Do you need to keep your chicken coop smelling better than it is now? When the warmer, humid months hit, there is no denying you own some chickens.
Or maybe you want to get your chicken coop ready for winter and need a little refresh to the coop.
We’ve had three different coops for our chickens, and I’ve found that the best way to deodorize it is by using sand in our current coop.
I shared an entire post on how we use sand in our coop and how you can get started too. We pasture raise our chickens- meaning they have a coop to go into at night, but then they can go wherever they want during the day.
They have no fenced-in run. This means our chicken coop doesn’t have as much ventilation- but trust me, it’s got plenty of cracks and breeze from the cats and other rodents making their way in. Our barn is on gravel ground.
If you are new around here- I like to get things cheap. I’m not a fan of paying full price for things. So when I started without a new chicken coop in our new barn, I was motivated to keep it cleaner.
We can all laugh now, three years later; the coop cleanouts go a few days longer than when we started.
I shared the PDZ Coop Refresher because it’s the first thing I found at our local farm store- Runnings. But the cost is expensive. And if you have more than ten chickens, you realize you go through a bag quickly.
One ten lb. bag is priced at $12.99 at our local store. Over on Amazon, it’s $17.95! So don’t grab it there!
What is a Sweet PDZ coop refresher? It’s an organic powder you can sprinkle throughout your coop to help capture and eliminate ammonia. You can read about it on their website here.
But I stopped using this.
Here is the best way to clear out the stink in your chicken coop for cheap!
I use sand in our coop, which alone has helped with the smell of ammonia a TON! Also, cleaning out the coop fast each week is super easy. Yep, think of it like scooping out your cat box.
You can read how I clean out the chicken coop fast here.
Then I sprinkle in Diatomaceous Earth. We grab a big 25 lb bag at our local feed store. Tractor supply has reasonable prices for the food-grade kind too. Make sure you get a food grade.
I haven’t noticed this to take any smell out, but it does absorb any wetness you may need to get rid of. I keep doing it for the benefit of pests.
Then I use Sweet PDZ Horse Stall Refresher from Tractor Supply. They run it on sale, so my stock-up price is usually $9.99 for a 25 lb. bag.
That ends up being $0.39 per lb. compared to $1.09 per lb of the Coop refresher.
I haven’t noticed any difference in one working better than the other. They seem the same to me.
I will also sprinkle in the baking soda from my goats, which you know they refuse to touch because straw got into it. So I grab a big bag of baking soda from BJs. Any wholesale club has a reasonable price on this. Walmart sells a big bag, too, for a few more dollars than BJs.
When you are using sand in the coop, you do not need as much of the refresher.
If you are growing any mint in your yard, this helps with the smell and flies. You can plant mint around the coop if you have a cute little chicken coop. We have a patch of chocolate mint growing out in the goat pen; they don’t tend to eat that until it’s the LAST thing available. So I’m able to go out there and pick a bunch and sprinkle it around the barn and chicken coop; it smells so nice. Just be careful if you aren’t using gloves and pulling up the mint, then touching your eyes, etc. ( You know personal experience)
I have put herbs in the nesting boxes to keep any flies out. I haven’t noticed if it helped or not. I would use mint and lavender.
We have this on our homestead, so I would never buy it for that. Mint is supposed to keep bugs away, but I see plenty around my massive mint patch out in the yard. But sometimes, throwing some fresh herbs in for the ladies feels fun.
As always, be sure to remove all soiled bedding- sand before you put in your refreshers for the coop. I use this in the goat pens as well as the pig pens too.
I hope that helps you freshen up your chicken coop this year. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below?
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Loved your article on keeping your coop clean! I was wondering where you get your sand for the coop? I am struggling with figuring out where and which type of sand to use. Thank you!
Hey Kathy, we go to Tractor Supply, Runnings or Home Depot. You can use an all purpose sand. As long as it not play sand.
Thanks for sharing! Do you put the wood shavings on top of the sand or just use sand only?
We use sand only. Unless the sand is getting low and I only have shavings I’ll throw those on top. But it’s much easier with sand only.
Is play sand the same as beach sand? We have a sandbox that grandkids don’t use much full of Lake MI beach sand
It may be finer, you could use that down as a base, maybe but it’s recommended to have a thicker sand so there isn’t as much dust for the chickens.