My chicken coop is muddy & stinky

I don't have any immediate thoughts on how to dry the mud out - maybe try something like StallDry? However, when you are able to dry out a little bit, I would definitely recommend putting a nice thick (i.e. 6 inches or more) layer of play sand down in your coop. Sand drains much more easily than dirt, and is much easier to keep clean. I have sand down over the dirt floor of my run, and despite the 5 inches or so of rain we've gotten over the past week, the floor of the run is firm and clean. The sand is damp, but it doesn't form a big muddy soup; the girls' feet are clean, and even when wet, the sand is easy to clean of poop and debris. Sand is also much less stinky than mud is; chicken runs always have a little bit of a funk when damp, but I've found that spraying unactivated oxine all around once a week, mixing food-grade diatomeceous earth into the sand once a month, and in a pinch spraying some pet deodorizer around the area, keeps smells very manageable. I also clean the poop out of their litter in the henhouse daily (I only have three birds, so it's not a tremendous chore), and clean out all of the sand in the run once a week - that goes a long way toward keeping the smell down.

Thank you Naturegrrl.  I'm gonna look for StallDry and start with that!

I use shredded paper in place of straw and it breaks down into great compost with the dirt and chooky poo.Hope that helps some

I have the same muddy problem and I was about to give my chickens away until I found this site. I love having the chickens, and the summer dry months were fantastic, but once the rains came, the mud and SMELL are unbearable. I will remove some of the muddy muck and replace with gravel and sand as suggested. I am concerned about one thing..... flies. My coop is butted up next to my house. This past summer, the flies in my entire community were especially bad, but I felt that they were really bad around my house because of the chickens. any suggestions as to how to keep the flies down? Also, my hens WILL NOT sleep in their hen house. Instead, they roost on a roosting pole outside their house (but still a covered area). Is this oK??? I haven't had a problem with predators, but I am not sure how to create a more inviting "home" for them to want to sleep in. I'm nearly a year into this, and still feel like a novice.... help!

Regarding the flies - many chickenkeepers swear by the use of food-grade diatomeceous earth for keeping fly populations down.  When it is mixed in the bedding etc, the powder, which is made up of very very tiny shards of silicate (in the form of diatom shells) essentially cuts up the fly eggs laid in the bedding, so they don't hatch.  I've been using it in my chicken run since last May and we haven't had any fly issues yet... other than that, cleaning up the poop as often as you can always helps.  Having bedding and floor material that are easy to clean facilitates that process. 

Regarding roosting outside of the henhouse, I've heard a couple of strategies: physically put them on their perches at night (twilight-ish or later, so they're easy to handle and won't try to jump back down once you put them away) every night until they put themselves to bed properly; or lock them inside the henhouse itself for about a week straight (day and night), until they associate it with "home base".  If the place they're sheltering in is *completely* predator-proof (i.e. no way anything larger than a beetle can get in from ground or sky), they're probably fine roosting where they are.  But the range of critters that can become predators is vast (snakes, rats, cats, raccoons, skunks, weasels, foxes, crows, owls, hawks, etc), so predator-proofing efforts have to be prety extensive to be effective.  Our run is surrounded by an 8' wooden privacy fence, roofed with hardware cloth (1/4"), and where the ground isn't a cement pad we dug the dirt out and laid down a layer of gopher wire. We're pretty comfortable that no predators will be getting into that area... but I'm still a little anxious when I hear suspicious noises at night.  Good luck to you!  

Abercrombie Jeans Abercrombie Jeans
Abercrombie Pants Abercrombie Pants
Abercrombie Tees Abercrombie Tees
Abercrombie Shorts Abercrombie Shorts
Abercrombie Sweater Abercrombie Sweater
Abercrombie Outerwear Abercrombie Outerwear
Abercrombie Hoodies Abercrombie Hoodies
Abercrombie Polo Abercrombie Polo
Abercrombie ShirtsAbercrombie Shirts
abercrombie henleys crew abercrombie henleys crew
hollister hollister
hollister uk hollister uk
abercrombie mens abercrombie mens
abercrombie womens abercrombie womens
Ruehl 925 Ruehl 925
Abercrombie Jeans Abercrombie Jeans
Abercrombie Pants Abercrombie Pants
Abercrombie Tees Abercrombie Tees
Abercrombie Shorts Abercrombie Shorts
Abercrombie Sweater Abercrombie Sweater
Abercrombie Outerwear Abercrombie Outerwear
Abercrombie Hoodies Abercrombie Hoodies
Abercrombie Polo Abercrombie Polo
Abercrombie Shirts Abercrombie Shirts
abercrombie henleys crew abercrombie henleys crew
hollister hollister
hollister uk hollister uk
abercrombie mens abercrombie mens
abercrombie womens abercrombie womens
Ruehl 925 Ruehl 925
tiffany tiffany
shamwow shamwow
best hair best hair

Welcome the presence, the head store main management Replica handbags , the tidal current Replica bags, the pretty women's designer handbags, the replica watches in the quality, are Replica Breitling watches because of the service, lets reassurance which you buy, buys happiness! Is also trying on each kind of beautiful swiss replica watchesyou, whether also what appearance to choose a section of the Replica Hermes handbags to worry? Cheap replica handbags .Cheap handbags.replicas handbagshandbags purses.brand handbags all cheapsSwiss replica watches
detal stayle as follows Gucci replica handbags|Gucci Hobo Bag
|coach wallets|Dolce&Gabbana replica handbags|Givenchy replica handbags|Juicy Couture replica handbags|Juicy Couture handbags|Kooba replica handbags|Lancel replica handbags|Loewe replica handbags|Marni replica handbags|Thomas wylde replica handbags|Valentino replica handbags|Versace replica handbags|Yves Saint Laurent replica handbags|Alexander Wang replica handbags
Replica watchesReplica watchCheap replica watchesFake watchesLuxury watchesbest swiss watcheshigh quality replica watchesreplica swiss watchesfake watches wholesalePanerai replica watchesPanerai LuminorPanerai radiomirreplica Omega watchesomega speedmaster watchesomega seamaster watchesomega railmaster watchomega Constellation watchOmega deville watches

Dear friend.look for Replica Handbags or designer handbags. and other as Replica Chanel HandBags and Replica Gucci HandBags. come to angelbagbag site.Wholesale Replica Handbags
all have Replica Chanel bags.Gucci bags or Prada Handbags and Marc Jacobs Handbags.
Replica Bags let you buy as Gucci Handbags very cheap.Replica Louis Vuitton Handbags.cheap Chanel Handbags are good idea.
follows is your want to knows.Louis Vuitton Handbags|Replica Louis Vuitton Handbag|Replica LV Handbags|Louis Vuitton Bags|Replica Louis Vuitton Bags|Replica Chanel Handbags|Chanel Handbags|buy Chanel Handbags|Replica Chanel bags|Replica Gucci Handbags|buy Gucci Handbags|Replica Dior Handbags|Dior Handbags|buy Dior Handbags|Replica Prada Handbags|Replica Prada bags|buy Prada Handbags|Replica Marc Jacobs Handbags|Marc Jacobs bags|Replica D&G Handbags|Replica DG Handbags|DG Handbags|D&G Handbags|Replica Marni Handbags|Replica Marni bags|Marni Handbags
Replica Chanel HandBags |DesignerLouis Vuitton And Gucci HandBags
Dear friend.look for Replica Handbags or designer handbags. and other as Replica Chanel HandBags and Replica Gucci HandBags. come to angelbagbag site,Wholesale Replica Handbags.
One of the most popular collection and unique, they represent each of the brand's image. angelbagbag is a trading company, located in Guangzhou in China. We are mainly engaged in international famous brand bags, shoes, purses and other accessories. Our source is a handbag to Copy well-known companies in China, which is why we can offer all of our products the best prices directly. Our products are high quality, beautiful. Most importantly, their ability. We only sell high-quality copies of packets, but the price lower than the real designers want you to pay. Our products sell well all over the world, especially in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and other regions. We have international export experience, we ensure that our customers buy our products 100% satisfied.

Have you been invited to an evening wedding cheap prom dresses and want to make sure you follow the proper etiquette for the event? wedding invitation wording This can be important and there are a few things that can really help to ensure you ahve a great time. cheap bridesmaid dresses By following the proper etiquette and guidelines for an evening wedding and dress up games choosing what to wear carefully you can be sure you wont offend the bride and groom. wedding invitations This article will help give you some guidelines to picking out the proper evening wedding attire.

Have you tried adding a roof over the run?  That keeps the area dry.

In order to break through the simple color of business wear, the links of london necklaces with a number of color and vivid colored gemstones in the solemn business wear will links of london necklacestransmission to women's vitality and beauty.

Great post.Thanks for sharing this.
Check out izod outlet stores and mikasa outlets at
izod outlet stores
mikasa outlets

It sounds like a comedy of errors, no offence intended, and I think you will have a long row to hoe getting it taken care of. For starters, think about making a small chicken tractor to fairy your four hens around the yard. With a run of 5'X30', you have more than enough room for that few birds. Placing a chicken pen that close to the house is just asking for trouble, just add rain and you've got a lob-lolly. Having them on the north side of the house compounds the matter in wet times of the year, as you have pointed out. Once you have them out of there, put down a good dusting of lime and let that set for a few days to speed up decay, let it dry, and till the whole lot in. Chalk this one up to experience, and move on. You'll laugh about it in a few months. Matthew L. Cravatt

Abercrombie Fitch Abercrombie

I am happy to find your distinguished way of writing the post. Now you make it easy for me to understand and implement the concept. Thank you for the post.
Regards,
Nithin - Vancouver video production