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

[Cluckies]

I've been following the recent posts to this thread and thought I'll put in my two cents here. My poop tray is 5' wide by 28" in depth. As you can see from the pic below when I built my roost bar/poop tray I used true 2 x 4's and sandwiched in between a 1/2" piece of plywood. This gave me a true depth of 4" in the "tray". What I did was I dumped a bag of play sand in the bottom of the tray first, and then dumped a full bag of Sweet PDZ granular on top. Cleanup is easy-peasy with a kitty litter scoop...3-4 minutes..DONE! And my coop smells fresh as a daisy. Hope this helps those of you still quandering what/how to do this.

your rungs are very far apart on that ladder, have you had any chickens fall through and get stuck? lol

 

[iwiw60]

your rungs are very far apart on that ladder, have you had any chickens fall through and get stuck? lol

My rungs are approx. 6.0 to 6.5" apart...I have BIG girls, Black Australorps...it's a "walk in the park" for these big berthas!

 

[Cluckies]

My rungs are approx. 6.0 to 6.5" apart...I have BIG girls, Black Australorps...it's a "walk in the park" for these big berthas!

Hahaha!

mine would fall right through! I had to add extra rungs 'cause they were slipping between rungs, so now mine are about 2" apart

 

[farmhand]

What are the pros and cons of placing the roosting bar higher or lower off the bed?

 

[aart]

What are the pros and cons of placing the roosting bar higher or lower off the bed?

Think trajectory

The higher the roost is off the board the more likely poops will miss the board and land somewhere else...like the wall.

Mine are 8" off board, haven't seen any misses, birds can scoot under roost and I can reach under roost to back of board with hoe when scraping.

 

[Cluckies]

What are the pros and cons of placing the roosting bar higher or lower off the bed?

Quote:
Agreed, the higher up, the farther the poo will travel outward. My girls can't scoot under the roost, they can walk on either side. I think people who have alot of room place it higher up. If you only have a couple feet of board, I wouldn't go higher than 8" if you want to keep it on the tray. (for regular sized chickens, for bantams you could to higher probably). My tray is only 20 inches wide (I think) as that is all I have room for (lower roost) so I moved the 2x4 forward (so their tails don't hit the wall) and they do go over the front of the board onto the floor if they are facing the wall. But, if you've only got so much room, what can you do? I just pick it up out of the pine shavings at the same time I scoop it out of the tray. Can't wait to see your set up!

aart, how wide is your board? 24"?

 

[aart]

aart, how wide is your board? 24"?

yes

 

[MandalaMaMa]

So much information on this post and I haven't read it all. Just wanted to say thank you and looking forward to trying poop boards in our new coop. Always learn more the second time around.

 

[farmhand]

I'm slowly re-modeling my hen house which will include poop boards. Would using a 4x8 sheet of Melanie cut in half be worth the extra cost vs just particleboard and painting it?

 

[FrankA]

So much information on this post and I haven't read it all. Just wanted to say thank you and looking forward to trying poop boards in our new coop. Always learn more the second time around.

Same here. I will be building a new coop this spring and have been drawing plans (and changing plans) for the past few weeks. This poop board thing is very interesting. I guess it's back to the drawing board!

Thanks for the inspiration!