Poop tray under the roosts with deep litter?

[monaname]

Quote:
HI Jack,

I have a little trick I'm using...If you look closely, there are two small hooks that hold the loops for the plastic drawer liners I have under the roosts. No scraping! When they get a little nasty, I just hose them off and let them dry. Otherwise, I agree, the scrapping would not be fun.

 

[dirtsaver]

Our coop is definitely not "artsy-craftsy", "mauve and fushia" or "urban". It's made of old scrap barn wood(unpainted) and roofing metal and we are out in the sticks. But we do use poop boards for our flock of 15 hens. It just makes sense for our setup. It only takes five minutes every other day to clean and makes life much easier for everyone involved. We enjoy being with our girls and cleaning the poop board gives us a little more time in the coop to check things out.

Call those of us that use poop boards whatever you want....we just consider the mean-spirited sources and go on our merry way.

 

[sabianshepherds]

I have a large metal tray from a large double rabbit cage, I'm considering for the winter, to stretch clean ups. But so far, I painted the wood floor with an outdoor porch paint, I use sand and Red Earth, and I sweep/shovel it out maybe every three weeks. I'm starting to wonder if I can sift the sand and put it back in, because it seems like the poop is only on the surface and it seems to disappear. I have 13 chickens (2 are banties). The coop is a 4x6x6 urban coop (5 miles from downtown), painted barn red and white

. by the by, the floor is three 2x4 wood pieces, so I can go to Home Depot, have them cut a 4x8 and easily replace the boards when they no longer are clean. $8, as opposed to the $25 for the cheapest piece of linoleum.

 

[reksat]

I myself dont have poop tays under my roost and have very little odor (must have good ventilation, i dont know) I just turn the pine chips over every few days and everything seems to stay dry. So its your preference if u want the extra work or not.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
I would say no. My deep litter sub-ground level dirt floor composting pit has been in use for a couple decades. "I" think poop boards are stupid and unnecessary unless you own a urban backyard artsy craftsy tiny coop that you clean out daily and is painted fushia and mauve to keep up with the neighbors.

Da*n that's rude. I have a colorfully painted coop. To keep up with the neighbors? no. We don't have neighbors and even if we did, just because *I* want a colorful coop doesn't mean it's because I'm trying to keep up with them. I like certain colors and looking at my colorful coop makes me happy. Maybe you think poop boards are stupid but people use them and like them and it works for them so maybe for them, not so stupid.

All that said, I was planning to use one in the new coop (which will also be painted in bright colors, btw) because I want less poop in the bedding and figured it would be better to scrape it off every day or two but maybe I shouldn't bother. If it's less work and doesn't make much difference either way, I would opt for less work.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
Can you share the dimensions of that setup? How far away from the wall is the roost? And how wide is your poop board?

 

[featherz]

I use deep litter, no poop board. I'll occasionally scrape off a layer of pine chips in one of my coops, as the chickens never seem to turn that one, but other than that it stays dry and odor free. I change out the chips twice a year and add sweet pdz/de. I also change out anything that gets too wet (like if I leave the windows open during a storm or dump the water.. oops!).

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Sorry, peeps, I meant to be funny, not mean-spirited. I'm just a curmudgeon that's not Politically Correct. When asked for my opinion, I give it without regards as to whether I'm gonna offend anyone or not. And I still think poop boards are unnecessary labor intensive stupidly----that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

P.S. I'm really a live and let live kind of curmudgeon, the only thing that offends me is those using "Politically Correctness" to inflict and force others to their point of view/behavior.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I do sort of a combination. Last year I didn't have a poop tray at all, just the deep litter and I would shovel out under the roosts about once a week or once every other week. It worked ok. This summer, after I gave the coop it's first thorough cleaning, I added a plastic tray under the roost. Sprinkled with wood ash from our fireplace and scraped into the compost bin every day and hosed down. Well, it was every day when the weather was nicer but now that it's cooling down it's more like every other day but only because I don't relish the cold garden hose in the early morning when it's less than 60* out. It has kept the coop so much nicer with the summer heat and it has cut down on the amount of wood chips in my compost pile (which if I'm totally honest is probably the biggest reason I started using the poop tray). Once it gets cold enough to start freezing and the garden hose has to be retired for the season I'll go back to just deep litter until the weather warms up again.

 

[DAFox]

I use poop boards. In 10 minutes a day or less for 50 birds, I can clean up, check poop for problems, and fertilize next years vegetable/fruit beds. I don't use deep litter. I have about 1-2 inches of pine chips and I clean my coop 4 times a year. In the winter months, I add 1 more inch of pine chips.
The only problem I have is that sometimes frozen poop is hard to scrap. I cover it with stall dry and wait for a thaw.
Dale-Ann