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My neighbor said my coop smelled like a wet dog and she was right, here's what I changed
About 2 months ago my neighbor Linda was standing at the fence and said, kind of out of nowhere, "your coop smells like a wet dog in July." I was pretty embarrassed because I had gotten so used to it that I didn't even notice. I had been using pine shavings straight on the floor and just tossing more on top every few days, thinking that was fine. She told me she keeps a 4 inch layer of coarse wood chips and stirs it like compost every morning with a little rake, plus she mixes in a scoop of sweet PDZ around the roosts. I switched to that setup and within 10 days the smell was basically gone, even on humid days here in southern Ohio. Turns out the deep litter thing only works if you actually turn it and keep it dry, which I was not doing at all. Now I spend maybe 3 minutes a day on it instead of an hour deep cleaning every month. Has anyone else had a neighbor call out something you were nose blind to, and what did you swap in?
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williamschmidt8d ago
My sister pulled the same thing on me last spring, said my run smelled like sour milk and I had no clue until she said it out loud. What fixed mine was switching from shavings to the big chunky chips too, plus I stopped letting rain blow in by hanging a tarp on the west side of the run. The wet is the whole problem, once that litter stays dry the smell just dies off on its own. I also toss a handful of chick grit and some old coffee grounds in when I stir it, seems to help it break down faster. Three minutes with a garden rake beats scrubbing walls any day of the week.
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