Coop ramp cover....shingles?

[Wxguru]

I think my wife has come up with a amazing idea (to me...haven't looked it up yet..but sure it has been done). We are putting the ramp together, and she remembered i have some extra roof shingles in the garage....and thought maybe we could use those for traction on the ramp! The ramp is not at a steep angle at all, so really we think they would be perfect.
Want to hear from some of you seasoned vets...you think that would be alright?
Thanks in advance!!!

 

[fried green eggs]

I may be wrong but, I think shingles will have a short life use as treads because the chickens have sharp nails. I used plastic lattes on top of 2 x 12's and they work great. I put them on some of my coops 3 years ago because I had left over lattes. I have since put them on all of our coop ramps. They all still look like new and they give the birds enough grip even on steep ramps. One 2' x 8' piece of lattes covered 4 ramps. I pre-drilled holes in the plastic and used short roofing nails to attach them to boards. Here is a pic

 

[aart]

I wouldn't use shingles......rough on feet, hard to clean, might break down in heat, they might eat them......

Not sure the lattice would be great either, can't imagine trying to clean them.

I used 1/2 x 3/4 wood for cleats, spaced the width of my scraper hoe, so easy to clean when needed.

 

[Falcon Chickens]

For my ramp I used a 2"x12", painted both sides and edges with exterior paint. I then sprinkled sand and small pebbles on the top side, painted top side again, sprinkled more sand and pebbles, painted again, etc. Repeated this about 4 times. Result is basically like a stucco finish that has lots of grip and easy to clean.

 

[fried green eggs]

I wouldn't use shingles......rough on feet, hard to clean, might break down in heat, they might eat them......

Not sure the lattice would be great either, can't imagine trying to clean them.

I used 1/2 x 3/4 wood for cleats, spaced the width of my scraper hoe, so easy to clean when needed.

I used to have some of our ramps with wood slats or "cleats" and found they held poop and needed to be cleaned regularly. The profile of the plastic lattes is lower and they don't hold poop or need to be cleaned because it doesn't stick like it used to. It may help that my coops have pretty steep ramps.

 

[RonP]

I used leftover cedar shingles that I use for wedges, to cover my ramp.

 

[Blooie]

Seems to me that a product that protects against rain, snow, blazing sun,wind, blown down tree branches and hail for years wouldn't mind a few chicken claws. Wouldn't take that many to do a ramp, and if one did get damaged I'm sure you'd have few leftover out of your leftovers! (That made sense when I thought it, not so much when I typed it!) Easy to hose off when they poop on it. Might do a real fine job of helping keep toenails filed down too, since most of our chickens are living and scratching on soft surfaces, between foraging and litter in the coop and run. If I had a ramp, I'd be out there right now getting a few of our leftover shingles out of the garage.