Do you choose NOT to use a poop board?

[igorsMistress]

I aci started without a poop board and I loved it. I only stirred the litter once in a while as my birds free range the yard so they didn't spend much time in there.
These days I have more chickens and the littles do spend time in there so I toss in some scratch and tgey have at it.
I added a poop board for one reason only, my coop is on concrete blocks with a dirt floor and the blocks were getting poop on them. Didn't like that at all so we added the poop board. I use litter on it though, stir in once a week then scrape onto the floor and mix it in. So I guess it's a combo method, but if I didn't feel I need it I wouldn't have it.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have never used a poop board. I'm a fan of deep litter. IMO, key to success with DL is having a coop that is tall enough to allow build up of litter to 12" or even higher under the roosts. However, I am considering putting in a poop board, or hammock under one section of the roosts to allow me to do winter feeding there, or even brood chicks in that space in the spring. Time will tell if that ever happens! I really dislike the idea of managing poop in such a fashion. My current method simply involves occasionally dumping a new bag of leaves over the poo, kicking some litter over it, and occasionally scooping it out through the clean out door behind the roosts. At very most, I scoop 2 - 3 x/year.

The chickens don't walk on the wire. It's just under the roost. My coop, not including the exterior nest boxes is only 5' x 5'. There is a strip under the roost 2' x 5' that is wire. What poop doesn't fall through to the ground (coop is elevated about 1 1/2' off ground) is just brushed through with a deck brush. Even more poop would fall through if I'd used a larger mesh wire. The chickens have an attached 8' x 16' run that does not include the under side of the coop, but they free range 90% of the time. In my climate the coop is only for laying eggs and roosting.

I like your wire grid under the perches. The only issue I would have with that is it would make a very inviting highway for mice and rats, and even weasels to enter the coop... UNLESS the entire under coop space, AND a skirt were installed with hdw. cloth.

 

[Folly's place]

I've also never used a poop board, and have no plans to start. I've got a shed-type walk-in coop/ run combination, and use shavings and stuff to make DL, and shovel it out maybe twice a year. Forty-plus chickens and daily 'poop scooping'? No way!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

I also have multiple roosts, so all the poo is spread out better rather than in one huge daily pile.
Mary

 

[BantyChooks]

I've never used one. It'd be a full time job, or at least a pretty big part time one! I have multiple roost spots and 40–50 birds depending on time of year.

 

[imnukensc]

I like your wire grid under the perches. The only issue I would have with that is it would make a very inviting highway for mice and rats, and even weasels to enter the coop... UNLESS the entire under coop space, AND a skirt were installed with hdw. cloth.

Mice and rats don't seem to be a problem. At least, not yet. My cat seems to do a wonderful job of keeping them at bay judging by the numbers of them I see her consume. Although DNR says we have scattered populations of them here, I have never seen a weasel in my lifetime (and I ain't no spring chicken!) nor heard of any from any of my friends or hunting/fishing buddies. My under coop space is not enclosed with HWC or anything else. I purposely did not enclose it as part of the run because at my age, I didn't want to be climbing under there to get a possibly sick chicken or to gather eggs when a hen decided that was the best place to lay eggs. So far, everything I've done works for me. It may not work for someone else and their particular locale.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

DEEEEP litter here, I would not own chickens if I had to scrape poop every day or even every week. Yuch

Gary

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I have a board up around 2 feet high that lays on a 2 by 4 shelf ( with a perch over that ,) that way I can just pick up the whole board and carry it off to shake off over a garbage bag or the mulch pile. I used to have a coop with a board that was build in, and it was a pain to clean. Lesson learned.
this way I can take the whole thing out of the coop and wash it with a hose if it gets too gross. but I only have 4 chickens so its not that big.

A removable poop board, great idea. I'll remember that should I build a bigger coop someday and decide to go the poop board route.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

DEEEEP litter here, I would not own chickens if I had to scrape poop every day or even every week. Yuch

Gary

Gary, stunning chicken coop. That's my goal someday. In fact I'd love my home to look like that and have considered an attached greenhouse and chicken coop. This will be in Idaho with heavy winters. A 450 square foot cabin with one of the greenhouses and coops under the same roof.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Gary, stunning chicken coop. That's my goal someday. In fact I'd love my home to look like that and have considered an attached greenhouse and chicken coop. This will be in Idaho with heavy winters. A 450 square foot cabin with one of the greenhouses and coops under the same roof.

Awe thanks, the chickens seem to like it. There is a loft just in case I need to move in.... Lol

Gary