Messy coop, clean roost!

[galefrances]

My almost 4 and 6 wk. chicks have been in the coop for over a week now. They are sleeping on the floor and I'm having a terrible time keeping the coop clean. There are 12 chicks and I'm ankle deep in poop. I've tried picking up the poop, (but end up catching 1/2 the shavings with it,) then spread more shavings over it with DE. I had to remove it all after only 1 week. I have roosts with a poop board underneath. The board has a lip on it and it's filled with sweet PDZ ( idea I got from another thread). The problem is they won't use it to sleep. The idea was for them to sleep on the roost and the poop board with the PDZ would catch the poop making it easy to clean. The pine shavings on the floor would stay much cleaner if they'd only use the roosts. Are they just too young to roost or have they gotten too used to sleeping on the floor? Any suggestions on how I can get them to sleep where they are supposed to?

 

[teach1rusl]

They're just young - most will begin roosting around 8-10 weeks or so. You can go out after dark and place them on the roosts, but they may still hop down. Right now the pile seems safer to them (safety in numbers, right?). But as they begin to mature, the roosts will seem safer. They will get it, just have patience.
I have babies who began roost at 4 weeks, but they were with mama, who showed them how...

 

[galefrances]

Thanks for the reply. I'll wait it out. Hopefully it won't be much longer as they do seem to enjoy walking up and down the ladder to the roost

 

[dominiques]

I'd love to see a pic of your ladder and roost. Trying to set mine up and mine don't go on the roost either. They are between 6-8 weeks. thanks!

 

[Ole rooster]

You've found the problem with shavings. My brooder had shaving because when I clean it I clean everything out. The coops have sand. The sand sifts out and poop's gone when I clean it. I have the same sand plus whatever I've added do to loss for a year now in my main coop. It's cleaned out very well and I'll stay with it.

 

[galefrances]

I would love to have sand in the coop, but my tractor supply store only had 3 bags. My husband decided to use the pine shavings because they were cheaper, but he's not getting that they have to be replaced all the time. Hopefully once the store gets more of the PDZ in he'll see that it's actually cheaper in the long run.

Dominique: here's my roost set up. We've moved the ladder to the center since this pic was taken and lowered it a little to reduce the pitch. They go up there, but not to sleep. Hopefully once they're older.

 

[oledanjennings]

never heard of a poop board. like. will build one. but what is pdz?

 

[Yolk]

Putting in a steel grate bottom that has holes about an inch apart will reduce all poop build up. Will also help with air flow.

 

[teach1rusl]

The bedding isn't the issue. Your dropping boards will most likely work just fine and your bedding will stay (mostly) clean once they begin roosting at night. My bedding stays very clean 9 mos. out of the year (thanks to dropping boards). If you're in an area that gets winters, especially if you get snow, the bedding will become pooped up a bit more over the winter months simply because the birds choose to be indoors a lot more (and who can blame them?).

 

[galefrances]

never heard of a poop board. like. will build one. but what is pdz?

PDZ is a horse stall freshener. It's mineral based and comes in powder or granular form. Granular is less dusty than the powder, but you should wear a mask when using. It will absorb odor and ammonia and doesn't need to be replaced. Just add more when it gets low. It was recommended by a few people here on BYC and I like it especially for the poop (droppings) board because you can pick up the poop with a kitty litter scoop covered with hardware cloth and the sand (PDZ) will fall through and you can then toss the poop into your can for waste. With pine shavings you wind up throwing the shavings in the can along with the poop. You can buy the PDZ at your local tractor supply store or online. You will need to build a 'lip' around your poop board to hold the sand in place, but you won't need the grate on top because you'll just sift it with your litter scoop.