What will help to keep the ammonia smell of rabbit and chicken waste from getting so overwhelming?

Question

I have a cabbin which I keep rabbits and chickens together in the winter. We spread the entire floor with straw, and they run free. I stack straw on top everytime that it starts to get strong smelling, because I want the waste to begin to compost and help to keep the space warm (I live in alaska). I hope to use this compost in the soil next year, so I dont want to add anything to the mixture that I cannot safely add to the garden. Is there anything that I can add to keep the smell from being so strong so quickly. I know that it is not good for them to breath that, as well as it is not pleasent to do the chores in the room when it smells so bad.

Thank you

Answer 1

The only true way to prevent the smell is to keep the floor dry.  You can transfer the waste into a compost bin (that should be air tight anyway).  Most commercial outfits have a moving floor under the animals that carry the waste away from the animals as soon as it comes out.

Answer 2

Try cleaning out the soiled strraw instead of just covering it up.

Answer 3

You can add lime.  It is not good for all of your crops however.  Lime "sweetens" the soil, and some crops like acid soils.

I would spread the lime over the used straw, and then spread the fresh straw over the top of it.  That will really help cut down the smell.  You need to put fresh straw over it, because the lime would be too hard on the rabbits feet.

If you could get worms to start colonizing in the litter of your critter cabin it would really help too.  

I live in the high desert mountain area of Idaho.  We have really brutal weather here too.  Snowing here today.  My bunny barn can get pretty rank too.  We have worm bins under the rabbit hutches but not in the winter.  It gets so cold here, they would freeze solid.  I use pine, and cedar shavings under the hutches to help cut down the smell.

My husband is also going to cut a hole in the roof, and install one of those spinning vent things  to help circulate the air (we get a lot of wind here too).

I too use the same layer composting/heat methods you do.  We only clean the barns out for the goats, horses, and rabbits in the spring.  The rest of the time it is building up, and generating heat for the animals.  Smells something fierce in the spring when you clean out!

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years