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

[Leigti]

I'm not going to comb through 174 pages in this thread. I put in a poop board today under my roosts and have granular sweet PDZ to put in it. Anyone use the zoo med or exo terra reptile scoops for the granular form? I want to make sure the mesh isn't too fine and that the granules pass through it.

I have use the reptile substrate scoops and they do work. But the wire letter basket works even better. It just kind of depends on what your set up is, how big etc. I say if you already have those scoops use him.

 

[lucylola]

What is PDZ? I am going to build a new chicken coop this spring and would love one that doesn't stink

 

[Noreaster Egger]

I found those to be too small for the main coop(30sqft of boards).....and the mesh holes too big for chick brooder poops.

This works great,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...raphic-gross-poop-pictures/1100#post_13179595
tho some of the larger granules don't go thru.

Heh...good idea. I actually have some of those steel mesh cutlery trays lying around in the basement. My poop board is 42" x 89" so it's fairly large. i like your PDZ leveler idea too.

 

[OCeggs23]

Holy cow. My eyes are burnng, my contacts feel like potato chips. I read every. single. page.
And I am so glad that I did. Such a WEALTH of information!!
I finally convinced my DH to start our urban flock and while we now have some babies in the brooder, we are still working on our coop. DH loves the sweet little chicks but I know that to keep him in love, I have to find a way to keep things smelling fresh and clean as much as possible.
The whole idea of the poop boards and PDZ is amazing. I am so grateful to have stumbled across this thread!!

 

[Shezadandy]

Holy cow. My eyes are burnng, my contacts feel like potato chips. I read every. single. page.
And I am so glad that I did. Such a WEALTH of information!!
I finally convinced my DH to start our urban flock and while we now have some babies in the brooder, we are still working on our coop. DH loves the sweet little chicks but I know that to keep him in love, I have to find a way to keep things smelling fresh and clean as much as possible.
The whole idea of the poop boards and PDZ is amazing. I am so grateful to have stumbled across this thread!!

We added 1/4" rubber mats to our poop boards- farm stores sell them- depends on your area - with the 30" wide mats and the PDZ (so the poop never hits plywood) it's been easy upkeep and cleaning. On the coop floor (also mats over plywood) we use the pine pellets for horse stalls- bunch of brand names, i.e. Dry Den, Nature's etc. 40lb bag is around $6-- absorbs poop smell on the coop floor really well and breaks down into nice dust bath material after that. Good luck! No need to suffer icky smells! Also love having double roosts- about 8" above the table- easy to clean with the cat scoops-- also great for bully evasion- they can hop to another bar or onto the table and escape underneath.

 

[BriColie]

Ok, so my first coop was done without poop boards-I simply loaded up the floor with sand figuring that would be easy enough to sift the poop out of. Well, the plan sounded good in theory but I found it didn't work so good in reality. Don't get me wrong, the poop scoops out of the sand BUT- the sand SMELLS even after the poop is gone. Also, it is a dusty mess while scooping and I need to take frequent breaks just to breath fresh air. Still better though than changing out shavings weekly (I don't like DLM). So when we built our 2nd coop we decided to try poop boards

WOW, what a difference. We built a waist high shelf and then added a lip all around and filled it with Sweet PDZ, LOVE IT!!!! I simply sift the poop up every day or two but you certainly can leave it longer if you had to. The Sweet PDZ keeps it from smelling at all. And the best part- NO DUST when scooping. It's almost like sifting flour. It is very zen like to clean and I tend to get carried away and make designs for my girls ( I know, I have issues

) Anyway, thought I would share my experience and of course some pics

Love it!

 

[kellyschippy]

I put poop boards in when I built my coop last summer for 10 Large fowl chooks and I love them. I use shavings on floor and straw in nests. 2 feet wide luan (cheap 1/4 thk underflooring) with 2x2 around the edges lined with foam backed vinyl sheet flooring. Roosts are 2x4 wide side up, 8" above board and removable, but I find I don't need to remove them and they rarely get pooped on. My coop is only 6' wide so built ramps as they can't fly down easily without crashing into the wall. Boards are waist high for my ease, feeder hangs underneath the board. Boards have washed, dried sand and granular PDZ mixed at about a 4:1 ratio about 1 inch deep. I use this mix in my brooder too, at about 1/2" deep, as well. I use a mesh office organizer basket as a sifter, a short handled hoe to carefully scrape vinyl and push into basket. I use a reptile poop scoop in the brooder as it stirs up less dust than the mesh basket. I dump the poops into a lidded bucket to go to compost. I made a 'leveler' to smooth the sand/PDZ back out to an even depth, screws in the edge of a 1x3x21 can be tilted to adjust depth. Even in frigid winter, frozen watery poops scraped off the vinyl pretty easily. I think the key minimizing dust is to use clean sand, but everything chicken will get dusty (really, really dusty) sooner or later. The zeolite definitely helps with ammonia odor, but nothing quickly quenches the stench of a fresh cecal poop. Oh, and, pullet poops are cute and nothing compared to adult chicken poops. Pics for clarity and inspiration....more details on My Coop page. Birds do hang out on boards during the day and some roost on the board itself or the edge...not really a problem. Pullets 'hiding' from big birds. Ramp....added another up to nest bar too. Mesh basket, 12" handled hoe and bucket. Leveler Size of sand for reference

Is this the pdz?

 

[Shezadandy]

Is this the pdz?

Looks like it- some of us like the PDZ powder better, others like the granules better.
I found a cat litter scoop with a telescoping handle that captures all sizes of poop effectively as an alternative idea.

 

[aart]

Is this the pdz?

Yep, that's what I use.....granular is dusty enough, can't imagine using the powder.

 

[Kusanar]

Quote:
Yep, that's the stuff. the powder works better, but it IS very dusty... In horse barns, you tend to clean the wet spots down to the mats, put the powder down, the smell is instantly gone, and then you put 4-8 inches of shavings back on top of it so the dust isn't an issue, with something that will be stirring it up like chickens, I would certainly use the granular which while it doesn't work AS good, still works really well.