# Smelly Pen...



## Brillig (Sep 3, 2016)

Hi Folks...

Well...Baxter and Hazel are six months old now and they are a joy to have around...They have a grazing pen 25x25 during the day and a predator safe pen 10x10 at night...The night pen is getting a bit smelly as we near winter's end...It's built on bare earth, so I was wondering what the best way to get rid of the smell would be...I need to be careful with barn lime as we have well water, but I'm not opposed to using it on occasion...

Thanks in advance...
M


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## Goatzrule (Feb 7, 2013)

Have you been adding shavings occasionally?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Are you cleaning it?


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

How thoroughly are you cleaning it and how often? 
Also, what are you using as bedding?

I have 5 goats and 1 sheep on bare earth and it doesn't smell at all (unless my buck spends the night Haha), but I make sure to spot clean everyday and clean completely once a week. 

From time to time I spray the whole place down with a chlorhexidine solution, but I don't do it often enough to prevent any smell. You can try it and see if it works though, Its safe, dentists use it in mouth washes and stuff (my friend is a dental assistant and told me this, which I though was pretty cool info) and I use it diluted in water to clear up eye infections in one of my wethers who's prone to getting them. Its kills bacteria and some bacteria can cause odor, so maybe it can help. . .in the least it will disinfect everything. Haha
You can also spray it down with a diluted bleach solution or even sprinkling the bare ground with baking soda should help.


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## Brillig (Sep 3, 2016)

I usually use the blower to remove all food, poop and hay, but I don't have any bedding throughout the pen, just in some corners and again in their house, but they don't usually sleep on the ground they usually sleep in the house or on their climbing platform...Once in a while I take several gallons of water and rinse the ground throughly to dilute the urine...The smell wasn't bad until recently when it went from smelling kinda good, to smelling kinda gross...

I had actually thought to use chlorhexidine as I saw it on sale recently, but I usually use Oxine for my poultry, so I figured I could use that instead...Powerful and very safe, as it converts to a salt when it destabilizes....Just wasn't sure if it was normal for the pen to stink outdoors...I would have thought the earth would have kept the smell down...


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

Hmm, strange that it just started to small bad recently. A build up of urine bacteria in the soil might be to blame then.
Yes, since you have it on hand, try the Oxine and see how well that works!


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## Brillig (Sep 3, 2016)

Problem easily solved with some bleach and a pressure washer...I put straw done throughout the pen to help absorb the urine...Pen is back to smelling fresh and kinda good...Will definitely switch to Oxine going forward though as the bleach can be rough on the earth worms...


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