Roosting board

[Ryguy3684]

Chickens do a lot of pooping on the roost, so a catch of some sort really helps keep the coop floor from having to be cleaned so often.

 

[Sonya9]

Maybe I don’t know about the poop board, what it is,??

Poop boards are the absolute BEST! They make cleaning the coop 10x easier (I only have to replace the shavings every few months).

You put a board/shelf waist high underneath the roosts to catch all the poop, most also use sweet PDZ granules on the shelf, just scoop the poop with a cat litter shovel and dump it in a bucket. When the bucket is full it goes in your compost bin or garden.

One of the best parts about using one is that the space under the board can be used for an isolation cage to house new chicks or injured birds, nest boxes, storage, or whatever you like.

 

[SHeld]

Here's my roosting set up. A flat top surface works best, but a lot of things can work. Chickens, unlike parrots, like to sleep flat footed, not with their feet wrapped around the bar. The flat surface, like a 2x4, allows them to keep their feet warm on cold nights by sleeping on them. I have a poop hammock, instead of a poop board, but it's pretty much something underneath the roost bars to catch poop that's easy to clean.

Thank you. I cannot build anything like that but can work on my roosting boards. Don’t know about a poop board. Very interesting tho. Can I then put the poop into the compost pile?

 

[Bear1978]

Thank you. I cannot build anything like that but can work on my roosting boards. Don’t know about a poop board. Very interesting tho. Can I then put the poop into the compost pile?

Yes you can use it for compost after sitting a year or so.

Poop board is basically a flat and wide piece of wood at least 18-24in wide that runs the length of your roost and is placed several inches beneath the roosts and has a layer of stall refresher like PDZ or sand on it. Very simple. It’s a board that is under your roosts. Just cut it the same length of your roosts and attach it using screws or nails.

 

[Ryguy3684]

Thank you. I cannot build anything like that but can work on my roosting boards. Don’t know about a poop board. Very interesting tho. Can I then put the poop into the compost pile?

No problem. It doesn't have to be like mine, I was mainly showing the 2x4s as they work well. I use it as fertilizer in my garden. It's great.

 

[West Bend]

Thank you. I cannot build anything like that but can work on my roosting boards. Don’t know about a poop board. Very interesting tho. Can I then put the poop into the compost pile?

You can put the board on cinderblocks. I put linoleum down with trim around the edge, I use sand in the front (where they walk & peck) & stall dry in the back(where they poop while roosting). Easy to clean up with a kitty litter scoop. Their next boxes are underneath & have curtains, but I wanted to show the stacked blocks. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[RoosterML]

Here’s my different roost bars over poop boards. Don’t go to small with the roosting surface.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can I then put the poop into the compost pile?

Yes. Chicken poop is excellent in a compost bin. It is a "green" (provides nitrogen) and is also a good source of calcium. Calcium is an important nutrient for plants and some of the extra calcium we feed them for thick egg shells is not digested but goes right through them and out the back end. I put the poop in my compost and a few months later the compost is ready to use.

Chickens, unlike parrots, like to sleep flat footed, not with their feet wrapped around the bar.

You might read this experiment to see how wrong that statement is. It's a commonly held belief on here but chickens are just as happy griping a roost as they are sleeping flat. It's something people care about a lot more than the chickens do.

Perch Experiment

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-perch-experiment.74272/

Because we often like photos I'll show this where they are not perching flat-footed. At least you didn't claim that they can't bend their toes. I've seen that statement on here a lot. That's why I took this photo.

Maybe I don’t know about the poop board, what it is,??

Chickens poop a lot wherever they are, even when asleep. Since they are not moving around at night poop can build up pretty quickly under the roosts. Many of us use something to catch that poop and get it out of the coop, some more complicated than others. Some build hammocks that hang underneath the roosts. Some build trays that can slide out for easier cleaning, or fixed trays filled with some type of bedding that can be removed. Some build trays and fill them with something so they can scoop out the poop like you do a cat litter box.

I'll include a photo of mine. I built this brooder in the coop and use the top as a droppings board. It's just a piece of plywood. I scrape it off as needed and get pure poop to go into my compost. Since he brooder doesn't go all the way across I set a couple of bins on the coop floor to catch the poop. I like simple.