Poop Boards....What do you like and dislike about yours?

I am going to be starting construction on a new coop soon and really cant decide how I want my poop board. Would love to see some photos of yours and hear about your likes and dislikes. Maybe some advice on what you would do differently. Thanks so much.

No photos handy at the moment - but the only "complaint" I have about mine is that the vertical supports for the roost bars are mounted on the inside of the box portion of the poop board - if they I were to do it over again I'd design them so this was not the case as it creates these unhandy little "nooks" at each end of the box that I have to maneuver around when cleaning -- not a huge deal, but it would just be easier if it were one big box with square ends/corners where I could more easily get my scoop instead of trying to get the poo and PDZ dug out for scooping/sifting.

I love my poop trays, which were made of FRP plastic wall board used in the bathroom walls. The tray has a lid on 3 sides, very light weight, easy to remove and dump the poop into the compost bin. These tray captures 95% of the poop in the 4' x 4' coop, keeping pine shaving bedding fresh and clean. The bedding is also in two large wooden trays, which can be pulled out, tip and dump the bedding to below the coop every 2 weeks. I then spread the bedding out in the run (which is kept as deep litter). Cleaning the poop trays daily takes about 5 minutes. The thing I would change is perhaps making the trays extend beyond the roosting bar a bit more. I forgot that chickens would grow bigger, thus their butts would extend farther out from the bar. Also, the FPR board was very difficult to bend, PETG plastic would have been easier to heat bend with a heat gun.

I love mine. I can clean each coop in 5 minutes flat without bending over much. And I made the same mistake as Ol Grey Mare, my uprights are inside, leaving me funky little corners to clean out.

We put the nest boxes underneath on one wall.

I love mine too. Mine's an old formica countertop that was already in the shed I converted. It was used as a workbench. I have sand on it and it is SO easy to keep clean. I just rake through the sand and put the stuff on the floor, where I have deep litter, rake it around a bit, and let the chickens do the rest when they scratch through it. It might be possible to find a countertop cheap or free from somewhere.

ydkjenn said:

I love mine too. Mine's an old formica countertop that was already in the shed I converted. It was used as a workbench. I have sand on it and it is SO easy to keep clean. I just rake through the sand and put the stuff on the floor, where I have deep litter, rake it around a bit, and let the chickens do the rest when they scratch through it. It might be possible to find a countertop cheap or free from somewhere.

Click to expand...

@ydkjenn If you're just throwing it on the floor with deep litter, why have a poop board? <headscratching>

Mahlzeit said:

I am going to be starting construction on a new coop soon and really cant decide how I want my poop board. Would love to see some photos of yours and hear about your likes and dislikes. Maybe some advice on what you would do differently. Thanks so much.

Click to expand...

Poop boards should be located higher than your nest boxes an preferably the highest spot for roosting through the night.
I have my 2x4 roost 3½ inches from my poop board.

I find the spacing ideal it saves the day when eggs are laid through the night while they are roosting.

I have my roost in cups and can just put them to one side when cleaning the board.

In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

Easy peasy!.

Chicken coop is salvaged 4x8 metal shed.







My roost over my poop boards is very similar to this photo (except my roost are resting on the lower 2x4).
I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

Winter months even easier flex over compost bin DONE!

Easy peasy!.

From reading the other poop board thread before constructing mine,
I did put the roost supports up on the edge and out of the way of sifting.

The only thing I don't like about mine is that I lined it with some vinyl sheet flooring, which worked very well, but and didn't attach it in enough places along the edges.
My roosts are 8" above the board, no 'over shooting'. PDZ is only about 1/2" deep, any deeper and they scratch it off the board trying to dust bathe in it.

This is when it was brand new, not so pretty now.


I got this ~8x10" mesh basket at an office supply to sift out the poops into the bucket which goes to a friends compost.
That is a standard hoe with the handle cut off to about 14", works great to push into sifter and scrape up anything stuck to vinyl.


I made this to spread the PDZ back out after sifting, you tilt it to get the right depth.

aart said:

@ydkjenn If you're just throwing it on the floor with deep litter, why have a poop board? <headscratching>

Click to expand...

Because the whole workbench & counter were in the shed already & I wasn't about to go ripping it out. The bottom shelf of the bench has their nest boxes and above the counter is the roost. Built in convenience.

Mahlzeit said:

I am going to be starting construction on a new coop soon and really cant decide how I want my poop board. Would love to see some photos of yours and hear about your likes and dislikes. Maybe some advice on what you would do differently. Thanks so much.

Click to expand...

Most important thing is how easily can the poop be scraped off. I use an ice scraper and dustpan when I clean the poop boards. They get taken out maybe twice a year for a good hosing. We have used left over material or scrap material around here. I probably have the most expensive poop boards there are, but the pieces were just laying around so I made use of them. I have poop boards made of stainless steel, UHMW and really thick plexiglass. I also have some made from the walls of a fiberglass bathroom tub/shower that was taken out. All of those materials are easy to scrape poop off of.