Pop-out nest boxes should open from the top,..or side?

[Ol Grey Mare]

I had not had poop boards in previous coops - but when I got back into chickens this past spring it was THE thing that I saw here that really stuck out as a genius "must have" for my coop and I will never go back. Our birds do not roost on the edges at night, but will occasionally use the edge as a way to get every so slightly closer to us when we are in the coop doing chores and they are trying to get some attention...for their actual roosting they all go right up onto the actual roost bars. Poop does get on the outside edges of the poop board - just nature of the design we used which has two roost bars that are each just close enough to the front or back edge of the poop board to allow for some misdirected poop to land square on the edges. It's really no big deal as it easily scrapes off with the scoop I use while cleaning the poop board, but it is unsightly. Were I to build it over again I'd have just one bar, placed direct center over the poop board and this would eliminate that issue as the birds rears would be over the actual poop board, not the edge, no matter how they were faced - we have way more actual roost space available than the birds ever use, so I may still make the change this summer.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Thanks...All ! For the further comments.

Mtn Laurel: I pursued the link to your coop was was totally impressed how well thought out it is. You were soooo lucky to find the oak lumber! Congrats. I also have had no experience with "poop boards", but they look like they would be a great idea as chix do much of their doo-doo overnight, while roosting. I could readily fill it with sand in our arid area, even from screened arroyo sand, and would stay dry year 'round because of the arid clime. Do any of your chix roost on the edges of the poop board?

Again....Do the chickens doo doo on the edge of the poop boards? Love the "chicken highway" ideas given here. People on this site are absolutely AMAZING (!) with their boundless creativity, engineering, and resourcefulness.

Thanks and glad you took a peek at the coop. It has worked out really well and both the girls and I enjoy it.

Since I took those pics, I added a lip to the edge of the roosting table/poop board to give two levels of roosts. I've got 7 girls at present and they all stay on the original, top roost board and are very good about hitting their mark when they poo and getting it on the roosting table. (except when one particularly troublesome lady sneaks into the nesting box to sleep. Argghh!) I started with sand on the table below the roosts but changed to pine shavings within 6 weeks. I cleaned the poo daily but poo is mostly water and - of course - we only remove the solid as that's all we can get to. The watery part seeps down into the bottom of the sand on the table and it had no way to drain. I would turn it over to try to dry it out and it became very heavy and very smelly and very time consuming. Virginia is a humid spot so I'm sure that didn't help, either. I soon began to fear the sand would become so heavy that the bottom of the roosting table would break so I removed it all. I do deep litter in the coop floor so having pine shavings works perfect on the roosting table. I change out the shavings on the poop board - throw it all on the coop floor to become part of the deep litter - and refresh the poop board with fresh shavings.

 

[aart]

My roost boards are lined with sturdy foam backed vinyl sheet flooring that has held up pretty well for the past 18 months, except that I should have used more attachment points on the edges. It's got a mix of sand and PDZ about a 1/2" deep that is awesome in keeping odor down. I sift the poops out every other day for 15 birds and send that to compost....it's kind of like cleaning a cats litter box. They do roost on the edges and poop gets on the edges but it scrapes of easily, tho not exactly 'clean'. I use a regular garden hoe with the handle cut down to about 18" to manipulate it all into the sifter basket and to scrape anything that needs scraping...nothing much sticks to the vinyl, even the frozen liquidy ones pop off pretty easy.

You can see my roost boards in my previous post about the nests.

The hoe head and mesh basket used to sift...funny, that's a kitty litter bucket to transfer poops to friends compost.


I use this to smooth the sand back down to a even depth:

 

[Alabama Jack]

Aart, you just answered 5 questions I've been pondering! Thanks.

 

[HotDesertChick]

THANKS! Mtn Laurel and art. And Ol Grey Mare.

A "landing board", or perch, over the center of the poop board makes sense to me. But, alas I have yet to try anything like this. I can also see where, living in a humid climate with "watery effluent" (what chickens make?), might not work too well, sand alone.

Aart, the combo of sand and PDZ might work. As a life-long horse breeder/trainer/owner, I have never used PDZ,... but backyard horse owners have used PDZ for decades. Will give it a try. I have used a "compressed sawdust pellet" for horse piddle areas in stalls here though. The local University uses the product to cut down on bedding costs. My horses tend to "stir up" ("stirrup"?...Sorry..Forgive?) some of this product though, so it might not work for chickens that may scratch around in the poop-board area. The product is highly absorbent, but does not neutralize any ammonia odors. PDZ may work. I just have never tried the product.

Well thought out (cut-down) scraper, "sifter/sieve", and "sand leveler", aart.

Call me continually impressed by the people who contribute to this forum!

Talked to one possible builder today, who will show up tomorrow morning. The guy is a sweet "home builder/engineer", with his own chickens. But he doesn't get anything related to "attractive".

Make any sense?

Still in a muddle, but I am beginning to see the light. Even with the coyotes feverishly yipping not far in the distance.

People with chickens have a brain.

Thanks, again,...for the wonderful comments.

 

[aart]

THANKS! Mtn Laurel and art. And Ol Grey Mare.

A "landing board", or perch, over the center of the poop board makes sense to me. But, alas I have yet to try anything like this. I can also see where, living in a humid climate with "watery effluent" (what chickens make?), might not work too well, sand alone.

Aart, the combo of sand and PDZ might work. As a life-long horse breeder/trainer/owner, I have never used PDZ,... but backyard horse owners have used PDZ for decades. Will give it a try. I have used a "compressed sawdust pellet" for horse piddle areas in stalls here though. The local University uses the product to cut down on bedding costs. My horses tend to "stir up" ("stirrup"?...Sorry..Forgive?) some of this product though, so it might not work for chickens that may scratch around in the poop-board area. The product is highly absorbent, but does not neutralize any ammonia odors. PDZ may work. I just have never tried the product.

Well thought out (cut-down) scraper, "sifter/sieve", and "sand leveler", aart.

The 'landing board' is actually the intended roost...most roost on it to sleep, but some sleep on the board it self or the edge of it.

The PDZ (which is nothing more than the mineral Zeolite - get the granulated NOT the powder),
actively absorbs and neutralizes ammonia and absorbs liquid to some extent.

The sand is just to save on the amount of PDZ used and is a bagged sand, 'Quikrete brand Fine sand', washed and kiln dried.....so little dust and no dirt.

The leveler needs to have those screws shortened, I tilt it now to use it but really should drive them in further.
You don't want the sand/PDZ too deep on the board or they will dust bathe in it and scatter it all over the place.
I've found that about 1/2" deep or less works the best to keep poops from sticking and keep odor down....it also allows it to dry out nicely.

 

[Kikiriki]

I just wanted to add a few thoughts on the nest box:

The kids can stand on something to get eggs if you go top opening

Seeing down inside allows you to see if you have any unwelcome visitors hanging out. I found a rat snake a couple of times. If my box opened from the front, I would have been face to face with it.

The box has 1/4 inch hardware cloth on the bottom that allows dirt and sand to sift out. I used to have a solid bottom and it was always dirty, and got the eggs dirty.

One side also has hardware cloth for a window out to the world and ventilation. The chickens like sitting and looking out!

 

[HotDesertChick]

Thanks....more,....aart, for your ongoing comments about the "bedding" on the poop boards. And your simple-but-clever leveling board. Very useful comment on the depth of the sand/PDZ. I can see where the chix might have a lot of fun performing dust baths (I smile, as I type this) in litter that is too deep. Chicken Shangri-La?! A shallow depth would definitely allow the moisture to escape more readily (although we rarely have a problem here with humidity, as levels are under 20%, until Monsoon Season). Stupid question: Would clumping cat littler work? Too pricey, I imagine.

Kikiriki...Thanks for another vote for top-opening nest boxes. When we lived in coastal GA (prior to NM), we had some interesting adventures with rat snakes, vs banty chickens. I am not afraid of snakes, but it would be a surprise to drop the nest box door and be face to face with a four-foot+ rat snake. We had lots of these in in GA. Often quite pretty snakes, that were experts at "sniffing out" small birds. In our present location, we often have Western Diamondbacks. We have only seen one rat snake in 9 years in NM. A small rattlesnake (still very lethal) can get through pretty small openings, and "part of the why" I also want 1/2" x 1" wire on the run. Not, what I wish to face, as I open the nest box door. I might drop my drawers. Your idea of ventilation in one end of the box (a community box?) is a GREAT idea in a hot climate, as I am also concerned about how hot the east-facing nest boxes may become once temps hit triple digit. I would have to use something heavier than hardware cloth, as the external-to-coop boxes could be a "peep & chew hole" for our ambitious coyote population.

Any advice on how high the base (from outside of coop) of the nest boxes should be. I wanted to try around 18" for the base, from ground level, to make more of "a hill climb inside" for roosts. Unfortunately, 18" is great coyote/dog level.

 

[aart]

Thanks....more,....aart, for your ongoing comments about the "bedding" on the poop boards. And your simple-but-clever leveling board. Very useful comment on the depth of the sand/PDZ. I can see where the chix might have a lot of fun performing dust baths (I smile, as I type this) in litter that is too deep. Chicken Shangri-La?! A shallow depth would definitely allow the moisture to escape more readily (although we rarely have a problem here with humidity, as levels are under 20%, until Monsoon Season). Stupid question: Would clumping cat litter work? Too pricey, I imagine.

.........

Any advice on how high the base (from outside of coop) of the nest boxes should be. I wanted to try around 18" for the base, from ground level, to make more of "a hill climb inside" for roosts. Unfortunately, 18" is great coyote/dog level.

It was funny(at first) to see the pullets dust bathing on the roost boards. Yeah, it's never arid in Michigan.

I would not advise using any kind of cat litter.......
.......as they might ingest it, and anything from pure clay to the possible chemicals in other kinds of cat litter would probably not be good for chicken innards.


I'd place the nests in good relation to the roost height as first priority, egg gathering access for humans as second priority...and use sturdy materials, building technique and latches for predator protection.

 

[HotDesertChick]

Thanks aart for prioritizing the height of nest boxes. Everything I build is sturdy (unfortunately, that also means more bucks..), having dealt with various varmints ("vvv"?) in several states.

The local "builder guy" who was here yesterday to view my project deals with ambitious foxes, but he had no ideas for building external nest boxes. He has a commercial steel nest box INSIDE his "chicken wagon"...a hefty wheeled coop that he moves via large tractor around his pecan farm. We have no foxes. He has no coyotes.

Should I give up the nifty idea of "outside" nest boxes? Still seems like a good idea to me.