Poop boards and girls walking in the doo doo - raised coop design

[SteveE]

If you use poop boards, do you care if your girls walk on them? Do they track poo elsewhere? Have any good tricks for keeping them from doing that?

I'm exploring options for a challenging and confining location. Flock of 12 (half ISA brown, half Plymouth Rock). Current idea is 6x8 raised coop with attached run (run not shown in pics below). Also thinking of two 8 foot roosts ladder style. For various reasons I'm thinking about a large pullout 3x8 poop shelf. As I was drawing the supports I realized they could support welded wire as though doing drop through poop management. But if our girls usually hop over the poop boards instead of walking around in the doodoo I suppose that's overkill. What do you think?

This is the basic idea for the pull out.



This view shows the two roosts above the poop grate (2x3)


Here are some dimensions


(Sketchup has a learning curve but the 2-3 minute tutorials on youtube are awesome.)

Thanks for any comments

 

[EggSighted4Life]

two 8 foot roosts ladder style. For various reasons I'm thinking about a large pullout 3x8 poop shelf. As I was drawing the supports I realized they could support welded wire as though doing drop through poop management. But if our girls usually hop over the poop boards instead of walking around in the doodoo I suppose that's overkill. What do you think?

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

Yes, it bothers me when they walk in it.

I like it.. how deep will your poop drawer be? Sorry, I can't zoom in close enough to see that measurement. The I suggest 1/2 x 1 inch welded wire to cover the top. Like used for rabbit cages instead of the smaller gauge quarter or half inch hardware cloth that droppings *might* get stuck and build up easier on. Also toes seem to get stuck on the half inch and get broken..

My birds don't usually run around on the droppings boards.. unless trying to escape my reach and in some instances lower ranking juveniles have roosted on the raised lip edge of mine.. which is static (not removable) and gets cleaned with a square shovel now, after kitty litter scooper method was ughhh.. mine is only 4 inches below the roost and it needs to be at least 6 for MY cleaning method.. New coop planning in progress right now, actually same size!

Only current suggestion.. is use 2 x 4 with the wide side facing up for your roost ladder over something thinner. Round the top corner edges just a bit if you are able.. as the width will go a long way towards long term comfort.

It MIGHT be overkill.. BUT if you've foreseen it AND it's going to make you uncomfortable.. go ahead and take the measure to prevent it!

Just my thoughts, happy building!

 

[SteveE]

Thanks for looking and commenting! Yes BYC is great. The poop drawer vertical lip as drawn is 1" high. As drawn the grate is 2x3x1/8" welded wire.... I just used those specs because I had lost track of what @imnukensc did in his coop but I found it again. In this pic (s)he shows using 1x2 spacing for a drop through poop chute through the floor to the ground below. I'm just thinking of using it above the board, with a solid floor below.

use 2 x 4 with the wide side facing up for your roost ladder over something thinner.

I'm familiar with the roost wars (round vs flat) ( 1.5" flat vs 3.5" flat) etc. What do you mean by "over something thinner"?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I'm familiar with the roost wars (round vs flat) ( 1.5" flat vs 3.5" flat) etc. What do you mean by "over something thinner"?

Ha, that's funny.. I didn't know there were roost wars! I guess it's true most things we do are personal choice.

The second picture looked like 1x1 or 2x2 roost.. I meant that flat and 3.5" is preferred to round and thinner.. according to MY experience. Chickens rest on their keel bone and their feet relax on either side balancing them.. they don't sleep with a tight grip. So ya, I think you grasped what I was getting at.

 

[aart]

Very nice models and drawings...but..... 1/2" x 1" mesh will not allow most adult chicken poop to go thru, you'll still have to scrape it off mesh, it will also not support adult chicken weight across a 3' span. Mesh will bend and touch slider tray, scraping poop off tray when it's pulled out.

Poop happens, hard to not to step in it
I swear they poop then turn around and walk right thru it...or another bird does.
Am guessing you don't have chickens yet, or they are really small and drop those cute little pullet poops?

I just sift all the poop out of PDZ on poop boards daily.

 

[Alaskan]

I have 2perches on my poop trays, and they work great.

My poop trays are 3 feet deep, one perch in the middle (a 2x4 wide side flat), and a second perch (same size as first) right on the front poop shelf edge.

Since the chickens all want to look into the coop,not look at the wall, all of them face forwards, and all poo drops into the tray.

 

[Alaskan]

I agree with @aart About the mesh.....

I would just stick with PDZ, or sand, or feed bag liners... and clean up often.

 

[SteveE]

Thanks Aart, I'm a big believer in "If you can draw it, you can build it!"

Am guessing you don't have chickens yet, or they are really small and drop those cute little pullet poops?

<snort> Wrong guess! The first six are dropping lovely big blobs and glops on a strip of plastic tarp cut off from a roof wrapping job. But its time to get them out of the people shed and into their own space. Wire sag is an interesting design consideration, given (multiple) bird weight, clung poop, material choice, etc. If I made my own grid with hardwood strips and half lap joints the thickness of the fins would defeat the purpose. But I can see using a heavier gauge wire and/or a mid span support and/or some extra clearance above the poop tray. (Hmmmmm) Thanks for comments, and yours too, Alaskan!

 

[aart]

Thanks Aart, I'm a big believer in "If you can draw it, you can build it!"

One of the first things I learned when doing design/drafting work,
a sage metal shop guy said, just because you can draw it doesn't mean it can be built.
..and I know from a couple decades experience that just because you can draw it doesn't mean it's good design.

<snort> Wrong guess! The first six are dropping lovely big blobs and glops on a strip of plastic tarp cut off from a roof wrapping job.

How old are they?

 

[dogpatchchickens]

Ha, that's funny.. I didn't know there were roost wars! I guess it's true most things we do are personal choice.

The second picture looked like 1x1 or 2x2 roost.. I meant that flat and 3.5" is preferred to round and thinner.. according to MY experience. Chickens rest on their keel bone and their feet relax on either side balancing them.. they don't sleep with a tight grip. So ya, I think you grasped what I was getting at.