1. Water and moisture are not your friend. If you slop or spill water when filling the water founts or bowls, the moisture will mix with the droppings and create a bad ammonia odor. The best way to keep this from piling up is to clean up any spills as they happen. We had to switch to a fount style waterer instead of a bowl because we have one duck in with the chickens and she thought we were giving her a small swimming pool each evening. Mrs. Duck can still get enough water to dip her bill in with the water fount. And there is less mess to cleanup in the morning.
2. Install a box fan to keep air circulating. Stagnant air smells bad and the flies will accumulate more in a stuffy airless building. Running a fan, even on low speed, will keep the flies, and the odor to a minimum. Not to mention that it keeps the coop from becoming too hot, also. We hang an inexpensive box unit over the coop doorway. You can read more about that here, in my heat stress post.
3. Use fresh herbs and rose petals if you have them in the nesting boxes and in the sleeping areas. Not only will the herbs and petals smell great, the hens will appreciate the yummy treat. Check out more about using herbs in your nesting boxes. Another good source for chicken information is Fresh Eggs Daily and here's a link to the post over there about using herbs in your coop.
4. Every few days or once a week, clean out any bedding that is soiled or damp. We use hay in the nesting boxes and on the sleeping bench. The chickens may have tracked in some wet mud, or occasionally an egg gets broken in the nests. The bedding is thrown out in the chicken yard for them to peck through before it is added to the compost pile. Sprinkle some Diatomaceous Earth powder under the fresh hay to absorb moisture and odors.
5. Two or three times a year, completely clean out the bedding on the coop floor. We use the deep litter method of coop bedding. This means that we continue to add fresh bedding or shavings as needed to the coop and only remove the damp/wet or soiled bedding on the floor as needed. In the winter this adds to the warmth of the coop by keeping the decomposing litter and feces in the building. Decomposing matter creates heat. We keep less litter and shavings in the coop during the hot months of summer to keep it cooler.
Keeping chickens happy and smelling good is not a full time job and doesn't need to be. Maintain a dry environment and your coop will be smelling fresh.
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| The girls love fresh bedding! It must be like clean sheets on the bed |
This was shared on The Back Yard Farming Connection Blog Hop
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I discovered another method that doesn't require as much work by me. I use the deep littler method in my coop (and no water bowls or fountains inside) and I never smell an odor in the coop. The deep litter is dry so all poop gets covered and dried pretty fast. The chickens walking around and scratching is ususally enough to turn the deep litter often. About once a week I may run a quick rake over it and that is it. With this method I will only need to empty it once or twice a year.
ReplyDeleteNo smell and about $9 to replace the litter works for me :-)
Thank you Backyard Chicken Lady. I think the chickens would be fine without water in the coop at night but I have one duck in there with them. She has always lived with the chickens but ducks need water available all the time. Good comment though for those with just chickens. thanks
ReplyDeleteWe are brand new to raising chickens and looking for all the information we can get. So far it's a blast! Thanks for sharing this post. (stopping by from the Self Sufficient Home Acre hop)
ReplyDelete~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
Thank you for visiting from Taylor-Made Ranch! I will look for your page and visit you.
ReplyDeleteJanet this was such a great post! I chose it for one of our features. Thanks so much for sharing at the HomeAcre Hop! Would love to have you drop back by tomorrow: http://wp.me/p2urYY-127 Have a Happy Fourth!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you use for litter? We just got a pile of peeps and I would LOVE to know how to keep their coop from smelling, well, like a coop :-)
ReplyDeleteWe use Pine Shavings or Sawdust if the sawdust is dry enough. We have a sawmill so sawdust is free but I buy packaged shavings
ReplyDelete