@3KillerBs, those pictures help explain a lot. Thank you.
Starting a coop build, it is my first build and first chickens so feedback is very welcome
- Thread starter saysfaa
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #45
Notes from the first 108 pages of the PDZ/poop board thread.
Many say 24" wide poop board is enough; none say it isn't for a single roost
12" wide poop board; frequent misses
much later someone tried 18" and redid it
A few people recommend Roost 18" from the wall. Most agree 12 is enough. One who recommends 18" says 12" is enough but they can stretch wings out with 18".
SpoiledChicken said "My poop boards are 24" deep from the wall and the perch is centered. Roosting chickens have 12" behind them and 12" in front. This is a little larger than most BUT I find that it catches ALL the poops and gives the girls plenty of room to walk around on so they can perch where they want. Our coop is 10x10 and this set up works well" AND
"So far the chickens seem to keep the poop only on the board. Also, when they jump up for the night they first jump up to the board and walk through the PDZ before getting on the roost. This is GREAT because they kick a little out and freshen up my shavings, they cover nearby poop in the PDZ AND they cover their feet in it to so dries up poopy feet and keeps the roosts clean"
AND
"1x4 tall side up... couple of inches of PDZ
"Then I read your post and, in less than an hour, had added a couple of 1x4 boards to create a "tray" and added the PDZ.
Moogie, "The lip on the board prevents the hens from lounging below the roost, since it's hard for them to grasp the 3/4" wide lip with their feet and there's not enough room for them to stand between the lip and the roost now. I watched the BO (the worst offender) try repeatedly to do so...then she gave up! Score!"
Several people said 10" between pb and roost is best. No one didn't like it. Some didn't have room for that much or didnt use it for other reasons; they used 6" and had often had removable roosts
Some tried 12" but all who said whtjer or not ghey liked that - didn't like it.
Page 70 spoiled chickens "8-10 inches seems to be the best distance for the roost from the board. Any smaller than that and you will have a hard time scooping under the roost. Any taller than that and the girls may have trouble getting up to it or may sleep under it. A few people have tried higher/lower but most seem to be happy around 10"
Two parallel roosts over one pb consistently used 30" wide pd. But not many talked about it. There was some discussion about how far apart to put parallel roosts. I mostly filtered that out for now.
page 25,26 has discussion about staggered height roosts... kept for future reference.
Depth of PDZ...everything from 1/4" to 4 inches deep works.
3/4", drifts to 1 1/2"; much thinner and you spend too much time spreading it back out in an even layer after scooping. .... 1/2 bare min; like 1 1/2 to 2 better -easier scooping.
P 68 Casie D, "We used 1 x 4 to frame out the trays. I wouldn't go any less than that. You really do need some depth to it or it makes it much harder to scoop out. You aren't going to fill it right to the top anyway, this gives you some room to scoop and not push it out on the floor. Also if you are in a cold climate like I am, in the winter sometimes the poop will freeze to the bottom of the tray. The deeper it is the less that happens. I use a putty knife to scrape/pop it off when it does"
p68, 1" works for me. 1x5 cut in half so is 3/4x2.
Pg 90 mesh trays from office supply stores work very well.. mesh right size, ect, pg 91ish... kitty litter scoop gets the big ones, mesh office trays and deep fat fryer baskets gets little ones too... some zip tied 1/4" hardware cloth or similar to a stall fork.
Different thread, someone took the mesh out of a metal filter for a kitchen sink drain (may have been for screening fermented feed rather than for PDZ.
Many say 24" wide poop board is enough; none say it isn't for a single roost
12" wide poop board; frequent misses
much later someone tried 18" and redid it
A few people recommend Roost 18" from the wall. Most agree 12 is enough. One who recommends 18" says 12" is enough but they can stretch wings out with 18".
SpoiledChicken said "My poop boards are 24" deep from the wall and the perch is centered. Roosting chickens have 12" behind them and 12" in front. This is a little larger than most BUT I find that it catches ALL the poops and gives the girls plenty of room to walk around on so they can perch where they want. Our coop is 10x10 and this set up works well" AND
"So far the chickens seem to keep the poop only on the board. Also, when they jump up for the night they first jump up to the board and walk through the PDZ before getting on the roost. This is GREAT because they kick a little out and freshen up my shavings, they cover nearby poop in the PDZ AND they cover their feet in it to so dries up poopy feet and keeps the roosts clean"
AND
"1x4 tall side up... couple of inches of PDZ
"Then I read your post and, in less than an hour, had added a couple of 1x4 boards to create a "tray" and added the PDZ.
Moogie, "The lip on the board prevents the hens from lounging below the roost, since it's hard for them to grasp the 3/4" wide lip with their feet and there's not enough room for them to stand between the lip and the roost now. I watched the BO (the worst offender) try repeatedly to do so...then she gave up! Score!"
Several people said 10" between pb and roost is best. No one didn't like it. Some didn't have room for that much or didnt use it for other reasons; they used 6" and had often had removable roosts
Some tried 12" but all who said whtjer or not ghey liked that - didn't like it.
Page 70 spoiled chickens "8-10 inches seems to be the best distance for the roost from the board. Any smaller than that and you will have a hard time scooping under the roost. Any taller than that and the girls may have trouble getting up to it or may sleep under it. A few people have tried higher/lower but most seem to be happy around 10"
Two parallel roosts over one pb consistently used 30" wide pd. But not many talked about it. There was some discussion about how far apart to put parallel roosts. I mostly filtered that out for now.
page 25,26 has discussion about staggered height roosts... kept for future reference.
Depth of PDZ...everything from 1/4" to 4 inches deep works.
3/4", drifts to 1 1/2"; much thinner and you spend too much time spreading it back out in an even layer after scooping. .... 1/2 bare min; like 1 1/2 to 2 better -easier scooping.
P 68 Casie D, "We used 1 x 4 to frame out the trays. I wouldn't go any less than that. You really do need some depth to it or it makes it much harder to scoop out. You aren't going to fill it right to the top anyway, this gives you some room to scoop and not push it out on the floor. Also if you are in a cold climate like I am, in the winter sometimes the poop will freeze to the bottom of the tray. The deeper it is the less that happens. I use a putty knife to scrape/pop it off when it does"
p68, 1" works for me. 1x5 cut in half so is 3/4x2.
Pg 90 mesh trays from office supply stores work very well.. mesh right size, ect, pg 91ish... kitty litter scoop gets the big ones, mesh office trays and deep fat fryer baskets gets little ones too... some zip tied 1/4" hardware cloth or similar to a stall fork.
Different thread, someone took the mesh out of a metal filter for a kitchen sink drain (may have been for screening fermented feed rather than for PDZ.
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Lots of notes in the post before.....good to keep notes in a word doc instead of here.
I even write long stuff in word first than paste here.
Yes, primer seals the surface(especially bare wood) and helps the paint stick.
- Thread starter
- #57
Ten minutes into painting this morning, I knocked the full gallon of paint off the ladder. It fell about 5 and a half feet. Sigh.
Thankfully, it landed directly upside down. That kept it from splashing out (much) on the way down and when it landed instead of doing something like this: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=E/fBmpne&id=C11557C935970EED1A9720F1800781B3F9AA31CD&thid=OIP.E_fBmpneFnuJy6HL1JjtqgHaFj&mediaurl=https://th.bing.com/th/id/R13f7c19a99de167b89cba1cbd498edaa?rik=zTGq%2bbOBB4DxIA&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dumpaday.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2013%2f01%2f2-paint-spill-accident-having-a-bad-day.jpg&ehk=iaKEaDfNrpytoikXwpo0NL5ImHeljgKKwj8P4Zxt3Hk%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&exph=465&expw=620&q=Paint+Spill+Accident&simid=608004602845802909&ck=770FF5831926D850301409A47350C1B8&selectedindex=40&form=IRPRST&vt=4&sim=11
and it stayed contained while I went for materials to clean it up. I scraped it up with two trowel-like things and ended up losing only a half inch or less of the gallon. I hope black jack sticks to paint.
Most of the priming of the inside and underside of the roof is done.
As for the mesh for across the south door... I'm on plan D (I think, unless I forgot one we abandoned). Plan A was framing squarish sections like we did the windows. That seemed like too much work and not enough stability. Plan B was Plan A except vertical seams so with the same problems. Plan C was bolting two pieces lengthwise. We started that one. It didn't need washers; I overlapped the pieces by two holes. It went well enough as long as I was close enough to reach the bolt and the nut at the same time. As I waited for a second pair of hands, I moved it around and decided I don't like the weight or look.
Plan D is running a wire rope through the holes. I haven't started yet so don't know whether to try straight up/down or to try a hemstitch of some sort.
For the dividing wall inside, I found a screen door from a sliding glass door (door wall, patio door, whatever it is called) at the nearest Restore yesterday. And four wheels. Two are from a crate, I think. They will go wheel side up under the door. The other two are double wheels from a kitchen chair. The wheels on each are just far enough apart that the screen door fits between them. They will be mounted on the beam above the door as guides. It isn't what I envisioned but I think it will work. The window screen might need some reinforcement to hold the chickens. It doesn't have to keep out predators.
It has been very hot (for around here)... and it is delightful in the shed with the doors open... cool, airy, dry when it rained. I thought it might get hot with the black roof but since it doesn't now, with the longest days, and so on, I have nothing to worry about on that aspect.
Thankfully, it landed directly upside down. That kept it from splashing out (much) on the way down and when it landed instead of doing something like this: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=E/fBmpne&id=C11557C935970EED1A9720F1800781B3F9AA31CD&thid=OIP.E_fBmpneFnuJy6HL1JjtqgHaFj&mediaurl=https://th.bing.com/th/id/R13f7c19a99de167b89cba1cbd498edaa?rik=zTGq%2bbOBB4DxIA&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dumpaday.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2013%2f01%2f2-paint-spill-accident-having-a-bad-day.jpg&ehk=iaKEaDfNrpytoikXwpo0NL5ImHeljgKKwj8P4Zxt3Hk%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&exph=465&expw=620&q=Paint+Spill+Accident&simid=608004602845802909&ck=770FF5831926D850301409A47350C1B8&selectedindex=40&form=IRPRST&vt=4&sim=11
and it stayed contained while I went for materials to clean it up. I scraped it up with two trowel-like things and ended up losing only a half inch or less of the gallon. I hope black jack sticks to paint.
Most of the priming of the inside and underside of the roof is done.
As for the mesh for across the south door... I'm on plan D (I think, unless I forgot one we abandoned). Plan A was framing squarish sections like we did the windows. That seemed like too much work and not enough stability. Plan B was Plan A except vertical seams so with the same problems. Plan C was bolting two pieces lengthwise. We started that one. It didn't need washers; I overlapped the pieces by two holes. It went well enough as long as I was close enough to reach the bolt and the nut at the same time. As I waited for a second pair of hands, I moved it around and decided I don't like the weight or look.
Plan D is running a wire rope through the holes. I haven't started yet so don't know whether to try straight up/down or to try a hemstitch of some sort.
For the dividing wall inside, I found a screen door from a sliding glass door (door wall, patio door, whatever it is called) at the nearest Restore yesterday. And four wheels. Two are from a crate, I think. They will go wheel side up under the door. The other two are double wheels from a kitchen chair. The wheels on each are just far enough apart that the screen door fits between them. They will be mounted on the beam above the door as guides. It isn't what I envisioned but I think it will work. The window screen might need some reinforcement to hold the chickens. It doesn't have to keep out predators.
It has been very hot (for around here)... and it is delightful in the shed with the doors open... cool, airy, dry when it rained. I thought it might get hot with the black roof but since it doesn't now, with the longest days, and so on, I have nothing to worry about on that aspect.
Need to re-level that side of the coop.
You can do it.
Wasn't that before you got the center blocks in place?
Might have to rehang the doors then, eh?
- Thread starter
- #76
The center cement blocks were in place - leveled, centered, packed in, ect.. The skids didn't touch them after the builder raised the one corner to make the doors work.
Sounds good....so if the wall is racked(I didn't even think of that),
my suggestion of adjusting the level won't do
- Thread starter
- #79
Foundation
We haven't tried yet. We laid all the tools out, thought through the options, looked for anchors, went and bought new anchors. We expect to try tomorrow.
While looking for info on how to keep it in place once we get it there I found this
https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/192635/why-does-my-shed-door-expand-shrink - I hope it will help when we fix the doors after squaring the walls.
References for the diagonals in the wall... https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/building-rock-solid-exterior-walls/
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.co...tallation-of-metal-strapping-as-shear-bracing
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.co...onal-bracing-and-other-lumber-reduction-ideas This one has great links in the comments and a good point "your square length width ratio and small footprint makes an inherently strong shape unless you have a bunch of large door openings." Emphasis mine.
Ah, this is what I was looking for. Although, we've been planning to to it all internally... from the floor plate on one side to the top plate on the other. Similar sites say temporarily reinforcing the corners with lumber, angle iron, toe hooks, ect. But my shed is small and probably pretty easily shifted compared to the garages/sheds they are talking about.
https://secureservercdn.net/166.62....tent/uploads/2012/07/GARAGE-STRAIGHTENING.pdf
And this is not relevant to this project but is interesting... https://www.homesteadingtoday.com/threads/straightening-old-shed.328461/ especially the old barn hit by a tornado then straightened and repaired with 40 tons of hay in it. My brother has been straightening the farm's big old barn with floor jacks mostly so far. And the tool shed (think smaller old barn) leaned by many feet. My dad slowed it with a cable so it didn't fall on his house. He built the house expecting to tear the tool shed down soon after (just didn't get to it for 60 years). Anyway, the longer the building has been leaning, the slower you need to pull so that ig has time to adjust instead of breaking.
We think this was a mistake. That the "just barely" is about how much the top is leaning. It was half a bubble on the level but a tiny bit off on an angle is a noticable difference 10' away. That isn't the only issue or the builder would have lifted the south west corner rather than the north west corner. And the lift he did and then the weeks it stayed cranked wrong before we lowered it contributed to the skew. I don't think it will settle back much more than it is now but it might help it move back with persuation and stay there.
We haven't tried yet. We laid all the tools out, thought through the options, looked for anchors, went and bought new anchors. We expect to try tomorrow.
While looking for info on how to keep it in place once we get it there I found this
https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/192635/why-does-my-shed-door-expand-shrink - I hope it will help when we fix the doors after squaring the walls.
References for the diagonals in the wall... https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/building-rock-solid-exterior-walls/
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.co...tallation-of-metal-strapping-as-shear-bracing
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.co...onal-bracing-and-other-lumber-reduction-ideas This one has great links in the comments and a good point "your square length width ratio and small footprint makes an inherently strong shape unless you have a bunch of large door openings." Emphasis mine.
Ah, this is what I was looking for. Although, we've been planning to to it all internally... from the floor plate on one side to the top plate on the other. Similar sites say temporarily reinforcing the corners with lumber, angle iron, toe hooks, ect. But my shed is small and probably pretty easily shifted compared to the garages/sheds they are talking about.
https://secureservercdn.net/166.62....tent/uploads/2012/07/GARAGE-STRAIGHTENING.pdf
And this is not relevant to this project but is interesting... https://www.homesteadingtoday.com/threads/straightening-old-shed.328461/ especially the old barn hit by a tornado then straightened and repaired with 40 tons of hay in it. My brother has been straightening the farm's big old barn with floor jacks mostly so far. And the tool shed (think smaller old barn) leaned by many feet. My dad slowed it with a cable so it didn't fall on his house. He built the house expecting to tear the tool shed down soon after (just didn't get to it for 60 years). Anyway, the longer the building has been leaning, the slower you need to pull so that ig has time to adjust instead of breaking.
Last edited:
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