Dropping tray problems, coop cleaning, anyone prefer not to use trays, etc

[limited25]

It's not a roost, it's the "lip" of the poopboard to keep the PDZ on the board. When the hens were young they liked sitting there. Here's a better pic...

That is a good idea, appreciate the close up picture. Do you still have 4, or did chicken math increase your flock? Our roost is 4' long, with a second roost going at a right angle against the adjoining wall 5'. Seems like only one chicken sometimes sleeps on the 5' roost (which overlaps the first one in the corner). DH can reach everything without going into the coop at all, but I am much shorter than him and have to at least put one knee in the coop to scrape the corner. Scraping the poop deck only takes me about a minute to do. Your little hen looks very cute there.

 

[JackE]

This is our first time having chickens, so we are on a big learning curve and wanted some advice on keeping the coop cleaner. We built a 8x8 coop, we have 15 hens that are 5 months old. It has two roosts that are about 7 ft. long and I used 4 collapsible metal shelves for trays under the roosts, sprinkled a little pine shavings on them, and they were in for one day and were covered with mountains of poop this morning! I can get them all out okay and scraped them this morning, but the chicken's poop is so different and the runny ones don't scrape at all, and didn't hose off well. There are also droppings that miss the trays on the sides/edges, but I can't find larger trays than that. There are also droppings on the roosts. So I'm getting poop all over my gloves just trying to pick up the trays because the edges are covered, and it's falling off, then it's on the floor where I need to put the trays back in.

Sometimes the hens all roost on the top one, sometimes they are all on the left half of the coop, so poop has been wall to wall and under both roosts so far. Sometimes they face in towards the coop, sometimes they face out, and sometimes they are half and half, so the poop is going everywhere.

The floor of the coop has some pine shavings, but that seems like it will get very expensive to cover the floor and change it out often. There isn't too much poop in the area out from the roosts, but still some. It's also all over their ramp from the coop.

Is this amount of poop normal? I was hoping for easier scraping, and don't want to hose them off daily, don't really want wetness in the coop.

Do any of you prefer not using trays?
Do you have better ideas for ease of cleaning?
Do you all use pine shavings in the floor of the coop? I read controversial articles about sand as bedding.

Thank you for your help, hope that all made sense.

What you describe, explains exactly why I don't have, (And never will have) a crap board, poop shelf, crap counter, or whatever you want to call it. It may be a good idea, (Though I doubt it) if you have six chickens or less. With a larger flock, you HAVE to scrap that crappy board everyday. And you are seeing for yourself, what a crappy job it is.
I usually have around twenty birds. I have three eight ft. roosts in the coop for them. I clean the coop twice a year, spring and late fall, that's it. In between those cleanings, I will, as the pine shavings break down, dump in a fresh bag. Sometimes (If I'm bored, and have nothing else to do), I'll take a garden fork, and turn the bedding. But usually, I'll just throw in a handful of scratch, and let the chickens themselves turn the bedding. My coop does not smell, and I'm not out there mucking around in the coop everyday. It really is very easy to maintain the coop. With the bedding turned over on a regular basis, everything stays dry and odor free.
So, get rid of that crappy board, and make it easier on yourself. If the chickens are hitting the walls, the roosts are too close to them. Move them out a bit, like twenty inches or so.

 

[amama]

Sounds like I might be done with the poop trays! We were hoping to compost, which is another reason for the tray idea, but they are long and heavy and my children can't help, which is not ideal JackE, how many bags of shavings do you have to use to start with to cover the coop floor? So you are doing a "deep litter" method, but not as deep basically?

Can the chickens walk around on the PDZ if it's on the coop floor too?

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[JackE]

Sounds like I might be done with the poop trays! We were hoping to compost, which is another reason for the tray idea, but they are long and heavy and my children can't help, which is not ideal JackE, how many bags of shavings do you have to use to start with to cover the coop floor? So you are doing a "deep litter" method, but not as deep basically?

Can the chickens walk around on the PDZ if it's on the coop floor too?

Thanks for all the replies.

I compost. But I admit, I am kinda lazy about turning the heap. I'll turn it over after I clean out the coop, and dump the old bedding into the pile, which is just a couple of times a year. But it does break down over time. I have a 8X16' coop. There is sand up front, by the open front. The rest is shavings. After clean out, I usually start with 2 bags. Every couple of months or so, as the old shavings break down, I'll add a bag. The bedding doesn't really get much more than a foot or so deep between clean outs. Stuff breaks down pretty good. PDZ, IMO, is a waste of time and $$$. If your coop is properly ventilated, and doesn't flood, everything stays dry and doesn't stink. (At least not enough to worry about)

 

[amama]

Thanks for the details, they were helpful. Our coop is raised about 3 feet off the ground, the floor is pretty solid but has a few cracks where things fall through, but I think it would hold the bedding well enough. I'm ready to try anything since their feet are always covered in poop even though I'm cleaning the coop. After seeing their feet I'm not sure why I see so many posts about wanting to hold chickens!

 

[JackE]

Thanks for the details, they were helpful. Our coop is raised about 3 feet off the ground, the floor is pretty solid but has a few cracks where things fall through, but I think it would hold the bedding well enough. I'm ready to try anything since their feet are always covered in poop even though I'm cleaning the coop. After seeing their feet I'm not sure why I see so many posts about wanting to hold chickens!

My birds feet are clean (Well, as clean as a chicken's foot can be, I guess) A few inches of bedding/shavings to kick around in, should definitely help. Usually, their feet are pretty much self cleaning when they get outside the coop.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

That is a good idea, appreciate the close up picture.  DDo you still have 4, or did chicken math increase your flock?  ur roost is 4' long, with a second roost going at a right angle against the adjoining wall 5'.  Seems like only one chicken sometimes sleeps on the 5' roost (which overlaps the first one in the corner).  DH can reach everything without going into the coop at all, but I am much shorter than him and have to at least put one knee in the coop to scrape the corner.  Scraping the poop deck only takes me about a minute to do.  Your little hen looks very cute there.

We always have had 6, 2 just weren't in the pic. They were around 2 months old when the pic was taken.

That is Daisy, she was the first to lay.

 

[Sutremaine]

LIFE IS TOO SHORT to scoop the poop daily!  Deep shavings, with scratch feed scattered on it every couple of days, and very good ventilation, is a much easier way to go.  Mary

Our chickens haven't been interested in some home-made hay, so I've been taking small handfuls of it every day and sprinkling it over the night's doings. When the pile gets a bit high, it gets scraped forward onto the fresher stuff. When it starts to develop a smell, it gets dumped in a big pile underneath the coop.

 

[AmberKnits]

Pine shavings are not very expensive, a few bucks for a large 'cube' at a feed store. Our coop is about 8x8, and half of a cube is plenty to cover the whole floor. We don't do the deep litter method, or have poop boards. Our coop is a walk-in, with lots of shelves. I have metal scraper I use to clean off the shelves once a week or so, then I grab a shovel and shovel out the messiest spots, add some new shavings and its good to go. We probably use one thing of shavings a month. Every once in a while I clean out all the shavings, but not often.

 

[amama]

AmberKnits, are the shelves the roosts? Or are they under the roosts? Just curious, how many chickens do you have in the 8x8 coop?

Thanks