!

i cant wait!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Bokbokbok, have you tried Stalosan F on your slabs? You don't need lime as your run's not on soil but Stalosan is supposed to help keep niffs down.