Poop board design question

[junior67]

Ok. So finishing up my 6x6 coop. I need to figure out how I want to do my poop boards and roosts....

My ideas are do a 6' x 3' board with 2 roosts 12" above it, how high up from the poop board should the roosts be? Doing the board around 12-14" above the floor, then one roost 12" from the wall, the other 12" in front of that one, then would have 12" to front of board. But is the 3' in front of the board enough space for the chickens to jump off??? Is the 12" between enough space to not poop on each other??

Or I can do an L shape either on the wall beside the people door I can do a short section then a 6' section. Make it 2' wide with the roost in the middle. Or the short side can go on the side the chicken door is. Problem with this idea is I was going to do removable roosts for this coop so they are easier to clean and swap out. So if I do a short section I can't do that ....

I will post a pic of the coop from standing in the people door. When looking at the chicken door to the right will be nest boxes, they will be low and exterior to not take floor space. To the left will be the roosts. Right now it is just a bare box. Lol. I can try to get other pics tomorrow.

 

[DobieLover]

My ideas are do a 6' x 3' board with 2 roosts 12" above it, how high up from the poop board should the roosts be?

Doesn't this read that the roosts will be set 12" above the board? That is a good height. It gives enough room so you can reach under to scoop the boards and gives the birds enough room to walk the boards looking for a roost spot without taking a shot to the head by already roosted birds.

Doing the board around 12-14" above the floor

That doesn't leave a lot of comfortable head room for the floor space. I would set the bottom of the board at 20-22" from the coop floor so you have enough room for bedding and head room for the chickens.

Is the 12" between enough space to not poop on each other??

Maybe but they will easily be able to peck the snot our of whomever is in front of them.

Or I can do an L shape either on the wall beside the people door

I recommend this or even U-shaped as long as you have the boards lower to the coop floor. Any higher and they will need more landing space to get down.
My boards are set at 34" so I have a ramp up to the boards for the bigger birds. They need some room to fly/jump down from that height. The boards are 2' wide, the roosts are centered over the boards at 13" high.

removable roosts for this coop so they are easier to clean and swap out

You don't need to remove the roosts for cleaning. I've had the same roosts set for over 4 years and have never cleaned them other than just scraping off a poop that landing on the roost instead of the boards.

 

[junior67]

Doesn't this read that the roosts will be set 12" above the board? That is a good height. It gives enough room so you can reach under to scoop the boards and gives the birds enough room to walk the boards looking for a roost spot without taking a shot to the head by already roosted birds.

Yes I was thinking 12" but then was worried that was too high so was asking what was a good height.

That doesn't leave a lot of comfortable head room for the floor space. I would set the bottom of the board at 20-22" from the coop floor so you have enough room for bedding and head room for the chickens.

I was worried about them not having a lot of room to jump down and knew there was a whole thing about how high it was from the floor and how far they needed in front to jump down. so that is why I was going to do it lower.

Maybe but they will easily be able to peck the snot our of whomever is in front of them.

Well I don't want that at all. Already have a couple that were broody that look like a hot mess from others pecking the snot out of them to get out of the nest boxes when they wanted to use them.......

I recommend this or even U-shaped as long as you have the boards lower to the coop floor. Any higher and they will need more landing space to get down.
My boards are set at 34" so I have a ramp up to the boards for the bigger birds. They need some room to fly/jump down from that height. The boards are 2' wide, the roosts are centered over the boards at 13" high.
View attachment 3587134

my other coop has an L shape since the top of the nest box got in the way of making it an L shape, since I had made them high. This one I could do the U but figured with it only being 6x6 doing it on 3 sides doesn't leave much landing space. And I only need around 9' of boards since only 9 can fit in that coop.

You don't need to remove the roosts for cleaning. I've had the same roosts set for over 4 years and have never cleaned them other than just scraping off a poop that landing on the roost instead of the boards.

I can't remove my other ones and saw some that you could and liked that idea so that is why I was going to be doing that this time. Plus when I do a full clean out on the boards I hate trying to work around the boards that go down for support so this way I can slide the roosts out and have the full board open to clean.

 

[mowin]

Can't say it any better than DL above.

 

[Ridgerunner]

how high up from the poop board should the roosts be?

High enough so you can clean the droppings board. Some people make a tray, fill it with PDZ, sand, or wood shavings, and scoop the poop out. I had a flat 3' wide board and used a garden hoe with a short (broken) handle to scrape the poop off the board when I needed to. 3' wide is a long way back when you are trying to reach the back of it. How you are going to clean it determines the minimum height of the roosts above the board. Some of mine fly the 5' down from the roosts to the coop floor and some hop down to the front of the board and fly the 4' down from there. Mine have a 9' landing area, much more than your 3'.

In my grow-out coop the roosts are up about 2' above the floor with no droppings board. There is very little room for them to land but they manage. Since it is a grow-out coop they are all pretty young, I sometimes have a few cockerels 20 weeks old or so.

Your cleaning method determines the minimum height above the board the roosts can be. In your situation I'd probably look at the height of the board as the distance they have to hop down. If they think the roost is too far to fly down they'll probably hop down to the board before they hop down to the floor.

Is the 12" between enough space to not poop on each other??

It is for mine.

When they go to bed can be a rowdy time. The dominant ones are going to sleep wherever they want to. So they will peck others in their way or just push them off of the roosts. I've never had a chicken get injured from that. The only time I've seen chickens get run off of the roosts is when I'm integrating younger chickens. Before it gets dark I've seen a mature hen leave her normal roosting place to run chicks off of the roost, she pecks at them until they hop down and sleep somewhere else.

Problem with this idea is I was going to do removable roosts for this coop so they are easier to clean and swap out. So if I do a short section I can't do that ....

Why not? Whether you use a 2x4 wide side up or narrow side up, build a pocket on each end to set it in. Have two verticals for the sides and a piece across the bottom. To remove them lift them out. I use tree branches and put a horizontal brace on the ends to rest them on and drilled a hole through the ends to drop a large nail or bolt through as a pin. That would work for a flat 2x4.

I can't see a way around this. If you build the board so close to the floor that you can't get under it a hen will almost certainly decide that is a good place to hide a nest. If you block that so a hen can't get under there it becomes a great place for Mommy Mouse to raise a family. Personally I'd want it high enough that I could retrieve an egg or a dead or injured hen. At three feet wide I'd think 2'high would be enough. But that's a personal preference.

 

[junior67]

High enough so you can clean the droppings board. Some people make a tray, fill it with PDZ, sand, or wood shavings, and scoop the poop out. I had a flat 3' wide board and used a garden hoe with a short (broken) handle to scrape the poop off the board when I needed to. 3' wide is a long way back when you are trying to reach the back of it. How you are going to clean it determines the minimum height of the roosts above the board. Some of mine fly the 5' down from the roosts to the coop floor and some hop down to the front of the board and fly the 4' down from there. Mine have a 9' landing area, much more than your 3'.

In my grow-out coop the roosts are up about 2' above the floor with no droppings board. There is very little room for them to land but they manage. Since it is a grow-out coop they are all pretty young, I sometimes have a few cockerels 20 weeks old or so.

Your cleaning method determines the minimum height above the board the roosts can be. In your situation I'd probably look at the height of the board as the distance they have to hop down. If they think the roost is too far to fly down they'll probably hop down to the board before they hop down to the floor.


It is for mine.

When they go to bed can be a rowdy time. The dominant ones are going to sleep wherever they want to. So they will peck others in their way or just push them off of the roosts. I've never had a chicken get injured from that. The only time I've seen chickens get run off of the roosts is when I'm integrating younger chickens. Before it gets dark I've seen a mature hen leave her normal roosting place to run chicks off of the roost, she pecks at them until they hop down and sleep somewhere else.


Why not? Whether you use a 2x4 wide side up or narrow side up, build a pocket on each end to set it in. Have two verticals for the sides and a piece across the bottom. To remove them lift them out. I use tree branches and put a horizontal brace on the ends to rest them on and drilled a hole through the ends to drop a large nail or bolt through as a pin. That would work for a flat 2x4.

I can't see a way around this. If you build the board so close to the floor that you can't get under it a hen will almost certainly decide that is a good place to hide a nest. If you block that so a hen can't get under there it becomes a great place for Mommy Mouse to raise a family. Personally I'd want it high enough that I could retrieve an egg or a dead or injured hen. At three feet wide I'd think 2'high would be enough. But that's a personal preference.

I have pdz with poop boards in my other coop. I have Cochins and brahmas so some have issues jumping too high which is why I do mine lower. My other one poop board is I think 18" from floor and roosts 8-12" above that. I can get under the poop boards besides in the corner where the meet but I did the boards holding the poop boards up "wrong" so makes it harder to reach.

My goal is to get the younger ones to move to the new coop, the runs are combined.

 

[Gremchild74]

Ok. So finishing up my 6x6 coop. I need to figure out how I want to do my poop boards and roosts....

My ideas are do a 6' x 3' board with 2 roosts 12" above it, how high up from the poop board should the roosts be? Doing the board around 12-14" above the floor, then one roost 12" from the wall, the other 12" in front of that one, then would have 12" to front of board. But is the 3' in front of the board enough space for the chickens to jump off??? Is the 12" between enough space to not poop on each other??

Or I can do an L shape either on the wall beside the people door I can do a short section then a 6' section. Make it 2' wide with the roost in the middle. Or the short side can go on the side the chicken door is. Problem with this idea is I was going to do removable roosts for this coop so they are easier to clean and swap out. So if I do a short section I can't do that ....

I will post a pic of the coop from standing in the people door. When looking at the chicken door to the right will be nest boxes, they will be low and exterior to not take floor space. To the left will be the roosts. Right now it is just a bare box. Lol. I can try to get other pics tomorrow.

I love my poop board. It keeps the flies down with a daily scooping. My board sits on the ground but we enclosed the front of it with a 2x4x6 board.. we put two roosting bars about 6 feet long above it, it accommodates 12 birds. Although i wouldn't mind adding another bar. My husband made the bars removable so it's easier to clean the board. The front board is also removable so i can do a monthly sweep out and clean of the whole coop.

 

[BonnieBlue]

I have a question for those that have had poop boards that can be scraped, and have also had poop boards with rims around the edges so that they hold sand or pdz. Which one did you like best? I can see the benefits of both, so I am curious as to who has tried both and which was their preferred style.