Poop boards

[oldchickenlady]

I will begin construction of my roosts tomorrow, and I was wondering how wide do I need to make my poop boards? Also, do you 'center' them under the roost or offset it to the front or back some? I initially thought that I should center them under the roost since you don't know what 'direction' the chickens will sit. So, with that in mind, how wide should the board be? I have RIR's and Buff O's. Is 18" wide enough? I've never had a chickens before so have no experience in this area.

 

[buckabucka]

We went with 24", but I think 18" would be fine. Ours are centered. We still have a few birds who sleep directly on the poop boards, but they are slowly outgrowing that.

Robin

 

[nordahlbunch]

18" is good.

centered

 

[patandchickens]

Mine are 16" wide and catch the vast, vast majority of the poo.

Pat

 

[fl_deb]

I would have to agree on the 16 to 18 inch range as mine is only about 12 inches and I still have a lot of poop showing up all over the coop interior.


I also would like to know what is the distance people are using between poop board and roost??



please forgive me for posting here, just this thread reminded me that I needed to ask and they are related questions.

 

[oldchickenlady]

About the distance from board to roost...hmmmm. I guess that would depend on how your roosts are built. You have to be able to manuever the board out from under the roost. How about the "splat" factor? Farther the fall, the bigger the 'splat'?

Sorry, just had to throw that in there! Really, as long as you can easily get the poop board out from under the roosts, I dont think the distance would be a critical thing...but then, I have no poop board experience, so...

Anyone else have input?

 

[elmo]

Quote:
In my winter coop, I put the poop tray right on the coop floor, so that's just shy of 2 feet from the roost. But in this coop, the coop floor is raised so I don't have to stoop to pick up the tray. In my new, walk in coop, I'm going to build the poop boards so that I don't have to bend over to clean them...around waist height, I think.

I wonder if birds are more tempted to roost on the poop board if it's closer to the roost level.

 

[fl_deb]

Exactly! that is why I was asking! I keep seeing footprints in the poop!

So I was womdering how far down I would have to go to keep them from doing that. Plus if it is too low, won't they just use it as an intermediate step?

again thanks everyone, and please don't forget to answer OP question of how wide the poop boards need to be and do they ned to be centered or not?

 

[Puma]

I use a 25" X 36" x 3/4" galvanized drip pan. You can but them at Auto Zone, Pep Boys and automotive store. People use them under tractors and cars that leak oil. Just slide them under the roost and take them out weekly and rinse off with hose and replace. They cost about $10.