Poop boards....

[mossyoakpro]

I don't know who the person was that decided to use poop boards with PDZ in them but I hope they won an award of some sort!! That is the best thing ever!! Glad I decided to do that in my build....clean up is like 5 minutes and done!

 

[TelfTheElf]

Poop boards are the best idea ever, the only regret i have with them is not putting them in soon enough!!!

I found the best type was actually to have some steel ones made as they can be pressure washed, but they did tend to get quite hot in the summer, so maybe plastic would be better

 

[imacowgirl2]

I hear that the floor stays cleaner with a poop board, an advantage for walking on the floor. (Ours is a walk-in coop, not a raised floor that you reach into.)

But if my goal is to generate compost from the chicken droppings eventually (I do want to have a scratching area where I can add in soaked seeds to generate sprouts for them and generate compost for me at the end of the process)... I'm still confused.

Maybe I should use a poop board of some type... and then take that poop and add it (with browns) to an outside compost area where the chickens will scratch it in? The chickens will not be scratching it in daily if I'm using a poop board, but they would with deep litter.

This is exactly what I do…scoop the poop board every couple of days and take it out to the compost pile — my hens scratch in my compost pile on a daily basis because we toss kitchen scraps in there in the daily too, but don’t really scratch much in their coop, because they are only in there to sleep and lay eggs. This is pretty much the best of both worlds in my opinion — they work my compost pile frequently and diligently and myself and the kids don’t have to worry about stepping in poop when we walk in to collect eggs.

As an example of how industrious my hens are…my compost pile sides are wooden pallets, about 3 foot tall and 4 foot long; my pile was getting too wet, so I pulled one of the sides off at noon with the intention of being able to better get to it and turn it/aerate it really well that afternoon— when I went out there 4 hours later, the girls had leveled it to ground level . My pile is on a slight hill, so gravity helped them, but I didn’t expect them to completely level it in less than a day, from being about 2 feet tall! Never underestimate the digging ability of a chicken!

 

[Sally PB]

Yes, poop boards + PDZ = easy peasy coop cleaning!

 

[mossyoakpro]

Poop boards are the best idea ever, the only regret i have with them is not putting them in soon enough!!!

I found the best type was actually to have some steel ones made as they can be pressure washed, but they did tend to get quite hot in the summer, so maybe plastic would be better

Absolute game changer in my opinion....I'm glad I took the advise on here to do it.

 

[MamaFox78]

Ooohh I love hearing that!! I'm getting ready to try poop boards with PDZ... hoping to build them this week or next.

There is smooth concrete flooring on the side of the coop where my roosting bars are... @TelfTheElf or anyone have thoughts on just building a box with the concrete as the base, or should I go with plywood base?? I'm also trying hemp bedding outside of the poop boards.

 

[mossyoakpro]

Ooohh I love hearing that!! I'm getting ready to try poop boards with PDZ... hoping to build them this week or next.

There is smooth concrete flooring on the side of the coop where my roosting bars are... @TelfTheElf or anyone have thoughts on just building a box with the concrete as the base, or should I go with plywood base?? I'm also trying hemp bedding outside of the poop boards.

I used plywood with a linoleum liner...24 inches wide with the roost dead center 8 inches from the bottom. That was recommended because the full grown chickens can't duck under the roost pole. I also cut my 4x4 holders with a bevel so the stuff would hopefully roll off and into the PDZ.

 

[David61]

I'm on board.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I don't know if you're actually buying pdz, but save yourself a ton of money and buy stall fresh, same thing, way cheaper

 

[RojoMarz]

While I've got some people's attention on the subject of poop boards, we're newbies and are a bit confused. Can some of you straighten me out?

We've got a 6x8ft coop for 6 chickens with a wooden floor covered in vinyl, and have been covering with pine shavings, trying to keep the coop floor in "deep bedding" (did I understand to be deep litter it should be out on the ground?). We're hoping to compost the resulting mix of pine shavings and poop; we also just added some coffee grounds on the mix this week, read that was okay.

So if I put a poop board in under the roost, we'll be cleaning it like a cat litter box, which we don't want to do really, and what'll be the state of the pine shavings on the floor under and in the rest of the coop? How do we blend the two systems? Or do we?

Rather, what would you do with my set up? Inside coop: Vinyl floor and roost, currently. (We're moving their food and water out to an attached covered screened run any day now. There won't be any water slopping over or food mixed in from the feeder. )

Outside, I do plan to put deep mulch in their run, and does that mean I can have a compost area to add sprouts, soaked seeds, and hope they will help me generate compost in that area?

I do want what's best for the girls. But don't know if family will be diligent about scooping if there's an alternative.

With poop boards, my coop floor stays virtually clean and only has an inch or two of pine chip litter on it. Cleaning the poop board is way easier, imo, than mucking the coop floor, plus you don't need to worry about where you step.