So, i posted this pic a few days ago in a thread about cage design and i have gotten alot of questions about the "poop catcher" underneath...
The poop catcher is made of 55 gal barrels cut in half lengthwise with another section placed in the middle to make it long enough (7'4") and screwed together with some scrap wood. They were'nt difficult to make at all, but watch out for the jigsaw/sawzall blades because they will bite!!! I'm gonna try to take pics when i make the next one in order to show the process....
I placed the poop catchers under my cages and they worked better than i expected. I just cleaned them and the stuff that missed yesterday and cleaning time was DRASTICALLY cut down. I simply drilled a 1/2" hole in one end and hooked a chain to my lawntractor and drug them into the pasture and flipped them over. I did whack them a couple times with an old shovel handle to make sure it all came unstuck....then i took a hose and sprayed them out to get the remaining poop and put them back to use.
They seem to be pretty sturdy, but i think i might reinforce the end i tow from because there was some flex. My idea is that during the winter months i can wait at least 2 weeks between cleaning and possibly more depending on the weather.....in KS there's always at least one random warm day during the winter months. The test run was after 2 weeks and went flawlessly.
The one in the middle is the one that had some flex to it....i have about 50 coturnix in that cage and they poop so much it looks like rain!
The poop catcher is made of 55 gal barrels cut in half lengthwise with another section placed in the middle to make it long enough (7'4") and screwed together with some scrap wood. They were'nt difficult to make at all, but watch out for the jigsaw/sawzall blades because they will bite!!! I'm gonna try to take pics when i make the next one in order to show the process....
I placed the poop catchers under my cages and they worked better than i expected. I just cleaned them and the stuff that missed yesterday and cleaning time was DRASTICALLY cut down. I simply drilled a 1/2" hole in one end and hooked a chain to my lawntractor and drug them into the pasture and flipped them over. I did whack them a couple times with an old shovel handle to make sure it all came unstuck....then i took a hose and sprayed them out to get the remaining poop and put them back to use.
They seem to be pretty sturdy, but i think i might reinforce the end i tow from because there was some flex. My idea is that during the winter months i can wait at least 2 weeks between cleaning and possibly more depending on the weather.....in KS there's always at least one random warm day during the winter months. The test run was after 2 weeks and went flawlessly.
The one in the middle is the one that had some flex to it....i have about 50 coturnix in that cage and they poop so much it looks like rain!
