Bokashi: organic odour control

Looking for an organic, natural product to help with coop odor control? Look no further! Bokashi is the fermented answer to your prayers.

If you're a crazy chicken lady like me, you've Googled all kinds of chicken products. One branch of such products is 'chicken poop odour control'. Now, it seems the US has a vast arrary of products to use in your run and coops to help keep things smelling fine - Sweet PDZ and Dokashi are just two. But in the land downunder, these brands aren't available. Also, customs isn't about to let you import it.

So what's a crazy chicken lady to do?

BOKASHI!

Nope, I didn't just sneeze. Bokashi is a fermemted grain (usually bran) which is used in a Japanese-style indoor composting system. It comes in bags, looks like dry grain, and smells like sweet/yeast/grass. It's a great natural odour control, and it also helps put some good bacteria into the bedding and kick-start the composting process.

Unlike all these obscure chicken-specfic odour control solutions available in the US, you can get Bokashi all over the place, including Bunnings. They carry the MAZE brand, and I've confirmed with MAZE that their bran-business is safe for runs. The chickens love it too - and seeing as fermented food is all the rage, I figure it can only be another positive little addition to their diet. HOW DO I USE IT?

You buy a bag, crack it open and throw handfuls of it through the run. Just pitch it over the run floor and let it do its jazz. Be liberal, about a handful per metre square. It also helps if you do it while your ladies aren't around, or they'll hover it all up before it has a chance to do anything.

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