Poop boards on coop floor? How much headroom for roosts?

[Kyguylal]

Hi everyone.

I made my coop pretty short. I'm putting the roost beams in and I'm wondering about poop boards.

Due to the height restriction, I'm only able to really get the roosts a foot off the ground. Is this okay? I'm not sure how much headroom the birds need. They're golden comets, so a fairly small chicken.

Also, can I just shove the poop boards right on the coop floor under the roosts? I was planning on having them filled with sweet PDZ and I'm not sure if they need to be elevated for whatever reason.

I see in many pictures that the poop boards are elevated and I'm not sure if that is just to clear up the floor area.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Standard birds need about 12" over the roost to get on. Also be mindful of where you ventilation is. Ideally it should mostly be up high, but you don't want drafts blowing over their heads either.

So I don't have photos since it's fairly new, but I basically turned the floor under my roost into the "poop board" (not really, but I'm treating it like that). I put in a 1x4 board on the floor to retain finer wood chips in the area under the roosts, with coarser chips through rest of the coop, and I can sift out poop that way.

 

[NatJ]

Also, can I just shove the poop boards right on the coop floor under the roosts? I was planning on having them filled with sweet PDZ and I'm not sure if they need to be elevated for whatever reason.

You could skip the poop boards entirely-- chickens can do just fine without them.

During the day, chickens poop wherever they are (floor, run, etc.) They also scratch around on the floor, which can mix the poop into the bedding.

During the night, chickens sit on the roosts and poop.

Some people let the nighttime poop fall on the floor, and the chickens might mix it into the bedding the next day. (Sometimes it makes a pile, and the chickens do not mix it all in.)

Some people have poop boards to catch the night time poop, and then they clean the poop boards every day, or at some other interval.

If you try to put poop boards with PDZ on the floor of your coop, the chickens will probably scratch in it, dustbathe in it, and generally spread it around. It will not stay where you put it.

I see in many pictures that the poop boards are elevated and I'm not sure if that is just to clear up the floor area.

I think it's to clear up floor area, and it may help keep the chickens from scratching around in them.