Cleaning dropping board

[chickensforkids]

We installed a dropping board below our roost, and put some laminate counter top on top of it. The poop scrapes off from the counter top very easily, but my husband thinks that I should wipe it down and clean all of the poop residue off from it. Is this necessary, and if it is what would be the best thing to use to clean it?

 

[21hens-incharge]

It is not necessary. If you are scraping the poo off then any residue can be cleaned off with water and white vinegar if you like. I would not worry about them stepping in the small bits of droppings on the board after you clean it. They step in much worse all day long.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Do you put anything on your poop boards or just have the linoleum? I have linoleum on mine and then cover that with leaves. The leaves are great they really seem to keep the odor down and the way I have mine setup the hens scratch around in the leaves in the morning composting it for me and it remains mostly dry instead of a sloppy smelly wet mess.

 

[chickensforkids]

Do you put anything on your poop boards or just have the linoleum? I have linoleum on mine and then cover that with leaves. The leaves are great they really seem to keep the odor down and the way I have mine setup the hens scratch around in the leaves in the morning composting it for me and it remains mostly dry instead of a sloppy smelly wet mess.




Right now we just have the linoleum down. Using leaves is a great idea, we don't have any around this time of the year, but I'll have to store some away this fall. We had thought about using sand on top of it.... but I wasn't sure of how well that would work.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I have never used sand but I would imagine with sand you would have to scoop poop out daily to keep it from just building up on top of the sand.

 

[21hens-incharge]

When I had the droppings boards I used a little sweet PDZ and some pine shavings on them. Worked like a charm.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We use Sweet PDZ on the poopboard. I sift it every day or every other day depending on my schedule. Takes maybe 5 minutes, no odor, no flies.

 

[snow5164]

I have a boot tray and I shake the poop off once a week then shake diatomaceous earth on it kind of like flour and a handful of sweat Lyme. Seems to stop the sticking and no smell