dropping boards?

[newfmadible]

I am new to chickens and will be getting my first chicks the end of this month.

I have a question about my coop. It is an Amish made coop with the roosts on one side (staggered). The floor underneath the roosts has kind of small gauge hardware cloth open to the ground underneath. The coop itself sits up off the ground on skids. There is a plywood board with a handle that fits down over the top of the hardware cloth section. Is that what is meant by a droppings board? If so, how does it work? If not, what is it's purpose? (I suppose this should be obvious to me, but it's not!)

Is it supposed to function just as flooring that you take up for cleaning purposes? Would I leave it open (uncovered) for droppings to fall through during warm weather and then cover it for winters? I had planned to put pine shavings on the floor of the coop, but if I leave that section uncovered won't they just kick the shavings all over and they would fall through there?

 

[BarkerChickens]

Dh wants to put something like that in our coop too so that he can pull out the board while maintaining the deep litter method throughout the rest of the coop. Not exactly sure how it works though. Our current coop doesn't have one and our girls sure make a mess under their perch! I will definitely be checking back since I am curious too!

 

[consdrs]

These are pics of my droppings board. (When it was new, before poo) The whole thing hinges up and I just scrape the poo into a bucket. This stops them from walking in "most of it". Not all poo will fall between the 1x1-welded wire. Some has to be poked through the holes.
This gives me more roosting space than a long single and or double pole roost. It also lets us use all the floor space in our small coop. It’s amazing how much poo there is on this every day!!

Connie


https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=8400

 

[patandchickens]

I am a big fan of droppings boards (just a plain board under roost) cleaned every morning, with the poo removed from the coop to a compost pile. This removes almost 50% of the daily poo input shortly after it occurs, and can really help air quality and bedding longevity.

It literally takes seconds (like maybe 10-15)... you just hold a dustpan or wide wallpaper scraper in one hand, and a bucket in the other, and move them both along as you 'snowplow' the poo off the edge of the board into the bucket. Presto, all done

There are other ways of using droppings boards too, of course

Pat

 

[agirly4chicks]

Quote:
Can youo please post pictures of your dropping boards? I have only seen your tractors.

 

[patandchickens]

Sure, if you go to my 'Personal Page' and look at the pic of the Sussexes, you can see the droppings board under the roost (the nest boxes have been pushed further back under the board since the pic was taken btw)

Pat