Single hen

[Sarah 2]

Our garden is starting to smell. I do poo pick everyday

 

At the moment we have bark chippings in the run but I'm wondering if there would be less smell if I put hemcore in the run instead.

 

We get soooo much poo in a day from the chickens. How do you go about composting it?

[AJuff]

I poo pick every day too just to keep the smell down and the flies away. I have heard that if you put garlic granules in with their pellets it stops their droppings from smelling. i also read that garden lime neutralises the smell too. As for composting the droppings, I just drop them into the compost bin along with everything else. I am experimenting with making poo soup by adding water to them in the watering can so that I can fertilise the lawn. Still in the experimental stage!!

[Olly]

definitely, definitely recommend garlic powder (I bought it from Omlet but I believe horsey shops sell it as well.) You just add a teaspoonful to each Grub full of pellets, they don't seem to mind at all, and it makes a big difference.

 

Not quite sure why, I think something to do with neutralising the acidity ... whatever, if I don't add it for any reason, then I really notice the difference a day or two later.

 

I'm nearly out of garlic powder, I've got some bokashi which is also supposed to do the trick so I'll try that next, but I think garlic is cheaper.

 

Sprinkling garden lime on the floor of the run will also help a bit. I have used hemcore from about the first month, so I don't really know any different, but I find it soaks up poo like magic. Then you rake it out and compost it - it should rot down fairly quickly, but you probably want to add some 'greens' like grass clippings or vegetable waste.

[Coastie]

Our garden is starting to smell. I do poo pick everyday

 

At the moment we have bark chippings in the run but I'm wondering if there would be less smell if I put hemcore in the run instead.

 

We get soooo much poo in a day from the chickens. How do you go about composting it?

 

We had exactly the same problem. The bark chippings got completely soaked with all the rain and it became really smelly. I dug the whole lot up and replaced with Aubrious. What a difference! Now I can sit in the run with the chickens again. I don't know where all the poo goes. It just disappears.

 

Coastie

[Richard]

We get soooo much poo in a day from the chickens. How do you go about composting it?

 

I just stick it in the compost bin. I mix it with shredded paper or newspaper (which is what I have on the poo tray in the Eglu and in the nest box) and it all goes in together with the lawn clippings, kitchen stuff and other compostable waste. Its unrecognisable in next to no time.

[Sarah 2]

Thank you for your replies.

 

How much hemcore do you put in the run?

 

What size compost bin do you think I'd need?

[Richard]

I don't use hemcore so I don't know. My bins are the normal plastic ones from B&Q etc. but I have three of them and rotate it all round.

[chelsea]

I put hemcore in the run and dont have any smells, and I dont pick out poo either, it seems to disappear in hemcore!!

 

We layer wood shavings on the very bottom of the run, then a scattering of barrier red mite powder and then a thick layer of hemcore over the top. Under the summer and winter shade we place kitchen roll with a few citronella drops on it (this helps with smell and flies ) I also do this with one piece of kitchen roll in the poo tray in the eglu.

 

We dismantle and clean the eglu once a week, the run top hemcore layer gets replaced weekly and the whole run has a clear out monthly.

[cutechicky]

Garlic powder!! The wonderous stuff!!!! You can add this to feed/water. Try feed first. Some chickens don't like it though....

[foreveryoung]

My girls have a reasonably sized run and that can get a bit smelly

 

I normally mix in some garden lime (from b&q normally used on veggie patches so is safe to use) and give the ground a good turn over! I think they look forward to it as they do love to scratch about and after the ground turning they do find some good sized worms!

 

at some point (prob next year now as thw weather is awlful) I plan to raise my veggie patch as its resting this year, I will be digging out their run as the soil should be really good for the plants and will be replacing it with wood chippings of something to that degree!

 

good luck

 

xx

[Christian]

 

What size compost bin do you think I'd need?

 

Judging by the poo from my girls, I would say a 1000 Litre!

[Olly]

[redfrock]

talking about poo - aren't some of their poos simply enormous?!? I don't know how a small bird can expell something so big (other than an egg) - they must be bigger than a big dog's