HELP aggressive chicken

[Debbielou]

Hi

 

We have had four chickens for about a year now and they have a large covered chicken coop and an uncovered bare earth run which is a decent size for 4 chickens. Unfortunately an ammonia smell seems to be building up despite our efforts to neutralize it. In the chicken coop we use wood shavings and it doesn' smell at all. However the run is a different matter and I'm afraid that the neighbours may start to complain - we really don't want to have to get rid of the chickens as we love them dearly. We have tried putting Stalosan down, we've put sharp sand and just recently 10-20mm gravel down so as to improve drainage but the smell continues. There droppings are picked up regularly throughout the day. We feed them bokashi which is supposed to help neutralize somewhat the smell. Having a movable run isn't an option as our garden is very small but we urgently need a solution to this problem. I'm wondering if we ought to flag the run and then put wood chip down but I'm not sure whether the chickens would lget as much enjoyment out of scratching the wood chips as opposed to the bare earth. Any suggestions or advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in anticipation of your replies.

[Egluntyne]

Try garden lime. It works wonders and isn't harmful to the chickens as it is only calcium.

[The Dogmother]

I use a mix of garden lime and Biodri or Stalosan in the run - works a treat

[chelsea]

This time of year I always use my garden sprayer aswell. I fill a spray bottle with water and add some drops of citronella oil, lavender oil and ecalyptus oil - give it a shake and spray around the run. It gives it a nice "freshen up" and keeps the flies away. I also use this around the rabbit hutch - works a treat.

[poachedegg]

This time of year I always use my garden sprayer aswell. I fill a spray bottle with water and add some drops of citronella oil, lavender oil and ecalyptus oil - give it a shake and spray around the run. It gives it a nice "freshen up" and keeps the flies away.

 

Good tip - thanks for that, I'm going to give it a go.

[sezra]

This time of year I always use my garden sprayer aswell. I fill a spray bottle with water and add some drops of citronella oil, lavender oil and ecalyptus oil - give it a shake and spray around the run. It gives it a nice "freshen up" and keeps the flies away. I also use this around the rabbit hutch - works a treat.

 

What a lovely idea, I shall try that! Especially if it helps keep the flies away!

[chelsea]

Another idea I have been using is hanging up an old duster/rag in the rafters of my WIR. Maybe once or twice a week I spray the rag with the same solution and then it hangs and blows in the wind - so like a little smelly flag if you get what I mean!

[abwsco]

Is your run covered? I use the deep litter method, so at least a foot of big dust extracted shavings (I use horsey ones) on top of the soil and ours doesn't smell at all. I sprinkle it with stalosan and garden lime every so often and have done a full dig out only the once so far in over twelve months. I also chuck in fresh shavings every so often.

[Debbielou]

I'll give the garden lime a try.

 

Thanks

[Snoxy]

I recently bought some citronella and eucolyptus oil...will be filling up the spare water sprayer tomorrow..my red top fly trap is over half full with flies and maggots and works brilliantly but there are flies in a different part of the free-ranging area too...can't wait to try it...brilliant tip thank you Chelsea

[kissinuk]

Depending how big your run is you could consider slabbing it and putting a good layer of straw on top. I do this with my Eglu run and it works a treat. Before I had the slabs the poop would work it's way into the soil and started to smell really bad as it rotted, regardless of whether I completely changed the wood chips/straw. Having the slabs stops this happening and lets you scoop up everything when the run is cleaned.

 

However, I let mine free range on grass for part of the day, if they were on slabs all the time you'd need to make sure you had a decent layer of straw and also have dust baths available.

[Egluntyne]

Min runs are slabbed and I put Aubiose on top.

 

It is super absorbent, and compostable. I rake it out and replace roughly every six weeks.

[The Dogmother]

Min runs are slabbed and I put Aubiose on top.

 

It is super absorbent, and compostable. I rake it out and replace roughly every six weeks.

 

Me too

 

I used that new Ground Sanitising Powder of Nettex's last time and I don't think I am imagining that it is super-fresh even with all this heat.

[kissinuk]

I usually use Aubiose in the summer and straw when it gets wet. However since finding out that Welland Valley Feeds in Market Harborough sell proper bales of straw for only £2 I might stick with it...