Droppings Board

[desertgirl]

Hello!
We are constructing our coop, and wanted to put in a droppings board. This is just under the roosts,right? The rest of the floor will be pine/aspen shavings, and I would like to try the deep litter method.

Just clarifying-the droppings board just goes under the roost, as that is where a concentrated amount of poo ends up. I would then clean the roosts/droppings board weekly/as needed, and then the rest of the coop per deep litter reccommendations.

Yes?

 

[toletiquesbysam]

Yes, under the roosts. This is where you will get the concentrated amount of pooh.

 

[desertgirl]

So about 2 feet of droppings board,the rest floor?

The coop will be 4X6-will 2 feet of screened floor be too drafty for them in the winter (lowest temperature is probably the teens where we are...)

 

[johnniecourtney]

What i'm doing is building a shelf for the roost, then lining it with boards to make a box. then putting the screen on top, and cutting a door on the outside that will give me access to the inside of the 'box'. That way you'll minimize draft, but still have an easy way to clean the roost poo. I'm also doing deep litter in the rest of the coop. I still haven't finished my coop, I just have the shelf part done. But I'll post a picture when it's done. Here's a link to my coop so you can check it out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=172803

Hopes that helps!

 

[IN-farmgirl]

I use a car oil pan tray (looks like a giant cookie sheet) for my droppings tray. I got the idea from a BYC user...it is one of the best ideas I got from this forum. It makes my cleanup SO much easier!!

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Can I ask a dumb question? Is the droppings board that important? Does it help that much? Don't your chickens sit on the board? I don't get it... Oops that was a couple questions over limit... sorry

 

[johnniecourtney]

Quote:
If you make something similar to this pic (found on this site, sorry I dont remember who's it is!) then they'll walk on the wire, and sit in the roost. The poo will fall through the wire (you can help it by using a little hand broom to sweep the wire occasionally) and you can have a droppings board under it.

Does that help?

 

[Chicken Woman]

I have 2 large plastic bins that can slide out and be emptied. I put about 2 inches of pine shavings in the bins so the poo comes out without sticking to the bin.
Chickens poo alot on the roost as they usually have a full crop when they go nite nite. This eleminates so much poo on the coop floor.

I think it works great !

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Hey thanks guys! i get confused easily...

 

[Judy]

You can also put the roosts over the nest boxes, and use the top of the nest boxes to hold trays of some sort that are the dropping boards. Might want to dump/scrape them more than weekly,though.