Can anybody show me what a poop board is supposed to look like?

[newchicksnducks]

Can't say enough about a droppings board Our board is painted particle board...my only wish is I had used a smoother surface. I use a 6" wide paint scraper to scrape the board into a 12" wide metal dust pan (like one used for a garage). This is then emptied into a 5 gal bucket and eventually tossed into the compost pile. I scrape every 2-3 days, it only takes a few short minutes at a time. And I have never had to clean the actual coop since the chickens have gone inside...at least 4 months ago!

I've just added fresh shavings, dusted a couple of times w/DE...and my 15 girls have been fine in their 8x8 coop w/25x30 run. They forage/free range about an hour M-F and several hours on weekends. After using this set up for several months, if I would do it again and cost were not an issue, I would use a laminate surface (formica, etc) like a kitchen counter to use as the droppings board...ig would be great to clean!

 

[patandchickens]

My chickens walk on the poop board, to get from one part of the roost to another when there are other roosting chickens in the way -- I do not see this as a problem, I see it as a *feature*, and apparently so do the chickens

I suppose if I did not clean it daily it might be a minor problem, but I dunno; and since I *do* clean the board daily, because it makes such a difference in indoor humidity levels, it's not an issue for me at all.

You can see one of my droppings boards in the pic of the sussexes on my Personal Page (link under username at left of this post).

There are so many different ways of doing it, though, each "best" for a particular management strategy. There really are a LOT of DIFFERENT things covered under this one simple term

Pat

 

[henningheather]

This is a very sturdy droppings board we built and braced. The roosts remove by lifting up at either end and the board itself is covered with linoleum. The linoleum then climbs 4" up the wall and is held there with flooring glue and extra molding we added to make sure it did not curl down in the future. Works like a dream. This is the single most wonderful thing we built into our coop, I could not live without it! This picture does not show the molding yet but it's there now I just couldn't find a good picture of it with.

 

[g_a_brand]

here is a close up of a set of swing poop boards that teach1rusl was talking about ... now the chickies did like to swing on them when they were younger but they don't now ... they work great and I just unhook them and can wash them off every now and than as well as scraping them ... we like them

 

[dftkarin]

This in my chicken's first night in the coop and they are sitting on the board instead of the roost - and I wonder if it is because the roost is only 2 inches higher than the board? Or maybe because I spread some shavings on the board to make it easier to scoop poop off the board. I plan to lower the droping board a tiny bit and try a wider roost - right now its a 2x3, I think I might try a 2x4 - I don't know if it will make a difference. If the birds continue to spread out and lounge on the droppings board/shelf instead of the roost - I could take the roost out all together to give them more space on the board.

 

[artsyrobin]

glad you asked, have been trying to figure something out too...

love your avatar and sig line!

 

[adeechickluv]

Quote:
This is the best idea yet! Well I certainly gotta show the folks this one; we've been trying to put our heads together trying to figure out this poop board buisness! Thank you very, very much, the picture is great too!

 

[CarolAnn]

For a while I was putting down lengths of thin plywood on the floor to catch the poop, and scraping them off every morning. I LOVED not having all that poop in the litter but I didn't want to continue to squat in the coop every morning scooping the doo after I'd run all the girls outside. I'd tossed the idea of putting up poop boards because I thought they'd limit space in the coop. My roosts are just about 40 inches from the floor. I'm doing deep litter for winter insulation and I'm maxed out on how deep I'm willing to let it get. All that poop makes a ton of difference. It's level with the door sills now. I need to clean it all out and am again thinking of putting in poop boards. For those of you who use poop boards, how wide should they be to accommodate the chickens facing both ways on the roosts? And how much space is suggested between roost and board. I don't want to go too close to the top of the pop doors.

 

[oldchickenlady]

My roost is about 3.5 feet off the floor and my poop board is about a foot below that. If you have large fowl the boards should be about 28 inches or so wide, and center it under the roost so you have poop board extending out from both sides of the roost. It isn't an exact science as to how wide they should be, just look at your hens when they are roosting and see about how wide you need to go. If the chickens are not full grown be sure to allow for that and make the board wider. My roost extends from one wall to the other and so does my poop board.

 

[Judy]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642