Ideas for keeping roosts clean???

[Thomas423]

What methods have worked for keeping roosts clean and/or easy clean-up? Paint? Shelf Board/Paper? Dropping boards? Composite deck boards?

We're going to have about 14 foot of roosts all under windows so there will be no fighting for window seats. Considering using 2x4's but open to all ideas.

Pics would be great also.

Thanks so much.

 

[willheveland]

Using 2x4's is good,especially in cold areas so that they can sit down and cover their feet with their feathers when it's cold.
I have my roosts on a hinge and removable so I can take them out once in a while and pressure wash them off. Will

 

[countrygirlatheart]

we just use a paint scraper to clean ours off. seems like no matter what or where, they poop all over it

.

 

[patandchickens]

Wait, are you asking about the roosts themselves, or the area underneath? (droppings boards and vinyl flooring and suchlike only apply to the area underneath the roosts).

Not much poo gets on my roosts. A couple times a year I get slightly ambitious and scrape it off with my droppings-board scraper. It's not like you're going to be *eating* off the roost

You don't want to make the roost itself out of anything slippery, chickens need traction.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[CityChook]

I gave my roost a good coating with waterproofing stain (the same stuff I used on the exterior siding). Poo just scrapes right off with a putty knife. My roost is in brackets, so can be easily lifted and carried outside the coop in case I ever wanted to spray it down with the hose. Hasn't been necessary.

 

[CARS]

Gonna get slapped across the hand for this...

4 years, never did anything but flip them up for coop cleaning.

 

[Beekissed]

Round roosts...poop falls off!

 

[GardeNerd]

My roosts are painted and they lift out of brackets. The brackets are also removable. I hose them off when I feel like it, but they don't get really dirty often. I keep newspaper under the roosts. There is also vinyl covering the surface the newspaper sits on. I pull out the paper and shread it into the compost every morning.

There are pics on my BYC page.

 

[momma's chickens]

I have dropping boards under my roosts, best thing I ever did. I scrape them every morning, I have 4 big roosts and it takes about 4 minutes total. I also love the dropping boards because I put up a removable wire to block thr area off underneath them and that is where the baby chicks go from about 4 week old until ready to join the flock. If poo gets on the roost I just use the putty knife and scrape it off.

 

[austinchicken]

The best design feature of my coop has turned out to be the droppings board under the roost. I used some sort of coated fiber board--can't remember what it's called. It is GREAT. They pretty much only roost in the coop, so very little poop gets on the floor; I'd say all of what they poop out when roosting winds up on the board, which really decreases the amount of time I have to spend cleaning the coop. I scrape the boards off every couple of days with a paint scraper and dustpan and then throw it in the compost pile. It's time I hose it off and disinfect it, I suppose, as invariably some will get a bit stuck. I'm planning to do that once a month or so.