Roost bar and poop board depth question

[Ridgerunner]

I dare say many keepers have made numerous changes trying to find out what’s best for them. Surely to goodness I’m not the only one.

Why do you think some of us have so many suggestions? We've tried so many different things. That's a big reason I try to suggest more room than the absolute minimum is best, you have room to do different things.

 

[ValerieJ]

Oh yes! My photo in post #18 is in my new walk in coop, just finished a few weeks ago. It's so nice to not bend down to clean up poop and having the room to move around and interact with the gals. Congratulations on your new coop!
BTW, in the picture, the dark spots in the poop board are not poop. Those are feathers. I'm amazed that with poop boards I only need to clean them in the morning as they don't hang out there, only at night to sleep. They don't seem to poop on the floor either (maybe 1 poop every 2 weeks or so) cuz they don't really hang out indoors so most poop is done in the run during the day. Sooo much easier to keep clean!

Now that's what I'm talking about.

 

[Cryss]

Why do you think some of us have so many suggestions? We've tried so many different things. That's a big reason I try to suggest more room than the absolute minimum is best, you have room to do different things.

excellent point. We usually just talk about chickens needing the room, or you need room to walk about. Nice point that you need workroom work when making changes.

 

[DoeAndGander]

I’m not sure if you’ve already started on the boards or not but just wanted to add I had a 3’ poo board with two roost bars and wow was that thing hard to scoop! I’m tearing it all out and putting in 2’ board with single roost. So excited to see your new coop!

 

[ValerieJ]

I’m not sure if you’ve already started on the boards or not but just wanted to add I had a 3’ poo board with two roost bars and wow was that thing hard to scoop! I’m tearing it all out and putting in 2’ board with single roost. So excited to see your new coop!

Thanks for that warning. After reading all the responses here I have decided on a 28" poop board with one roosting bar per PB that is 16" from the wall with 12" in front of the roost bar.

 

[Mimi13]

I have a double roost 12’ long at different heights. Poop board depth is 3’. Back roost is 12” from the wall. The other roost is centered in what remains of the poop board distance. There isn’t quite 12” between the boards or from the front roost to the edge of the poop board. This is due to the width of the 2x4 (narrow side up), so it’s almost all 12” spacing, almost but not quite.

I’m gonna say the biggest drawback and one that I wish I had room to permanently fix would be to separate the two roosts about 15”-18”. I believe that would help with the nighttime pecks as they are trying to get settled to roost. I did spread the roosts out once over the poop board at 4’, but that depth made it too hard for me to clean and took up a valuable one foot of landing space for the chickens so I changed it back.

My boy’s tail feathers do lay over the back roost as he always roosts on the front board facing forward. Sometimes one of the hens will scoot in underneath his tail feathers.

I have made many changes over the 15 months I’ve had birds in the bigger coop. I just can’t be satisfied. This picture is of the poop board at 3’. And my roosts are about 2” higher in this picture than they are now. These are juvenile birds (for pic comparison.)View attachment 1961304

This picture was made when I was trying out the 4’ poop board and lowered roosts. I did like the added distance between the two roosts.
View attachment 1961305

Now, as far as cleaning the boards I prefer scraping with a 10” metal, scraping knife. I do have an old, broken handled hoe that I used when the board was 4’. However, the results of scraping isn’t near as pretty as a bed of sand/PDZ. Those smears can be rough looking at times! After I scrape the board, I scatter a thin layer of PDZ across the board. It helps by not letting the wet poops stick as bad when it is dropped.

One difference in the two pics above is the edge of the board. I prefer having a “hangover” board so I can just scrape the poop right into the bucket that is held slightly under the front edge. It’s much easier and poop doesn’t get on the finished board edge.

When I cleaned my coop this fall I changed the board once again. I just had to try the poop board with a bed of sand/PDZ. It is okay scooping the poop, but it takes me several more minutes to clean each morning. Doing it this way I have four 12’ lines of poop to scoop. I also will use more sand by doing it this way. I don’t have any pictures of the sand bed poop board.

I dare say many keepers have made numerous changes trying to find out what’s best for them. Surely to goodness I’m not the only one.

Here are a couple of pics of my sand bed poop board, a before and after I clean shot!

A cleaned sand bed PB does look much better than a scraped PB. But, I still prefer the scraping as opposed to scooping. I’m going to change it back...at some point. I thought I’d give the chickens a break. You know it’s a known fact that chickens do not like change. Mine already think I’m crazy and they are correct.

 

[ValerieJ]

Here are a couple of pics of my sand bed poop board, a before and after I clean shot!

View attachment 1962042

A cleaned sand bed PB does look much better than a scraped PB. But, I still prefer the scraping as opposed to scooping. I’m going to change it back...at some point. I thought I’d give the chickens a break. You know it’s a known fact that chickens do not like change. Mine already think I’m crazy and they are correct.
View attachment 1962040

That looks great! Is that 36" deep?

 

[Mimi13]

That looks great! Is that 36" deep?

Yes, the actual PB is, then the 2x4 edge would be an extra 1 3/4” or so.

 

[RoosterML]

I use this to clean the poop board scraper/sifter in one. Works really well.

 

[DoeAndGander]

I use this to clean the poop board scraper/sifter in one. Works really well.
View attachment 1962793View attachment 1962789View attachment 1962790View attachment 1962791

Great idea!