Poop board convert *warning-graphic/gross poop pictures*

[Izzymoon]

another use for Sweet PDZ, which I love is I use pine pellets for my cat, he is a Norwegian Forest Cat and has very long fur which traditional litters get in his toes and bothers him, and I put a thin layer of PDZ under the pellets and there's no smell from the urine at all. Lasts about a week and a 1/2 . The stuff is amazing.

 

[Peekies]

It was from Tractor Supply. All they had was the fine Sweet PDZ.

The granular is much better me thinks. I ordered it locally and they shipped the powder by accident. I opened the bag and returned it right away. Way to dusty.
The granular works great without any dust. My girls love it ,and it has saved a lot of eggs from breaking because one of my chickens has decided to lay her eggs from the roost.
Win Win

 

[Kiniska]

I am building my coop right now so this is going into the plan. Have had horses and Sweet PDZ works great. Would not have thought to use it in this way!
Thank you for sharing.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

It was from Tractor Supply. All they had was the fine Sweet PDZ.

No, I meant which brand of kitty litter. The reason I'm asking is that it is the zeolite that neutralizes the ammonia, cutting down considerably on the smell in the coop. But one could possibly combine just some zeolite with some kitty litter, saving money and decreasing the wretched coop dust. I'm going to put up another poop box so I think I'll give that a try. The clay is heavier and less dusty, as you say, but I was thinking it might stop my silly birds from dust-bathing in their poop-box if I add some clay kitty litter to zeolite.(PDZ)

 

[Sandyd]

No, I meant which brand of kitty litter. The reason I'm asking is that it is the zeolite that neutralizes the ammonia, cutting down considerably on the smell in the coop. But one could possibly combine just some zeolite with some kitty litter, saving money and decreasing the wretched coop dust. I'm going to put up another poop box so I think I'll give that a try. The clay is heavier and less dusty, as you say, but I was thinking it might stop my silly birds from dust-bathing in their poop-box if I add some clay kitty litter to zeolite.(PDZ)

It is just a generic clay litter, 25 lb bag, no clumping formula, I think I paid less than 3 dollars a bag for it at Wally World. I have a little of the pdz left in a bag,I may mix that in with the 75 lbs of clay litter as you thought you may try. They don't dust bath in the litter.

 

[BroodGranny]

Hello everyone, I came to the conclusion in September that I wanted chickens. I have a beautiful gazebo in my backyard that just sits there. I go in it once a year and get all the spider webs down and hose all the pollen out of it. My sister and her husband are going to help me convert it to a chicken house. At first my husband thought I was losing my mind..."Your getting what?"....but now he is excited about it also. I am waiting until March to get our new babies. I have been reading books and pouring over this wonderful website. I have to say, I had already designed my house but now I am redesigning and putting in the poop boards and using the Sweet PDZ. This is the most wonderful idea I have seen. Thanks Trish for such a great plan. I only have one problem, I can't decide what to use on the floor. It is a washed concrete floor and I want to use something over it. I have researched and decided to use river sand but after reading so many posts and what you said about the smell of sand after a while, I am thinking pine shavings. But then everybody complains about how much work pine shavings are. I am sooo confused! Please help. I really want to use the sand. What about using sand and putting in the PDZ? After I started reading this thread I thought I would just use PDZ on the whole floor of the coop but then I read about how one person said it was not a good idea. HELP! Like I said, I'm not fixing it until March so I still have time to change things.

 

[Kiniska]

Hello everyone, I came to the conclusion in September that I wanted chickens.  I have a beautiful gazebo in my backyard that just sits there.  I go in it once a year and get all the spider webs down and hose all the pollen out of it.  My sister and her husband are going to help me convert it to a chicken house.  At first my husband thought I was losing my mind..."Your getting what?"....but now he is excited about it also.  I am waiting until March to get our  new babies.  I have been reading books and pouring over this wonderful website.  I have to say,  I had already designed my house but now I am redesigning and putting in the poop boards and using the Sweet PDZ.  This is the most wonderful idea I have seen.  Thanks Trish for such a great plan.  I only have one problem, I can't decide what to use on the floor.  It is a washed concrete floor and I want to use something over it.  I have researched and decided to use river sand but after reading so many posts and what you said about the smell of sand after a while, I am thinking pine shavings.  But then everybody complains about how much work pine shavings are.  I am sooo confused!  Please help.  I really want to use the sand.  What about using sand and putting in the PDZ?  After I started reading this thread I thought I would just use PDZ on the whole floor of the coop but then I read about how one person said it was not a good idea.  HELP!  Like I said, I'm not fixing it until March so I still have time to change things.  

You may just have to find what works best for you. Each coop and each part of the country is different. Something that works for me in Southern Indiana won't be the best idea for a person in Maine. Do check out the deep litter method. There are a couple of threads on here that go into great detail about it. Good luck.

 

[nova022]

Hello everyone, I came to the conclusion in September that I wanted chickens. I have a beautiful gazebo in my backyard that just sits there. I go in it once a year and get all the spider webs down and hose all the pollen out of it. My sister and her husband are going to help me convert it to a chicken house. At first my husband thought I was losing my mind..."Your getting what?"....but now he is excited about it also. I am waiting until March to get our new babies. I have been reading books and pouring over this wonderful website. I have to say, I had already designed my house but now I am redesigning and putting in the poop boards and using the Sweet PDZ. This is the most wonderful idea I have seen. Thanks Trish for such a great plan. I only have one problem, I can't decide what to use on the floor. It is a washed concrete floor and I want to use something over it. I have researched and decided to use river sand but after reading so many posts and what you said about the smell of sand after a while, I am thinking pine shavings. But then everybody complains about how much work pine shavings are. I am sooo confused! Please help. I really want to use the sand. What about using sand and putting in the PDZ? After I started reading this thread I thought I would just use PDZ on the whole floor of the coop but then I read about how one person said it was not a good idea. HELP! Like I said, I'm not fixing it until March so I still have time to change things.

I have vinyl flooring over wood because the vinyl is easy to clean. I use pine shavings with a light sprinkling of PDZ over the vinyl and it stays dry, doesn't smell bad and is easy to clean. I have large plastic trays (from a ferret cage) under the roosts. These are filled with PDZ. 99% of the poop ends up in the trays of PDZ and it is very easy to clean with a cat scoop. I am very happy with this system and the ease of clean up and the fact that there is very little if any oder.

 

[TTeddy]

While the coop is not done, this is what I came up with for our "poop board" solution. We wanted it to be accessible from the outside for easier cleaning, filling etc.


View of the drawer slid out of the coop



The rail system




Nice. Is that pine on the bottom? Make sure you water proof it otherwise it won't last long at all.

 

[CasieD]

Hello everyone, I came to the conclusion in September that I wanted chickens. I have a beautiful gazebo in my backyard that just sits there. I go in it once a year and get all the spider webs down and hose all the pollen out of it. My sister and her husband are going to help me convert it to a chicken house. At first my husband thought I was losing my mind..."Your getting what?"....but now he is excited about it also. I am waiting until March to get our new babies. I have been reading books and pouring over this wonderful website. I have to say, I had already designed my house but now I am redesigning and putting in the poop boards and using the Sweet PDZ. This is the most wonderful idea I have seen. Thanks Trish for such a great plan. I only have one problem, I can't decide what to use on the floor. It is a washed concrete floor and I want to use something over it. I have researched and decided to use river sand but after reading so many posts and what you said about the smell of sand after a while, I am thinking pine shavings. But then everybody complains about how much work pine shavings are. I am sooo confused! Please help. I really want to use the sand. What about using sand and putting in the PDZ? After I started reading this thread I thought I would just use PDZ on the whole floor of the coop but then I read about how one person said it was not a good idea. HELP! Like I said, I'm not fixing it until March so I still have time to change things.

Before we installed our poop boards and PDZ, we only had shavings on the floor. We went through a lot of them and in the winter it would get very smelly and damp. Now that most of the poop is on the boards and scooped out daily the shavings on the floor last forever! Very little poo in them and they stay nice and dry. So if you are going the PDZ route with the poop boards the shavings on the floor aren't much of a problem and it's nice to have something insulating over that concrete floor especially in winter. (not sure if you are in the north or south)