Coop related question about poop.

[Hammond Egger]

I'm a total noob so I'm still designing....or re-designing my coop. I've decided I want it elevated three foot off the ground. it will be 8x12 and I can't see wasting 96 square feet of space. What I'm thinking about doing for the floor is having 4 foot of mesh, then 4 foot of solid floor, and then another four foot of mesh. The 4x8 section of solid floor will be covered with either sand or pine shavings. I intend to have 4x8 sliding trays under the sections of the floor that have mesh screen on them and the roosts will be above them. I'm going to have a rubber squeege mounted under the floor so that when I pull the poop trays out the poop will be scraped off and deposited in a bin sitting on the ground. My question is do the birds poop mostly when they are on the roosts or will I have poop mostly in the section of floor that is solid and covered with litter. If you can't visualize what I've got in mind I'll try and post a rough sketch. Your thoughts....

 

[TinyChickenLady]

From looking at my roosting areas, I would say they mostly poop when roosting so your idea sounds pretty genius IMO

 

[GoldDogsMom]

Sounds ingenious! Would love to see your design!

 

[airmechreed]

when they roost.....or at least mine do

 

[KandiandJerry]

Quote:
Yep, mostly when they roost...would love to see your design...

 

[wyododge]

Not sure if you have tested your design, but I have to use a putty knife to get poop off sometimes. So a really stiff squeegee may be required.

Way to think out of the 'box' though. (pun intended)

 

[Hammond Egger]

Quote:
No I haven't tested the design. I'm chickenless at the present time and probably will be for the next couple of months...which also means that I'm poop challenged. I plan on using melamine for the poop trays; it has a very slick, smooth surface. There are some really hard floor squeeges but I think I'm going to try and use the tread off a tire mounted vertically. If it turns out to be a problem I'll just give the melamine a good coat of wax or maybe coat it with food grade white lithium grease.

 

[fireguy56]

Hi, Most definitely the most poop is accumulated when they are on the roost sleeping or before sleeping. Not much ends up on the floor area because mine are out the door as soon as it opens at 6:30 am and they stay out in the run all day. Occasionally they go in to lay or just snoop around. We do not feed or water in the coop itself...it is all outside under roofed area of run. Check out our page for how it is set up if interested. Good luck with your design.
Erik

 

[Hawkeye95]

WOW! can you draw that out and show us what you mean? I think I'm understanding... but would love to see what you're talking about. This sounds really neat.

 

[wyododge]

Quote:
No I haven't tested the design. I'm chickenless at the present time and probably will be for the next couple of months...which also means that I'm poop challenged. I plan on using melamine for the poop trays; it has a very slick, smooth surface. There are some really hard floor squeeges but I think I'm going to try and use the tread off a tire mounted vertically. If it turns out to be a problem I'll just give the melamine a good coat of wax or maybe coat it with food grade white lithium grease.

Not sure if you have ever cut a tire, but the steel belts are really tough. Three or four sawzall blades tough, yuk!!

If your gonna use melamine (which is a very good option), you could put a hard edge on it instead of rubber. I'm thinking hard plastic edge, like what a a 55 gallon drum is made of, put at a 30* angle to the melamine. It wont scar the melamine, and it is water proof also. And when the melamine wears off you can put down laminate on top of it which is bullet proof.

Spring loaded or weighted to keep pressure on the blade. I would think if you put a spring on top and back of the blade and had a chain on it, you could hook the chain so your tension was variable. And unkook it when at rest to keep your spring fresh. You might also be able to use rubber bungie chords, although they will dry eventually, but you would at least be able to identify how much weight or tension and then get an appropriate spring.

Heck the options are endless, there are what are known as C or S tines used on harrows for turning soil, they are made of spring steel, can be drilled and cut easily for mounting, and would last for 300 years (literally).

Instead of wax or grease, maybe use a dry material coating like DE or sand. DE will help keep the flies down and might act like flour on a cutting board.

Your concept is very sound though, the details will work themselves out. Worst case scenario, you may have to wash it now and then, or just have a drywall mud knife for the tough spots.

The only thing your gonna have to really watch is that that board stays flat and does not warp. Maybe supports underneath that run in glides in the frame to keep it square and pull easy.

Man a guy could get in trouble fast with ideas like this... I LOVE IT!!!