Poop board experts!

[CopperCT]

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So an "L" shape, right? I would go ahead and put the droppings boards for both roosts at the same level. I have my roosts like this is both of my coops but I have both roosts at the same level to avoid squabbling in my flock over who gets the higher roost spots.

X2 with an L shaped poop board to match.

 

[Newbie in Screamer Al]

Well Thanks. The coop is only 8x10, so we had to make the space work for everthing to fit, and us still able to walk all the way in. Your coop is awesome too. Lotsa room and layed out nice and neat. Now I want a larger one too,LOL...
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[gsim]

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I did mine 24" deep and the length of the roost pole. The roost pole should be 12" from wall. This way the poop will all be on the poop board and little on the floor. I did mine of OSB with linoleum glued over that. I am changing over to either formica or galvanized steel. Easier to keep clean and more durable.

Well-designed poop boards, deep litter, proper ventilation (overhead only in cold weather, all over in warm weather), and a covered outside roost will all work in harmony to make your coop cleaning chores a breeze. The covered outside roost gives the chooks a rainy day hangout and that translates into less poop for you to clean up.

I only clean my coop once a year, yet it always smells nice, with only odor being grass clippings and hay. (except first thing in AM

)

See 'My BYC Page'

Gerry

 

[yelim]

My coop is not new any longer.

I built an 8' door horizonally along the back.

I can raise this door

and slide out and tilt down the poop board

for cleaning. The wood shavings fall right off with a little tapping and a flat point shovel. I slide the board back into the coop and place shavings from the floor onto the poop board and put new clean shavings on the floor. Thus I recycle the shavings from floor to board to compost. I do this once a week on Saturday's

 

[bills]

Great idea Yelim!

Simple and effective!

It seems my birds always sit in the same exact spot every night, as evident by where the poop lands. It's amazing how the poop landing zone is always so consistant, to the point I could almost get away with putting a can under each bird..

I was thinking when looking at the poop landing pattern of Yelims dropping board, that he could almost get away with two long, narrow, wall paper type trays..lol.. Empty when full..

Many years ago well before I owned my own birds, a fellow I know who kept hens, used to sprinkle lime on his dropping board. He would do this every few days, and then after a month or so would take a shovel, and empty the dropping board. He claimed the lime really kept the smell down, and was great for the keeping compost PH balance. I don't see anybody using lime in the hen house these days, and wondered if that was because of health concerns from breathing the lime dust?

 

[gsim]

Lime is an excellent idea. It can be bought by the ton quite economically at local co-ops. It was used in outhouses back in the day. I am telling my age here, for sure.

Best practice for that was to keep a lime box and scoop in the outhouse and each person who used it was responsible for putting a little lime on top of whatever they had 'deposited'.

We just had a one-holer, but grand-dad had a sho-nuff 2-holer at his'n place.

Gerry

 

[theoldchick]

I like that last design!

 

[Redley]

I can't tell you how extremely impressed with everyone's ingenuity I am.
With these pics and this post, I finally figured out my roosts (and poop boards)
My fiancee thinks I am out of my mind being excited about this, but he will be happy when he's cleaning out the coop.

I have a strange coop. It's 6'deep x 8' wide....however, it is split in the middle, so essentially I have (2) 6' x 4' coops. Will be good with broody hens. I will be connecting the two with a chicken sized door at the bottom, but there is still a big wall.

From you and your ideas, I have changed from the ladder idea to a "L" shape on my back 4' wall and my side 6' wall.

Now, like the original poster, just have to figure out the poop boards, deep litter or scraping....will continue to read this post and learn from those who have mastered their 'poop'

 

[gsim]

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[gsim]

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See 'My BYC Page' for all the poop on poop boards.

Properly done, they will save you tons of labor day in and day out. If desired, sand can easily be sprinkled on them to facilitate daily scraping.

Advantage of that is there can be no seeds to germinate if you use it in garden or shrub beds.

gerry