Whats better a poopboard or deep litter method?

[camkim]

I just built a coop and trying to figure out how to handle the poop. What do you think? Is it better to have a deep litter method or poopboard. I have 3 hens and don't mind cleaning once a week. Would prefer less maintenance but if I need to clean more often then I will.

 

[CHRISNDAWN]

Great question. im torn between the two as well starting construction on mine this weekend. I will probably build mine with poop boards that removable so I have the option to switch instead of having to build one later

 

[tymimo]

I don't really think it's an either/or thing. From what I've read, the poop board catches the large amount of poop that falls from the chickens as they roost through the night. The board can be scraped or covered with litter or other absorbent products (search the forums for "Sweet PDZ") and cleaned frequently. Poop board or not, you still need to cover the floor of your coop with something for the poop that falls during the course of the day, which if you are using the poop board should be much less. Deep litter is where you are adding a layer of shavings (or straw or leaves) on top of the existing material every few days and let the poop accumulate (and compost) in the coop. You can also encourage the chickens to turn the shavings by throwing down food, further increasing the rate of breakdown. With deep litter you are cleaning out the coop less frequently and letting the bedding build up. The alternative to bedding or deep litter is sand, which has many threads devoted to it. The attraction of shavings and deep litter to me vs. sand is that in the end I will have something that I can amend to my compost and eventually add to the garden instead of a lot of sand that I would need to dispose of.

 

[Ga Boy]

The poop board has more clean up. My coop is a work in progress. It's a 8X8 raised coop. Which the floor will be lined with plastic than filled with very dry play sand easy poop clean up. The run will be 8X16 with construction sand which makes health bird with a in closed 2X2 dirt area for a dust bath. Add a little shake of DE to control flies, etc. easy clean up with a simple cat litter scoop.

 

[bamadan]

I'm in the process of building a raised coop myself, 8 x 12 and will build a poop tray under the roosr that will hold approx. 3 inches of sweet pdz.
very absorbant a pleasant smell that last a very long time. You will need to add to it occasionally due to sticking to the poop when scooping out the tray. My intentions are to have the tray 8 ft long as the roost is that length and 2 ft wide.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

In my opinion, the least amount of work = Deep litter. Throw in some BOSS and let the chickens mix it up. Add shavings, leaves, etc. as needed. Partially clean it out annually and add to your compost.

For me, both sand and/or a poop board required more work. You need to scrape the poop board at least a few times a week, if not daily in hot weather. With sand, you're scooping at least a few times a week.

At present I have a good sized tractor. Did sand with a poop board last summer and I did both scrape and scoop daily. Only had 3 girls then and am now adding 6 more and building an 8 x 10 coop so the amount of poo will be tripled. Don't think I want to scrape/scoop all of that. I did add the sand to the compost pile, it will be helpful to our clay soil.

Did deep litter over the winter and loved it. Used shavings with leaves from our yard, very economical. The litter has broken down really well, it won't take any time to finish composting and head to the garden when I clean it out. You do need good ventilation in the coop to allow the moisture to escape but that's true with any method.

I'm doing deep litter in the new coop.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I'm planning on doing both. Poop boards with sweet PDZ and DLM for the floor for anything that misses the poop boards. Seems like the best of both worlds. Yes, I'll have to clean the poop out of the sweet pdz more often than if I just let it all fall onto the floor.

Look at it this way, if you design in the poop boards and dont' like them, it will be easier to remove them than to add them in later to the existing design.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

To me for a small flock a poop board is easier and can be used well but when you get over the 10 - 15 chicken mark ( I have 25 chicken + chicks ) so it would be to much work for me so I use Deep litter.

 

[4 the Birds]

+1

With few Chickens then a poop board is just fine and is great. If you have many chickens then it is way too much work to scrap poop boards for dozens of Chickens daily. I have a few dozen chickens and I have both poop boards and areas under the roost that have deep litter. The poop boards I scrape daily and the deep liter areas are shoveled every few weeks. Both work great. The big advantage of a poop board is that you can utilize the space below the boards for a feeder or water container.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

+1

With few Chickens then a poop board is just fine and is great. If you have many chickens then it is way too much work to scrap poop boards for dozens of Chickens daily. I have a few dozen chickens and I have both poop boards and areas under the roost that have deep litter. The poop boards I scrape daily and the deep liter areas are shoveled every few weeks. Both work great. The big advantage of a poop board is that you can utilize the space below the boards for a feeder or water container.

Ahhhh . . . a light just went off in my head. LOVE the idea of "double-deckering" portions of the interior via a poop board or elevated roost. Just showed your pic to my husband as he's working on our new coop now. It would work, even with deep litter, as I could just scrape poo off into the deep litter below. Not like having to aim for - and me usually missing - the bucket to get it out of the coop.

It also solves another problem of birds standing on top of the feeders and waterers if they're located under the board.

Thanks for the visual. Your post is going to come in very handy!