Poop board- pros vs cons.

[DoxonFarms]

We are building an new coop inside our barn. Wondering the pros and cons of a poop board. We do the deep litter method. I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Switched from deep litter to a poop board in Dec 2019 and I well never, ever, ever go back to deep litter. Everything is SO MUCH cleaner.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have no plans to use poop boards because I prefer one big clean-out every 6-12 weeks to daily/every-other-day smaller clean outs.

Think about how you'll feel about having to go out and clean the poop boards several times a week in the most brutal heat of midsummer and the most miserable cold/wet/snowy weather of midwinter.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I have no plans to use poop boards because I prefer one big clean-out every 6-12 weeks to daily/every-other-day smaller clean outs.

Think about how you'll feel about having to go out and clean the poop boards several times a week in the most brutal heat of midsummer and the most miserable cold/wet/snowy weather of midwinter.

Honestly, even on the hottest of days, I scoop it when I let the birds out, and it's not hot at 6am. Takes me less than 2 minutes to scoop and at my peak I had 20 birds. Down to 15 now.

My advice to @DoxonFarms is if you try deep litter and it stinks like ammonia, it's not working for you and it's time for a poop board or you need to radically increase your carbon addition. I had to radically increase my carbon addition, so I'd spend about $10 a month on new litter. I've officially sent $0 on litter since February, which was the last time I cleaned out my coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

I had to radically increase my carbon addition, so I'd spend about $10 a month on new litter. I've officially sent $0 on litter since February, which was the last time I cleaned out my coop.

I don't know how big your coop is, but for my 16 square foot coop a single, $6* bag of large flake shavings, mixed with pine straw, old leaves, and dried grass clippings raked from my property lasts up to 12 weeks -- and then gets turned into valuable compost for my garden.**

Deep Bedding (a dry system inside the coop as opposed to Deep Litter, which is a moist, composting system in the run), shouldn't stink unless it gets wet. If ammonia builds up in ANY system of manure management the coop probably needs improved ventilation.

How much cleaning a person wants to do how often and the relative value of time vs. bedding materials is definitely a highly individual choice -- with no real right or wrong, just what works in different situations for different people.

* $6 at Tractor Supply. There is an independent feed store with better prices a little further away in the town where our oldest son and our grandkids live so if we're in that area we'll buy feed and bedding while we're there.

**I'm on extremely sandy, nutrient poor soil in a hot climate that rapidly burns out organic material added to the garden so if I'm not making enough compost I have to buy it.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

**I'm on extremely sandy, nutrient poor soil in a hot climate that rapidly burns out organic material added to the garden so if I'm not making enough compost I have to buy it.

I think I struggled with that right balance, but because I don't do deep litter, I always feel like I don't have enough compost. What I do is have two piles of poop. I add to one poop pile for three months, start a new one, then after three more months I take the first pile and add it to my rotating barrel compost. After six months it's safe to add to the garden anyways. I still get compost from the chickens, just in the form of pure poop lol. From work I take home all of the shredded paper, and I collect coffee grounds from Starbucks and dry them. Actually I use the coffee grounds as my litter and when that seems exhausted, which so far it hasn't been, I will add it to the garden. I never use my grass clippings because my yard goes a month sometimes before I mow so weed seeds are a concern, unfortunately. This winter will be my first winter at my new home so I hope to start collecting leaves in earnest. It was never an option for me to use this as litter material in the past, but I'm all about the free stuff.

Basically, as you said, it's all an individual choice! I've changed my coop management significantly three times in the two and a half years I've kept chickens.

 

[DoxonFarms]

Sorry, it would be deep bedding not deep litter, in my last coop that only had a few birds, anytime it started getting gross looking or smelly I just added more hay. Wasn't really sure how the poop board's really worked, what pictures I have seen of them being used the coops look just as poopy as my old coop so I figured I would ask people who used them. If there was really a time benefit to a poop board. I have about 40 birds now and we are probably going to be adding every year till we get 100. I don't have a ton of time. I work full time, have 2 little kids, a household to run, not to mention the additional chores when we have meatbirds growing. I do appreciate the feedback, now that they are starting to lay all over the barn\winter is approaching we are trying to get the coop finished.

 

[Sally PB]

I wish I had known about poop boards when the chicks were still inside and hubby was building the coop. Instead, I have a boot mat on the floor under the roost, and put about 3/8-1/2 inch of PDZ on it. Most of the poop lands there. I scoop it up once a day along with whatever I find in the run. The whole job takes about five minutes.

 

[aart]

We are building an new coop inside our barn. Wondering the pros and cons of a poop board. We do the deep litter method. I would appreciate your thoughts.

If you're going to do a true 'composting' deep litter,
and not just deep bedding,
you want the poop on the floor not on a poop board.

I like the poop boards because all the poop goes to friends compost(I don't do compost).
It keep the air in coop fresher, drier, and less stinky.

 

[Flockincrazy]

I have never used poop boards i clean my coop 4x a yr spring 2x in the summer and once before everything freezes I don't clean it at all in the winter and never had an issue with smell my neighbors say the only reason they know I have chickens and ducks is because of my roosters