What are the measurements of your poo board? The measurements of your roost bars and the distance between them. We are starting our coop tonight so that would be great info to have. Plus how many birds do you have?
Thanks!
My coop is 8' wide x 12' long, and due to the studs, we had to work around them. We ended up with a poo board that is 26" wide x 7'5" long - made out of 1/2" thick plywood. I then used 1"x6" lumber, cut to length first, for the long side rails - screwed into the plywood board (the rails sit on top of the board, screwed in from the bottom for better strength of the overall structure). Then, we measured the width between the side long side rails and cut 1"x6" lumber to size, and screwed those into place.
Then came the mounting: We used some scrap pieces of wood to anchor to the walls where we wanted it - the height is actually at 31 7/8" from floor to the top of the rail, once we got it leveled. Then, we mounted the board, and measured 2"x4" studs to cut to length for support beams underneath the board, and attached them to the bottom of the board.
We used scrap pieces of 1"x6" lumber to fill in the "gaps" between the wall studs and the poo board railing on all three sides, to prevent birds from falling in (which happened the first night, an Aussie pullet got through) and attached those to the rails via screws. No more falling through!
Then, I cut the poultry fence (which I will later use hardware cloth of 1/2" size) to fence off the 2 sides of the separation/introduction areas underneath. When the aforementioned pullet fell through, I had to quickly remedy the fact that we ran out of time to make the doors - and that was done the following day. I need to upload the photos of the finished product. I attached the fence with 1/2" staples and nailed them in flush to discourage pecking and accidental ingestion of staples.
Finally, the roosts were repurposed from what we had before. Since our flock is, at best, 9 weeks old now - they were having trouble with 2"x4" studs. So we used 1"x2" for the time being until they get a little older, around 12 weeks. They measure 8' long and are anchored to scrap wood attached to the walls of the shed. One is at 26" high, the other is at 18" high and mounted to the floor of the poo board with a scrap piece of 1"x2" that's just wide enough to allot for a screw on either side of the support beam. Like I said, we'll be switching out the 1"x2" here in a few weeks for 2"x4" roosts and supports. I have all full-size standard poultry in this coop, so I'm aware they'll need stronger support soon. Their feet just didn't quite sit well on the 2"x4" and as such, they were roosting on the floor and in the nesting boxes of the coop...had to remedy that!
**Edited to add: Distance you asked between roosts is 8" high, and roughly 6" apart.
I'm scooping/sifting their sweet PDZ every morning when they "fly the coop" to go to pasture - no flies, no smell, very VERY little dust, and better for the compost pile next to the coop! I keep a 5 gallon bucket and a kitty litter scoop in the loft of the coop for easy access. That's also where I keep their grit and other non-perishable items...all the medicine and feed stays on shelves in my basement bathroom, where it's kept cool, dry, and mostly in the dark (no one uses that bathroom, it's not finished completely). I'll upload photos of the finished product here shortly from my mobile.
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