Droppings board?

[cindyanne1]

I like the idea of putting a droppings board under the roosts in the new coop, but unsure how to go about it. I found instructions for a droppings board, but it sounded confusing. From what I could gather, it was like a short rectangular frame of wood with a solid bottom and hardware cloth across the top, but I am not sure and there were no pictures.

Anyway, it seems to me just about anything that is reasonably flat and easy to clean would work, right? Just something that can lay under the roosts that I can take out every few days and clean off?

What do you use for this purpose?

 

[toletiquesbysam]

Yes, just a board under the roosts and I plan on putting that cabinet liner stuff that is sticky on the bottom but smooth on top. That way I can wipe it off easily and doesn't ruin the board.

 

[sangel4you]

I just finished building my roosts and board yesterday... we just got L brackets and attached them to the two by fours that are the roosts support about two inches lower than the roosts and then took a sheet of plywood the size of my roosts, 2x5, and covered it with stick on vinyl tiles I got from a yard sale, and then I am going to put shavings on it. Then I put my 2x4 roosts on top but instead of nailing or screwing them in, DH just put 1x4 peices of scrap wood along either side standing up so they dont slide off and can easily be lifted out. So to clean my poop board, I can either just slide it off the L brackets from under the roosts or I can lift the roosts out and then lift the board out.
I can try to get you pictures later today if that would help?

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
One problem is that the term 'droppings board' tends to get used for a whole wide constellation of things, constructed differently and managed somewhat differently and not exactly identical in their pros and cons.

But as far as what I'd call a plain ol' droppings board (check out the pic of my sussexes on my personal page, link at left under my username) yeah it is just a board under the roost. You want 14" wide minimum (and that will still miss a little), preferably with the top side treated in some way to minimize stuff sticking to it (I use plastic-coated shelving, but some BYCers have used vinyl flooring on the board with good results, or you could apply a number of coats of polyurethane). Then mount it a little ways below the roost. I'm not sure what the optimum distance is, mine are mostly like 6-12" and that works fine but I believe some BYCers have them a little lower and are satisfied with that too. It probably doesn't matter a huge lot

I like scraping them off every morning, because that radically reduces humidity/odor in the coop. I just snowplow the stuff into a bucket held in my other hand, using a wide drywall-taping scraper type thing. But if you are just after easier sanitation, not improvement of air quality, you can go longer before cleaning the board (although it then is a bit harder to get the stuff scraped off IME)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[consdrs]

Quote:

 

[mommathea]

Here is what I have for mine, just 4 pieces of wood screwed to the frame work of the coop, then a sheet of scrap plywood laying on top.
It is amazing how much poo I clean off of the board in the morning.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Quote:

Now thats a clean coop!! Looks great.

 

[consdrs]

Quote:

Now thats a clean coop!! Looks great.

Well it WAS a clean coop.... I guess poop happens.....