For those with giant breeds, is 23" wide/deep enough for poop boards?

[SplendidDogFeet]

I stumbled into finding out that silicone mats are SO EASY to clean poultry poop off of. I'd really like to make that the top of my poop boards, but the length I found that I wanted only come in 23.5" wide. If I did the boards at 23" and still put the roost a foot away from the wall, will losing that inch be a problem with my Jersey Giant girls?

 

[aart]

I did the boards at 23" and still put the roost a foot away from the wall, will losing that inch be a problem with my Jersey Giant girls?

Probably not.
The height of the roost over the boards could affect where poops go.
Mine are 8" and rarely have a wall splatter.

 

[SplendidDogFeet]

Probably not.
The height of the roost over the boards could affect where poops go.
Mine are 8" and rarely have a wall splatter.

Thank you! I will make sure my roosts are at eight inches.

 

[Ridgerunner]

People want to be so precise. When you are dealing with living animals this does not always work out exactly the way you think it will. And I know I'm weird to a lot of people on this forum since I don't worry about a lot of things that they consider important. That probably comes from growing up on a farm with free ranging chickens. I don't see them as dainty little pets. We used chicken manure as fertilizer on hayfields and pastures. We used it in the garden too for a couple of specific uses.

My droppings board under the main roosts is the top of my 3' x 6' brooder, so it is 36" wide. I have two roosts made out of tree limbs that are not perfectly straight but are about 12" apart most places and 12" from the wall. I don't worry if I get a bit of wall splatter. Dry poop is not a danger, it will not smell. If it splatters on the wall it will dry out.

Occasionally a little poop misses the droppings board and hits the floor. It is a small amount and dries out in the bedding. The chickens mix that up with their scratching so I don't see a problem with that. The vast amount of the poop lands on the droppings board so I can scrape that off and add it to my compost pile.

Will some poop miss your droppings board and hit the coop floor since it is only 11" from the roost centerline? Probably but it should be a very small amount. Some would probably hit the floor if that distance were 12". I don't know what your coop and bedding look like so I don't know what kind of issues that may cause you. It is not an issue with my set-up and tolerances.

My juvenile roost is over my nests. Those nests are 16" so I get a line of poop on the coop floor in front of the nests. I don't worry about stepping in it, it will not hurt my coop shoes if I do but it is so close to the nests I generally don't step in it. When it gets thick enough I clean it up and put it in my compost pile.

I have no idea what your coop looks like. Mine is a walk-in with lots of access. You may have an elevated coop where you can only reach in. A lot of what I've said may not apply that much to you. But I do think you'll be OK with that pad 23" wide instead of 24".

Good luck!

 

[SplendidDogFeet]

People want to be so precise. When you are dealing with living animals this does not always work out exactly the way you think it will. And I know I'm weird to a lot of people on this forum since I don't worry about a lot of things that they consider important. That probably comes from growing up on a farm with free ranging chickens. I don't see them as dainty little pets. We used chicken manure as fertilizer on hayfields and pastures. We used it in the garden too for a couple of specific uses.

My droppings board under the main roosts is the top of my 3' x 6' brooder, so it is 36" wide. I have two roosts made out of tree limbs that are not perfectly straight but are about 12" apart most places and 12" from the wall. I don't worry if I get a bit of wall splatter. Dry poop is not a danger, it will not smell. If it splatters on the wall it will dry out.

Occasionally a little poop misses the droppings board and hits the floor. It is a small amount and dries out in the bedding. The chickens mix that up with their scratching so I don't see a problem with that. The vast amount of the poop lands on the droppings board so I can scrape that off and add it to my compost pile.

Will some poop miss your droppings board and hit the coop floor since it is only 11" from the roost centerline? Probably but it should be a very small amount. Some would probably hit the floor if that distance were 12". I don't know what your coop and bedding look like so I don't know what kind of issues that may cause you. It is not an issue with my set-up and tolerances.

My juvenile roost is over my nests. Those nests are 16" so I get a line of poop on the coop floor in front of the nests. I don't worry about stepping in it, it will not hurt my coop shoes if I do but it is so close to the nests I generally don't step in it. When it gets thick enough I clean it up and put it in my compost pile.

I have no idea what your coop looks like. Mine is a walk-in with lots of access. You may have an elevated coop where you can only reach in. A lot of what I've said may not apply that much to you. But I do think you'll be OK with that pad 23" wide instead of 24".

Good luck!

Thank you so much! I know I overthink everything. I take medication for OCD and I am big on following the directions precisely and trying to get things right. People who aren't so worried about every little detail definitely have a lot more time to just enjoy life.