Attention poop board users!

[teach1rusl]

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Yes, the dropping board is basically centered under the roosts to catch nightly droppings, which is where 95% of coop poop (lol) occurs. Most folks don't paint their roosts, but there wouldn't be anything wrong with doing so. One great idea that I read of someone else doing (which I've been meaning to do, but haven't yet) is to make a whitewash "paint" out of DE mixed with water and paint the roosts with that.

 

[ChixMama]

I used rolled vinyl--glued it down on the top & nailed trim on the underneath side to hold it in place. I use a shower squeegee & dust plan to scrape it off every few days & drop in the compost bin. If I had it to do over again I'd use kitchen countertop material (no nooks & crannies for the poop to settle in) that's slick and would scrape a little more smoothly. The poop board helps your deep litter to last longer (no poop staying in the coop all the time--keeps down the stink

especially in the heat of the summer!

 

[SandyK]

Chix,

I only clean my coop out three x's a year with the DLM. The DE keeps things dry and smelling fine. No problems at all. I guess I could see it for people with too many chickens in a small coop. I don't have to scrape every day, nor look at that poop all piled up, that's gross. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

 

[GermanChick]

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I did the same exact thing

 

[elmo]

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That's one reason why I like to use natural tree branches for roosts. When they get all poopy, I just throw them out and take my little hand saw out to a tree in our yard....

 

[colowyo0809]

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That's one reason why I like to use natural tree branches for roosts. When they get all poopy, I just throw them out and take my little hand saw out to a tree in our yard....

yeah, thought about doing that, but then we would have run out of tree

 

[grandmaof5]

I don't have my coop finished yet...sigh...but have a shelf-board hanging around that seems to be covered with a melamine-type of stuff. We've had the shelf hanging around for years and haven't used it, but it looks like new because of the finish. It is only about 4 ft long, but our coop is only 3.5 ft across, so I am thinking that is what I'll use. The shelf is 12 " wide; is that wide enough under a 2"x 4" roost?

 

[midd2005]

admittedly i haven't done this before but i would suspect 12" wide is too narrow, especially if you have any "heavy" breeds. i'm planning on mine sticking out approximately 10"-12" on each side of the roosting pole. i do have heave breeds.

i like the looks of that masonite paneling bit. looks like that would work really well for me. can anyone tell me anything more about it? how thin is it? does it flex at all? what's it made of? is masonite the brand name?

 

[mdpfeifer]

Hi,

I am new to this and have only had my pullets for a couple of weeks. So far this has worked great! We just made a droppings pit with a wire mesh and then built a spot to slide in a piece of vinyl. I simply pull it out every morning, rinse it off and then slide it back in. So easy. Here's a couple of pics.

 

[teach1rusl]

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VERY flexible...almost too much so, as it was a bit difficult to put up (on the walls) because it would flop over until nailed up. But it is extremely easy to wipe down, which is nice. Poop splatters wash right off. Now, rough treatment will scratch it, which is a downside. I used the white duct tape over seams where panels joined, and quarter round and trim along the floor and wall corners...

Grandma - you might TRY it...although 18 inches is recommended. Keep in mind that the chickens vent area (when roosting) sticks out from the 2x4 only a few inches, so a 12 inch board MIGHT work okay. Now if there are any squirts, it will probably be off the board, but I'll bet the majority of poop stays on the shelf board, even w/12 inches. It would help a LOT if your hens are use to facing a certain direction when they roost (mine face forward 99% of the time); that way you can give a little extra space in the back area...