- Apr 10, 2013
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It looks great. Is there any danger of poo from the poo board hitting the feeders. That could be a bit nasty.....
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Ok, so my first coop was done without poop boards-I simply loaded up the floor with sand figuring that would be easy enough to sift the poop out of. Well, the plan sounded good in theory but I found it didn't work so good in reality. Don't get me wrong, the poop scoops out of the sand BUT- the sand SMELLS even after the poop is gone. Also, it is a dusty mess while scooping and I need to take frequent breaks just to breath fresh air. Still better though than changing out shavings weekly (I don't like DLM).
So when we built our 2nd coop we decided to try poop boardsWOW, what a difference. We built a waist high shelf and then added a lip all around and filled it with Sweet PDZ, LOVE IT!!!! I simply sift the poop up every day or two but you certainly can leave it longer if you had to. The Sweet PDZ keeps it from smelling at all. And the best part- NO DUST when scooping. It's almost like sifting flour. It is very zen like to clean and I tend to get carried away and make designs for my girls ( I know, I have issues)
Anyway, thought I would share my experience and of course some pics
awesome coop! I Really love this idea and the sand! Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you so much. Our coop (The Schoop) is a child's playhouse kit - in the design of a little schoolhouse, 8x8 - that we bought as a kit, and converted to a coop. It has two dutch doors, one that is child size in the front (which is the one in the picture) and an adult sized one on the opposite back side, which we use to enter the coop. We also cut in a pop door (not visible in this picture, that allows the chickens to access their secure covered run.) When we want to give them some free range time, we simply open up the small dutch door, and they all come running out. If I don't get the door opened fast enough, they jump out through the top window...very cute.
Also, it might not be clear in the picture, but our feeders are actually hanging centered under the poop board, so they are fully protected from droppings, (even if the chickens stand on the frame edge of the poop board.) The feeders unclip from the hanging chains to make removing for filling and cleaning easy breezy!
The elevated framed poop boards are a win-win situation, they increase the usable space within the coop, by giving you more options for the lower space, and when used with the Sweet PDZ, the coop stays odor free. I wouldn't have my coop set up any other way.
I am so glad I found BYC and this thread! We designed our poop boards/roosting bars based on this conversation. We modified one of the roosting bars to accomadate our large JG's so the one on the right in the picture is only ~1 foot off the ground. We have also blocked the nesting boxes (under the window) until the girls are closer to laying age. The higher one is about 4 feet. Question for a newbie: I have seen some with a ladder and some do not. Do you think my ladies will need this to get to the higher roost? Can they safely get down without a ladder?
Thanks again!
Thanks so much for your response!Nice setup!!!
I don't think your girls will have any trouble once they're fully-grown - chickens can get high up into places you wouldn't think they could. I had a friend suggest covering the loft opening in our coop because she had full-grown Jersey Giants that could go from floor to 6' high in one leap and a flutter of wings.
Until they're bigger, though, we've decided to give ours a small ladder/ramp so they 1)know where to go, as their instinct is to get up high before sleeping, and 2)to accommodate those little legs and wings in doing so.
4' shouldn't be a problem for a fully-grown chicken.
Again, very nice, clean setup you have!