Poop rake using pin shavings!

[Scorrybreac]

I’m looking for suggestions for a poop rake that would work with pine shavings as a bedding. I would like to shift the poop out of the pine shavings.

The kitty litter scoop just acts as a shovel (picks up poop and shavings). The other scoop I have lets most of bedding / poop thru.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[WingItRanch]

Hmm you can't really scoop poop out of pine shavings because they're close to the same size and the poop will cling to the shavings.

If you want something scoopable like a litter box, you'll need poop boards, sand, coffee grounds, or something similar.

I use pine shavings for a deep litter method. I mix it up periodically and sprinkle new shavings on top. Twice a year, I pull all the bedding out and compost it for the garden.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC?

You can't really rake poop out of shavings. If you don't use the deep litter method of turning everything in, you can do like I do, (as long as this doesn't gross you out) I use a disposable glove and walk around with my poop bucket and pick it all up. I reuse the glove until I find it too dirty to be used. I usually pick up poop in the coop and run every time I visit the chickens or have chicken chores to do. Keeps the floor clean and fresh.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Both posters are correct. I have poop trays under my roosts. About 1" deep with construction sand + PDZ and I use kutty litter scoops DAILY to clean them up. I wear nitrile gloves snd sometimes a paper mask. If you scoop daily it's not a horrible task. And compost piles to recycle the waste into good stuff for the garden.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The pine shavings are the issue. One option is poop boards as previously mentioned, or consider switching to hemp (which I only have under the roosts due to cost), as that's fine enough to sift poop out of.

 

[Loving my girls]

I have a mammouth pair of gloves and I pick the out of use a cat litter scoop if they’re too … spread out. I pop them into an old plastic box (recycling) and then dump the lot into the compost.
I does the job well.

 

[MagicL]

Hello and welcome to BYC?

You can't really rake poop out of shavings. If you don't use the deep litter method of turning everything in, you can do like I do, (as long as this doesn't gross you out) I use a disposable glove and walk around with my poop bucket and pick it all up. I reuse the glove until I find it too dirty to be used. I usually pick up poop in the coop and run every time I visit the chickens or have chicken chores to do. Keeps the floor clean and fresh.

I have to thank you a 1000 times for your idea! Used to have to do a complete clean of my coops every 7-10 days after awful build up of poop in the pine shavings. Would take me 2 hours to change out 3 coops. Now I do as you suggested - with gloved hand remove all the droppings from the night before and my coops stay nice and fresh, no more build up of ammonia and we are all happy. Great idea!