Solitary chicken - need advice

[Jennyhenny]

Just been out to the girls and the run absolutely stinks.

 

I have an eglu with standard run with rubber chippings on soil. The chippings have virtually disappeared into the soil with all the scratching the girls do.

 

Is the smell cos of all the rain we've had, anybody else find its alot more smelly than usual. Anybody have any ideas how I can get rid of the smell. I thought about paving slabs but obviously the girls wont be able to scratch the ground, would this matter.

 

I need to do something help please !!!

 

Jennyhenny

[quickcluck]

Oh dear jenny...

 

have you tried hosing them off and sprinkling some stalosan down???

 

Many people keep their chooks on slabs and put hemcore/easybed down for them to scratch about in and provide a dust bath...

 

Hope it sorts itself out soon...

[Falkor]

Have you tried Stalosan or Biodry??

 

There was a bit in practical poultry saying the rubber chippings were not good I thought they would be great.

 

I have woodchip in my run...this gets raked over everyday. Then on cleanout day they all get raked to one side...stalosan sprinkled about and then the woodchip raked back with any pooey lumps taken out. I have to say that I have not noticed that is smells.

[Jennyhenny]

Thanks

 

I have hosed them down but I'm obviously adding more moisture to the run. I haven't put any Stalosan down, where is the best place to buy this.

 

Thanks everyone, really appreciate your help

 

Jennyhenny

[Falkor]

Your local Agriculture or Equine store is probably best......you can buy it online but postage can be a killer. I purchased the tub and 7months on I am not even two thirds through it!

 

I am pretty sure Flyte so fancy sell both Stalosan and Biodry...not sure about their postage: http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Stalosan_F_Disinfectant.html

 

I have seen it on ebay too in the past.

[Jennyhenny]

Thanks all,

 

Do you think it would help if I tried to rescue as much of the chippings as i could from the ground and then laid membrane down or put slabs down so there was no soil and then put the chippings back down would this help the smell and then obviously putting the stolsan down

 

Sorry for all the questions

 

Jennyhenny

[mostin]

I think it's just the amount of rain we've had at the moment. Until Friday only half of my WIR had a roof but with all the rain it was a mud bath and it absolutely stank .

 

I use horse bedding ontop of soil, and it was not nice . It was too wet and bogged into the ground to even shovel up and empty out of the run to start a fresh!

 

We roofed the rest, covered all the mud and used wet bedding with stanlosan F and then put 3 fresh bales of bedding on top. I use Rapasorb from Easibed and it is scented with citronella.

 

With the roof on even the underneath has all dried out, and it smells delightful. The chooks have been having a great time kicking all the bedding around, as it's about waist high on them . So there is hope that a stinky mess can be resolved.

[Plum]

I don't think it would help paving or membrane with having rubber chippings unless you can sweep it aside and hose them off. I feel you need to neutralise the ammonia in the soil underneath by digging in some garden lime maybe. If you leave it you could end up with chicken diseases.

Stalosan will kill the bugs but may not be enough on wet soil.

 

There was a good article in Practicle Poultry a short while ago about using rubber chippings for chicken run. If you pm me your address I'll copy and post it to you. It will probably say the opposite to what I've just written.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I was going to ask if your run is covered? That makes a huge difference. Corrugated plastic sheets (from B&Q or Wickes) are perfect for an eglu run.

 

[jlo]

My runs have been a bit whiffy with all the rain too. I have hemcore on top of soil at the moment. (and my runs are both covered)

 

A lady up the road from me suggests this http://www.chickenkeeper.co.uk/shop/64-mud-management.html which seems to be a reasonable idea but I haven't tried it myself so can't speak from experience

[Guest]

we don't have a problem with smells but we have a covered WIR on soil with aubiose over the soil. Once a month DH digs out all the poopy aubiose, digs garden lime into the soil to neutralise the whiff (it does whiff under the aubiose) then he liberally sprinkles stalosan F around then puts fresh aubiose down. Our girls have been in the same spot now for almost 2 years so it works

[The Dogmother]

Mine are alos in a covered cube run. I do the same as Poet mentions above and it never niffs.

 

Stoppping the run from getting damp is the key - it causes bacteria to breed, which will produce the stink and can also harm your flock.

[Staffordmum]

Hi Jenny,

 

Have just read your earlier post. We are experiencing same, having just provided a full cover for our WIR.

 

Have yet to source Stalosan. Did you try it? how did you get on?

 

We bought a large quantity of rubber chippings and didn't use membrane. The place is awash with mud with no sign of drying out due to continued adverse weather

 

Any other helpful info. would be appreciated

 

Kind rgds,

 

Pat & Steve

 

BTW - does anyone know where I can buy Rapasorb?

Edited July 21, 2009 by Guest

[quickcluck]

Try Flytes so fancy, they have lots of great stuff there, you could always slip something else into your basket!!!

[The Dogmother]

If you can't get Stalosan, then try BioDri; same thing.

 

A few people on various poultry forums have tried the rubber chippings and all have come back to say that they aren't happy with them. Good idea I guess, but perhaps not in practice.

[mostin]

Hi Jenny,

 

Have just read your earlier post. We are experiencing same, having just provided a full cover for our WIR.

 

Have yet to source Stalosan. Did you try it? how did you get on?

 

We bought a large quantity of rubber chippings and didn't use membrane. The place is awash with mud with no sign of drying out due to continued adverse weather

 

Any other helpful info. would be appreciated

 

Kind rgds,

 

Pat & Steve

 

BTW - does anyone know where I can buy Rapasorb?

 

I got my stanlosan f from flytesofancy online.

 

Rapasorb bedding I get from my local horsey supplies/farm shop. If they don't have that brand, your nearest farm/horsey shop will probably have aubiouse or nedz bedz or a similar make.

 

I wouldn't recommend buying just normal straw, it gets all over your car , and can come with added creepy crawlies.

 

Horse bedding in large plastic wrapped bales will have been steam cleaned. Some is even labelled as scented with Tea tree or citronella which helps keep flies away as well.

 

Good luck and let us know what your local place has. Check out the yellow pages for equine supplies.

[Jennyhenny]

Hi everyone thanks for all the replies.

 

Since I posted on here I have kept the run covered with poly thanks to a fellow forum member and this has made a huge difference .

 

Thanks to Plum for the magazine article from Practical Poultry "Mud Management" which said membrane down was a MUST.

 

I have decided to start again with the chippings so I am going to pick as many of the rubber chippings up as I can find and wash in hot soapy water and then hose off. I have been out and bought some Garden Lime to dig into the soil. I have the membrance also. Unfortunately the shop doesnt have Stalosan F but the man pointed me in the right direction for some localish but he did say he had a free sample once and it was excellent. I have emailed the company and they have come back with these prices

 

Stalosan F 25kg @ £24.75 + VAT

 

Stalosan F 8kg @ £15.00 + VAT

 

What size bag do you think I need?

 

So I will put the membrance down and then put the newly polished chippings back down and sprinkle with Stalosan F.

 

The lime, chipping wash and membrane was going down today but guess what - we had rain

 

How often should I sprinkle the chippings with the Stalosan?

 

Fingers crossed I will keep you all informed. I can't emphasise enough how much better it smells though for just being drier.

 

Thanks everyone, don't know what I would do without you all

 

Jennyhenny

[Plum]

I haven't got rubber chippings but woodchip and hemp bedding so I don't know if it is different. I chuck a handful down per half run weekly and if the bedding gets wet I put some down. I have the smaller 12.5 Kg tub and have used about 1/2 in 8 months using it like this.

I know some put it down just when they change the run covering, but I use it as recommended on the tub. Purely poultry http://www.purelypoultry.co.uk/Health_care.html

sell it for £12.50 but postage will be a lot. I collected it from them. Not far from me.

Don't know why the company quote so much to you and then VAT on top.

[Cooks]

cheaper on ebay, and with this person you can order other stuff for a combined postage of £7.95.. so not expesnive at all really

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/8KG-STALOSAN-F-DISINFECTANT-POULTRY-CHICKENS-HORSES_W0QQitemZ290333067215QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry?hash=item43993307cf&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1683%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50