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

[bigoledude]

This has answered a serious concern of mine! I can use sand mixed with PDZ since the sand we get is pumped out of the Mississippi River and the "fines" must wash away in the pumping process. It would save me alot if I were able to mix half-n-half with PDZ.


I am gonna put the poop tray right on top of my nest boxes and gather eggs from the collection area located on the outside of the coop. I will have the "Roll-Out " type nest boxes
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/rollout-nests
where the egg rolls away from the chicken, under a partition,(where the chickens can't get to 'em and outside where we gather them. I will put a little hinged roof over the egg-gathering section to keep coons-n-stuff from getting to my eggs. These nest boxes were another fabulous idea from this great BYC site.

My plan is to add another hinged door at the level of the Poop tray so I can scoop while standing outside.

 

[Sakmeht]

I went to pick up some sweet pdz and all they had was a brand called Keep 'er Fresh Stall&Pen. Anyone familiar with it? Is it the same as pdz? No ingredients on the bag, but talks about a 'miracle mineral'. LOL Thanks

Okay, found more info: The site says:

Teague Mineral Products, Adrian OR, makes a commercial stall refresher product, Keep ‘ER Fresh

, from a variety of the mineral zeolite, called Clinoptilolite or “clino”.

Clino is what's in sweet pdz so I'm going to assume it's basically the same thing. It's granular, but I'll give it a try on the floor of my 3 by 5 coop.

 

[jrsckn]

All I could get was the granular PDZ and it works great, very little sticks to the poo so it'll last a long time.

Sounds like Keep 'er Fresh should work just fine.

 

[Talbott Poultry]

Just read all 25 pages and loved every posting.

Have already picked up a bag for the cats and a bag for the brooders.

This weekend hopefully will be adding trays to 3 of my pens.

 

[dhawk0422]

Can you just use straight DE rather than Stall Dry or PDZ?

 

[toofarout]

DE = diatomacious earth, and is not the same thing as sweet pdz which is from zeolite.

I'm not sure if you would want to use DE in the same way as people (including myself) use pdz.
DE is microscopically fine and a little goes a long way, it's used more as a dusting layer, or in a dust bath box.
DE does have a drying effect but does not absorb messes the same way as pdz, DE cakes. A thick layer of DE not
only would be very expensive, but not good for you to breathe in [imo].

.

 

[dhawk0422]

Thank you! I have some DE for when I use the DLM but have been following this thread and wondered if it would function in the same way as the PDZ. Since my babies are still in the brooder, I wasn't sure how DE would function. I haven't even opened the bag yet! Looks like a trip to the farm store for Stall Dry or PDZ is in order! Thank you again. This is a great place to gather the benefit of other's experience when I am such a rookie!

 

[toofarout]

I *do* use some DE on the poop boards but it is a small amount.
I use it in the hopes it will control mites and other little nastys.
The sweet pdz is the primary stuff I use on the boards to help with scooping poop and eliminating odors.
I did try sand, and then mix of sand & sweet pdz, really didn't like the result.
But I know of folks who prefer using sand or shavings, etc...

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Hi all, I've read through most of these pages and don't see the answer I'm looking for so someone could hopefully answer this for me. Has anyone attempted to build a two layer roost with poop board? Do you need just a single larger poop board with staggered roosts or two poop boards one under the other? Or would this be problematic for the chickens to get way up to the top one, or will they only use the top one and ignore the lower one? We are in the process of planning our coop, we are hoping to get 12-15 Black Copper Marans. We are thinking 8ft x 4 or 5 ft for the coop and about 8ftx12ft for the run. A single roost pole of 8ft only leaves enough roosting room for about 10 chickens based on some of the other threads I've read. Maybe we should make an L onto the short wall as well for the last few chickens? Otherwise I'm guessing we will have to do a two-layer roost since there won't be enough room to do poop boards down both long sides of the coop. I REALLY want to incorporate these poop boards with PDZ for our coop, but trying to figure out where to align the roost, nesting boxes, room for water, how high to make the roost, whether or not to allow the chickens to run under the coop, and where the access doors should go is giving me a headache! This website is AWESOME though!

As you can tell from my picture we already have bees, so excited to try chickens, too!

 

[Glasshen]

I know what you mean about planning being difficult. On the idea of two levels, The top level would be pooping on the bottom level, so everyone would want to be on top.

My coop is 6 by 8, and I put a poop board on a short side. It works well, but the girls don't always get on well, so soon, perhaps this weekend we will add another one on the other short end, but it can't go all the way across because the door has to open into that space. I would like to add a third on the back wall that would go between the two end boards. Nest boxes are on the short end that will soon have the shorter board. Food and water are underneath the current poop board, and stay cleaner because nothing is falling in them. The roost bar on my first one is a little close , it works, but there is not much room to maneuver while cleaning right under the roost bar. It is a small tree trunk with bark, I want to have a smooth different diameter roost, and the third would be a two by four, so they have different textures.

Having the roosts and poop boards is like giving the chickens a second level, they have lots of floor space, and can get up high if they want. I think I will like having different choices so they don't have to be cuddled up to someone who is annoying them.

Just my thoughts. As you can see, our coop is an evolving one.