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

[Thespoiledchicken]

Trish,
Been following your thread from its inception, and regarding advice you gave Tonysorrento about the perches...Did you mean to keep the perches closer to the poop board, or actually lowering the poop boards (that he already has up). I am in the coop construction process and I am hoping to have removable poop board trays below a staggered two perch shelf. Does that make sense? I am planning on putting the poop board around 18"-20" off the floor, and then the first perch about 12" above that, and then another one 12" above that and 12" closer to the wall. Do you think this will work? Thanks.

Sounds like it will work but sometimes our chickens out smart us, lol. Be prepared to make changes if they do

I was suggesting to Tonysorrento that his perches be a little closer to the poop board. The height of his poop boards look good but from the picture his perches seem a bit high. I would be afraid of chickens sleeping on the board under the perch and not using the perch.

Your plan sounds GREAT, have fun building and please post pics of your design!

Trish

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

I would run out and measure but they are all sleeping. I think it is 12" or less. I would say the smaller the distance the better-maybe 10" ?

I will measure tomorrow and let you know.

Trish

So Trish, I am guessing yours are about 12" high?

 

[WI FarmChick]

B737DRVR

So with your board being 30 inches wide, how much overlap are you leaving on each side of the roosts and how far are your roosts separated by? I guess I could do a similar setup to what you explained, but I thought that the staggered roosts were better since my coop will only be 8'x8'.

Our coop will be 16' x10' the roosts will be on the 10' end wall.
I am leaving about 12" from wall to first roost board and 15" from the ceiling. (My Wall is 4' )
The next one is 12" from center of the first one.
the second one ends up approx 6" in from the edge of the droppings board.

I will put a 2x2 for support on the outside edge of the droppings board, that will give the chickens a place to land while getting to the roosts and support the outer edge.

I decided to not have some roosts higher than others. I felt their would be less of a problem for my hens. If they are all on the same level, the pecking order would be less of an issue for the ones lower on the list.

How many chickens do you have? I have 36 and needed 2 roosts. If you only need 1 roost your droppings board won't need to be 30" wide.

Maybe only 18" wide. 12" from wall & 6" to edge of board, makes 18" wide droppings board.

 

[b737drvr]

Thanks WI FarmChick! That give me a great mental picture of what you have going on. We are planning for about 15 chickens. I think when I originally came up with the staggered roost idea I was planning on about 25, but I just decided that an 8'x8' coop was just would not be large enough for 25 birds. I still think it would be a good idea to have two roosts though on one wall though. I am just ready to get to the construction stage. I built the nest box already, now it is time to move on to the roosts. Hopefully I will make some meaningful progress on them this week as I have the next few days off. Will keep you posted. Thanks again.

 

[WI FarmChick]

Thanks WI FarmChick! That give me a great mental picture of what you have going on. We are planning for about 15 chickens. I think when I originally came up with the staggered roost idea I was planning on about 25, but I just decided that an 8'x8' coop was just would not be large enough for 25 birds. I still think it would be a good idea to have two roosts though on one wall though. I am just ready to get to the construction stage. I built the nest box already, now it is time to move on to the roosts. Hopefully I will make some meaningful progress on them this week as I have the next few days off. Will keep you posted. Thanks again.

I am glad this helped you. Yes, please keep me posted. Take pics if you can would love to see your progress!

Since we live in a cold weather area...I like the idea of 2 roosts on same level Too........so they can cuddle if temp drops.
I also am putting my nest boxes under my droppings board to save as much floor space as possible.
My birds will be in their coop mostly in the winter if we get a lot of snow.
Other wise I believe they will be out and about thru out the winter months.

 

[TonySorrento]

So Trish, I lowered them .. they are now 10" from the bottom of the roost to the board ..... Whatcha think? Next I will put on the 1x4s

 

[tlagnhoj]

Gosh, I wish I knew. I love the whole sand idea and I would love to use it on the floor of this coop also but the smell

I'm betting the sand is holding the moisture and it's the wetness evaporating that makes the smell. Kinda like how a pet urine spot on carpet may not smell until you try and shampoo it again. The moisture recharges the ammonia in the urine and reignites the odors.

I have a small coop--just 3x4--so no room for poop boards (or even trays given that the largest egress door is only about 12" wide), but I will be adapting your set up to my coop this weekend. I have to agree with the post that said this was the most exciting chicken related news I've seen. I'm actually looking forward to cleaning out the coop now.

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

So Trish, I lowered them .. they are now 10" from the bottom of the roost to the board ..... Whatcha think? Next I will put on the 1x4s

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Perfect height. You are making some nice progress!

Happy building

Trish

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

I'm betting the sand is holding the moisture and it's the wetness evaporating that makes the smell. Kinda like how a pet urine spot on carpet may not smell until you try and shampoo it again. The moisture recharges the ammonia in the urine and reignites the odors.

I have a small coop--just 3x4--so no room for poop boards (or even trays given that the largest egress door is only about 12" wide), but I will be adapting your set up to my coop this weekend. I have to agree with the post that said this was the most exciting chicken related news I've seen. I'm actually looking forward to cleaning out the coop now.

Thanks! With your set up and size it would definitely make sense to do the whole floor with PDZ.

I have decided I'm done with shavings...so.... I will be using half sand and half pdz on the floor of my whole coop. The coop is 10 x 10 so it would cost to much to fill with just pdz, hoping the sand/ pdz combo will be just as effective! If it works I will be using it in all my brooders to

so sick of all the shavings in the water- and of course the smell, lol.

Good luck!!!

Trish

 

[TonySorrento]

Trish, did you ever try the granular PDZ?