How can I keep my stable from smelling?

Casey76

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My stables (at the yard where I'm on livery - just to be specific ;) ) have a concrete base with no drainage. My bedding is straw, and at the moment I put the bed up every night while the horses are out, and put it down in the morning before I bring them in. The boxes are in a high roofed barn, so plenty of ventilation

This weekend I cleared out all of the bedding, and scrubbed the floors to take up all of the encrustations.

When I put the beds up last night they are still eye-wateringly smelly.

Is there anything I could use to wash them down with/powder etc that would cut through the smell? If a cat pees in the house I use an enzymatic cleaner - could I use something similar in the stable?

I can only do a deep clean at the weekend as I can turn them out on a Saturday afternoon and leave them until Monday morning. My fields, especially the top one, have no shade, and I don't have enough grass to turn them out for longer, even if I could get permission to leave them out.
 

Toby_Zaphod

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I honestly think that straw is the smelliest bedding around & the urine smell in them can be very string. Years ago when one of ours was on straw we used Jeyes Fresh bin powder on the floor after we'd mucked out. It's readily available & you don't have to use alot but it used to keep the smell down a bit.
 

booandellie

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Personally i find straw beds smelly anyway and if there was the option i would swap to shavings .. failing that, when you lift your bed can you wash the floor down with disinfectant? when it has dried sprinkel with a deoderising powder, there are numerous on the market. Finally , a friend of mine sprays her stable with a peppermint spray each day which lasts for hours _ i think gold label make it but i just mentioned the other day that she could make her own mixture with peppermint oil and water, hope some of that might help
 

booandellie

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I honestly think that straw is the smelliest bedding around & the urine smell in them can be very string. Years ago when one of ours was on straw we used Jeyes Fresh bin powder on the floor after we'd mucked out. It's readily available & you don't have to use alot but it used to keep the smell down a bit.

sorry Toby_zaphod, cross posted
 

eggs

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Was going to suggest green gloop too. I also had a stable deodoriser powder that you sprinkled on the floor but I can't remember what it was called. A friend of mine splashes a few drops of Olbas Oil on top of her bed.
 

Casey76

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I've done shavings and I can't afford to do that again. Both my horses are mucky beasts (not helped by small boxes and large horse), and over winter I was going through 6 bales a week. At least with the straw I can basically use as much as I want (well so far the YO hasn't told me I'm using excessive straw, but given the fact that I'm paying full livery prices for DIY, I think he's allowing me a little leeway!)

I'm not sure what kind of deodorizers are available here, can you name any brands? then I can have a look.

I also can't use anything toxic while they're in, as both of them love to root around and rearrange with living arrangements.

This was my mares box yesterday... despite being perfectly flat with nice banks at the beginning of the day :rolleyes:

13669794_10153884348803337_1233258651180665403_n.jpg
 

booandellie

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There are specific horse deoderisers so i am assuming they will be non toxic even if your horses did come in to contact with the product but they aren't cheap i have to say. my friend who uses the peppermint oil puts bin neutradol on her floor before bedding down but our beds are very thick with shavings so horses don't come in to physical contact with the stuff. i'm sorry i can't remember any brands but if you googled i'm sure they would come up on there
 

Fjord

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If shavings on their own are not practical, could you perhaps put a layer in the wettest places then top it up with straw? It might absorb the wee a bit better and help to keep the smell down.
 

vickie123

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Was going to suggest green gloop too. I also had a stable deodoriser powder that you sprinkled on the floor but I can't remember what it was called. A friend of mine splashes a few drops of Olbas Oil on top of her bed.

I recommend using green gloop. Fantastic stuff and a little goes a long way.
 

rowan

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I use STALOSAN F Disinfectant Powder in my stables, poultry houses and chicken runs it is perfectly safe for livestock, I just sprinkle some under my straw bedding in the stables occasionally to freshen them up. Shop around on line as big variations in prices and they do it on eBay.
 

3OldPonies

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I used to use Jayes Fluid on the floors and sprinkled some anti-bed eating stuff from Gold Label one the straw when it went back down (can't remember what it was called though) only problem was the Jayes Fluid stank as much as the floor did and I hate the smell of that stuff.
 

Rollin

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I am in France too and shavings are out of the question, much too expensive. (We have 12 to bed) I use Jeyes to wash smelly floors - you can get it on-line.

We have small rubber mats, about metre square and just bed the back of the box. The mats can be rolled back to wash underneath and air during the day. We have three stables badly constructed where pee runs into the back right hand corner. As suggested we put shavings into the wet corners and straw on top. You could also try using shavings to dry floors after you wash them just a few shovel full.
 

Abacus

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Try wood pellets? They sorted out my horses who were both horribly mucky and expensive on shavings... now I take out a neat small barrowload from 2 stables.

I banned straw for this reason... the whole yard stank because of all the straw on the muck heap.
 

C1airey

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I use wood pellets in the wee patch under a shavings bed. There's never any smell until I come to dig it out. Once the air hits it, it's pretty whiffy.

If your horses always wee in the same spot, would a layer of wood pellets be feasible?
 

nikkimariet

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6 bales a week? Even our filth mongering minger from hell only uses 2 a week? You might find shavings and a seriously deep litter works better rather than taking it all out every day?

Straw is just crap. Sorry but it really is!!!
 

Carrots&Mints

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im using shavings and pellets at the moment, but ive got a good 6 inch deep bed, only 1 part of it is really wet so I dig that out and chuck some pellets in there :)
 

Casey76

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6 bales a week? Even our filth mongering minger from hell only uses 2 a week? You might find shavings and a seriously deep litter works better rather than taking it all out every day?

Straw is just crap. Sorry but it really is!!!

It was absolutely soul destroying spending almost 50€ a week on shavings (which was on top of my normal livery charge). But the combination of messy horse/small box/poor management meant that I would literally have to re-bed the box every week, as everything was just a wet brown mush (and very stinky).

Wood pellets were just as bad (I'd put 20 bags in to start - yes 20! - and I'd still need at least 4 a week to stop it squelching)

Summertime is much easier when they are out overnight, as I can leave the beds up to dry out the floor more. Winter is a nightmare.

But it doesn't help that they are messy boogers. Blitz had 6 separate wee patches last night, and Tartine digs all of her poos in and buries them.

With Blitz I've tried using more straw, but the more straw I use the more that has to come out. I might try for a really deep bed with him tomorrow to see if it makes any difference - but I'm sure he just eats it all :/
 

Welshy

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I keep my straw bed very deep and have a sprinkling of semi soaked wood pellets, or shredded paper underneath. I muck ou full everyday and the wet limits itself to either the paper or the pellets (depending on what I am using at the time) so I don't get the smelly straw issue.
 

Doris68

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If you're in France, I'd have thought that Aubiose would be an alternative for you? Our friends, who live in Alsace, always bedded on Aubiose and found it very efficient.
 

budatiger

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I have a messy, wet, box walking beast in a relatively small stable. I put one large bag of wood pellets in the pee area under a thick, compressed bed of straw and it works a treat. Even on weeks of box rest. Need one bag a week.
 

Goldenstar

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Green gloop is the answer .
If you can't get in France you can use the chemical toilet fluid that you use in caravans and mobile home but the green coloured ones which are septic tank friendly just dilute it well in a bucket .
Green gloop is basically septic tank friendly toilet fluid .
 

Casey76

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If you're in France, I'd have thought that Aubiose would be an alternative for you? Our friends, who live in Alsace, always bedded on Aubiose and found it very efficient.

I'd like to know where they get it from as I've only seen it in a handful of places and it is over 20€ for a 15kg bale!
 

Doris68

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They live near Mulhouse. Sorry, have absolutely no idea where they sourced it! I honestly thought it was much cheaper in France - but I was wrong!
 

WelshD

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Disinfectant powders:

Biodri
Stalosan F
Agrisec
Nettex ground Sanitiser
Lincoln Stable powder

I use Agrisec and its fantastic stuff, even my deep litter straw didn't smell with that
 
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