Poop Chute?

[bird_is_the_word]

I'm new here and I've been doing some research on coop building. Not to be easy on myself I figured I would come up with a few designs that would help me out and some increased difficulty to the build. My idea was to have an open floor design by using wire but build a small chute or funnel to collect the droppings and put them in a bucket. this way I can go out and grab a bucket and pour them out instead of pulling out the entire floor or raking it out and making a mess. My question is does this seem feasible and what size wire would be best for the floor? since I'm new and never owned a chicken, is the poop hard or soft? the reason I ask is because I wonder if it would be better to line the cone or funnel with old vinyl tile so it would roll easier down the funnel.

just looking for refinements to my design. if it's not good you can tell me that too. thanks

 

[briteday]

Chicken poop is pretty sticky. Not likely that it would go down a chute. Some of us have tarp "hammocks" under the roosts and then I let the bottom edge drop into a bucket a few times each week. Some people have wide wire under the roosts with some sort of collection box underneath that can be pulled out (usually from the outside of the coop) to dispose of the waste.

 

[dsqard]

Not sure I can really picture your chute design but if it helps, chicken poo comes out kinda wet to really wet so that might help you decide what kind of materials to use. And

 

[Gracie9205]

I would think that the poop would just stick to your funnel. You would have to rinse the funnel to get the poo into the bucket. I don't think you would want to be handling a big bucket of chicken poo soup personally!

I would think that you would be better off with a poop board or just let the poop fall to the ground and shovel it into your bucket IMO

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

A lot of people use a poop board under the roost. I wonder if it would be possible to build an externally accessible poop board. Maybe open a panel and rake the contents toward you into a gutter that could be tipped into a bucket.

Probably more expense than it is worth, but some people spend $20,000 on their chicken coops.

 

[bird_is_the_word]

not I. $20,000 is way off. I'm not going fully gung-ho just yet. I'd like to get a couple birds and manage that first.

just to clarify my design. the floor would be wire and underneath it would have a sloped sub-floor coming together to make an upside down pyramid. then I would cut out the center for the hole and hang my bucket underneath. at least that was the concept.

looks like it might be back to the old drawing board unless I can come up with something else. I'm not scared of the poo, I'm just trying to make life a little easier. thanks for the replies.

 

[owler]

My poop boards are kind of built like drawers that pull out from outside the coop. You can then scrape them into a bucket and push the drawer back in.

 

[AZBootsie]

Welcome!! You are going to love chickening.

Ever park your car under a tree and have it covered in bird doo?? Imagine that but bigger droppings.

 

[patandchickens]

Rather than trying to build a better mousetrap without having ever met a mouse in person

may I suggest you might want to pick an attractive-sounding KNOWN TO WORK design and build that, and then after you have had chickens for a while and got a sense of how they operate THEN you can experiment with new setups if you wish.

Much less frustration and wasted effort that way

I would recommend any version of droppings board (to be scraped off, or pullout, or with removeable trays) as a really good workable design to start with.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[bird_is_the_word]

I hear what you're saying but I've yet to find a good step by step pictorial of the slide out bottom board so I figured if I was going to have to take the time to design a waste disposal system why not try to make life easier but I see where you're coming from