Dropping tray problems, coop cleaning, anyone prefer not to use trays, etc

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I have six four week old chicks. Next week I am removing the poorly designed current roosts and adding 2 2x4 roosts, properly spaced, each four feet long, one higher than the other. I am planning to use a "poop tarp" probably attached with 4 hooks and grommets, slung under the roosts and about 6 inches past the lower roost. The upper and lower end of the tarp may have 1x1 attached for stiffening and handling of the tarp. I plan to unhook, remove and empty the tarp (and hose off) as needed. It needs to be an easy reach in to remove. I also suspect that I may just be able on some days to scrape the tarp out by just unhooking the bottom end. Search for "poop sling" or "poop tarp". The coop is smallish and I think this is best use of space and materials for me. The board would take up half the coop with the current design...
 
amama said:
AmberKnits, are the shelves the roosts?  Or are they under the roosts?  Just curious, how many chickens do you have in the 8x8 coop?  

Thanks
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Right now there are 17 hens, and 2 roosters. Our coop was originally a coop, then it was converted into a garden shed by the previous owners, and now it's a coop again. The chickens have very little interest in the roosts I added. They roost on the shelves, just a regular shelf like you'd have in a house. I added a lip on the edge of the shelves when I realized they didn't want to use the roosts.
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Here's another picture of the 'shelves'. Despite having super nice nesting boxes (10, for the 17 hens) they like to lay their eggs on the shelf, so I keep a bale of hay and change out the nesting materials in the shelf every other day. I use pine shavings under the hay, makes clean up easy.
 
Thanks, so your hens do fine in that amount of space? Everyone was telling me my 8x8 is too small for my 15 hens. Do they use any of the nesting boxes or only the shelves? I was told I don't have enough nesting boxes either, we have 3, can be 4 when they all start laying, for the 15 hens. Thanks
 
Some of them will use the nesting boxes, it depends on the day.
The chickens seem fine in the 8x8 coop, they have a huge run filled with stuff to do (swing, little playhouse, logs, bars to perch on, mulch to dig through) and they free range. We live in NY where the winters can get really cold. I've heard 2-4sq ft per bird inside the coop, 10in of roost space. They've got about 3.3 sq ft of space per bird, then there is a large waist high counter top that is another 24 sq ft, so I'm not too worried about the spacing.
 
amama said:
Thanks, so your hens do fine in that amount of space?  Everyone was telling me my 8x8 is too small for my 15 hens.  Do they use any of the nesting boxes or only  the shelves?  I was told I don't have enough nesting boxes either, we have 3, can be 4 when they all start laying, for the 15 hens.  Thanks
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If you do it by the numbers, you're fine. You just don't have room to expand your flock.
 
Finally got pictures of the coop to come through, you can see the mess with the dropping trays
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I'll be figuring out a new way to do that this weekend from the tips you all have given me.






 

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