poop trays

[llowlife]

Someone recommended poop trays under the roosts. Sounds like a good idea. I was thinking commercial baking pans. Found a good deal but they are an hour away where I almost never go. What ideas do you guys have. I can make metal ones but not sure how large of sheets I have.

 

[arianna7]

soooo....

i made a poop tray for my smaller chick coop, its just a square (like a frame) of wood with hardware cloth, and a walkway for the chicks to walk on. it just slides out, hose it down and viola! i don't have a pic unfortunately, sorry!

 

[StinkyAcres]

You could do trays or just a board covered with a washable surface such as vinyl flooring. Both should have a bedding, sand, or Sweet PDZ in them to dry out the poop.

Personally, I use deeper concrete mixing tubs under the roosts so I can easily remove the majority of the poop without shoveling or sifting, but I don't need to clean them out as often as if I had poop boards. The poop boards need to be cleaned regularly. Many people sift out the poop daily.

 

[llowlife]

Ok I had to look up PDZ. Seems reasonable. I assume its better than normal kitty litter.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I had mine built of 1x lumber. They actually are trays. But I found that just screwing the pieces together was not enough, they should have been glued. The sand began leaking out of the gaps, which grew larger and larger. So I had to remove some of the sand, and used Great Stuff to fill in the gaps. That solved the problem. I now wish the roosts were a little higher over the trays, as I have hens who sleep in the trays. Also be sure any screws do not protrude through the boards.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I scoop mine daily, since some of my hens insist on sleeping under their Dear Rooster, lol. It only takes a few minutes.

 

[BresseChickenLady]

You could do trays or just a board covered with a washable surface such as vinyl flooring. Both should have a bedding, sand, or Sweet PDZ in them to dry out the poop.

Personally, I use deeper concrete mixing tubs under the roosts so I can easily remove the majority of the poop without shoveling or sifting, but I don't need to clean them out as often as if I had poop boards. The poop boards need to be cleaned regularly. Many people sift out the poop daily.

You can get Zeolite 25 lb compared to 10 lb of sweet pdz for same price. Kitty litter is not recommended. Many other benefits of zeolite one can research.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ZeoSour..._-312390475-_-1-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a

 

[StinkyAcres]

You can get Zeolite 25 lb compared to 10 lb of sweet pdz for same price. Kitty litter is not recommended. Many other benefits of zeolite one can research.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ZeoSour..._-312390475-_-1-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a

I get 25lb of Sweet PDZ for $13.99 from Tractor Supply.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

You can get Zeolite 25 lb compared to 10 lb of sweet pdz for same price. Kitty litter is not recommended. Many other benefits of zeolite one can research.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ZeoSour..._-312390475-_-1-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a

We just had a guest lecturer Thursday telling us that Zeolite, in the same formation as in PDZ, was used to remediate lead in the soil of Los Angeles neighborhoods around the site of an old Exide batteries recycling facility.

 

[theoldchick]

I've seen people use boot trays-you can get them at TSC. However, since the automotive shop that my spouse owns has a lot of cardboard boxes, I use it under my roosts. Once a week, I roll the dirty cardboard up, burn it, and replace with new cardboard. Works great for me.