Reducing The Smell from the Chickens

With all the rain we’ve had, our chickens have been claw deep in mud lately….with the mud comes the stink!!! The placement of our chicken coop was not necessarily the best. It is one of the lowest areas in our yard. The chicken run has became very muddy. The chickens don’t seem to mind but the eggs are muddy and need to be washed. Even though the rain has tapered off, the run is not drying out enough. We are having some issues with smell from the chickens as well. Wet chicken poop smells more than dry poop…who knew. What are our options??? We considered moving the coop and the run to higher ground but how? That seemed like a huge undertaking….so off to the internet for help. After cruising the chicken chat rooms, we decided on a load of sand. The sand should raise the level of the ground. The drainage should be improved. The chicken poop should dry quicker which leads to less smell. Also we are hoping to have cleaner eggs. We will let you know if this works next time the rains come; or if we need to move the chicken coop.

Update: Well, it has been almost a week since we put the sand in the chicken run to reduce the smell of the chickens. The chickens are no longer in mud. The eggs are cleaner (which is a big plus!!!) I think the smell is not as bad. But we are having rain right now so…..we will see if the drainage is better. We will keep you posted.