Building new roosts, need some ideas, and is this enough roosting space for eight chickens?

[Jemma Rider]

I'm trying to get my already set up coop ready for the new babies this year. I have a coop that i know can hold sixteen chickens, the old owner had as many as nineteen but I'm not going to push it that far. The roosts that were already built are falling apart, they aren't splintering yet but I'd rather not push it, i believe the coop is four years old, i bought it used but in good condition with the five chickens that lived in there already. So this year i have three chicks to add into my flock but I'm not sure if i have enough roosting space for the new ones.
I want to rearrange the roosts and make them higher but judging by how busy my father has been that might not happen, so i at least need to know if it's enough so everybody can roost comfortably without too much squabbling.
The rule is one or two feet per bird correct? If so i have plenty of room, each roosting bar is about four feet long and there are five of them.
And also I'm wondering if there's a more efficient way to put up my roosts, or a different design that would be better. i would like to add a poop board to make cleaning easier, and make the bars parallel if i can i read that it was better somewhere, and i would like to make them higher so maybe my girl will stop sleeping in the nest boxes (as you can tell from the pictures the nest boxes are level with the highest roosting bar so Rosie likes to sleep in there instead of the bars). I'd like some ideas I've thought about running 2×4's along the length of the coop, and making a sort of ladder down on the one side so they don't need to jump all the way down but knowing my birds they probably would anyway (this is a horrible description). I don't want the roosts to take up a lot of space so i can still climb in there for cleaning. I'm hoping to get the roosts up soon if i can but I'm not sure if me and dad will have much time.

 

[pwiker]

I am not sure how to 'answer' you completely, but I will provide my thoughts. I hope that it helps.
First, linear roosting space should be 9-12 inches per bird and the slats should be 9 inches or greater apart (looking from above). This keeps the birds on one bar from pooping on another bar. With the slope that you have, you will have trouble with birds pooping on each other too, so you may want the spacing to be about 14 inches horizontally.
Second, connect the top of your roosting assembly to the wall with hinges. This will allow you to pull the roost up in the air (from the front) to allow access under the roost for cleaning. It's proximity to the wall may make this difficult in your case, but I am just giving you some ideas.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not run the roosts along the long wall. Your coop looks narrow. Birds need space to jump down without doing a face plant on the wall in front of them. What are the dimensions of your coop? L x W x H? The minimum space recommendation for a BY flock is 4 s.f./bird. Tighter spacing will eventually result in problems with aggression including bullying, feather picking, blood shed, and possibly cannibalism.

 

[Jemma Rider]

I am not sure how to 'answer' you completely, but I will provide my thoughts. I hope that it helps.
First, linear roosting space should be 9-12 inches per bird and the slats should be 9 inches or greater apart (looking from above). This keeps the birds on one bar from pooping on another bar. With the slope that you have, you will have trouble with birds pooping on each other too, so you may want the spacing to be about 14 inches horizontally.
Second, connect the top of your roosting assembly to the wall with hinges. This will allow you to pull the roost up in the air (from the front) to allow access under the roost for cleaning. It's proximity to the wall may make this difficult in your case, but I am just giving you some ideas.

Okay, i don't think the bars are that far apart and I've never had any issues with them pooping on each other, definitely something to figure out with my father as I've never thought of that. And the roosts do swing up, sorry forgot about that, the way things are right now it just makes things more difficult because when i swing them up i need to crouch below them to clean and when they are down there is only about a foot of space between the walls and the coop, I'd rather them be higher so i can at least stand mostly straight while in there. Thanks!

 

[Jemma Rider]

I would not run the roosts along the long wall. Your coop looks narrow. Birds need space to jump down without doing a face plant on the wall in front of them. What are the dimensions of your coop? L x W x H? The minimum space recommendation for a BY flock is 4 s.f./bird. Tighter spacing will eventually result in problems with aggression including bullying, feather picking, blood shed, and possibly cannibalism.

Oh yes thank you i didn't think of this i don't want the to fly into walls, that would be horrible.
the coop is roughly forty square feet give or take, i forget the specific measurements but the previous owner kept nineteen standard size birds in this coop at one time, i know this is way too many for the coop i have but it seems worth mentioning. And forgive me if this is incorrect but don't bantams require less space? Again correct me if i am wrong I'm still pretty new at this, it will be a year in a few months since i brought my little flock home but i feel like i just got them there's still so much to learn, this is my first time with chicks as well i bought my flock as adults the first time. And i don't know of it makes a difference but the birds freerange all day so they are very rarely confined to the run and coop, and i have a large yard. Thank you again, very glad i mentioned the roosts i never would've thought of that.

 

[lazy gardener]

Standard recommendation for bantams is 3 s.f./bird. You will be ok with your birds in your current coop... until you aren't. Sooner or later, you are going to see some crowding stress. It can come on gradually, or it can come on with a vengeance. Almost all threads on BYC dealing with aggression behavioral issues in the flock are related to stress caused by not enough space in coop/run. Being in a southern climate, where your birds can free range will help some. But, be prepared for issues, especially since you are adding new birds. Integration causes even more stress, and integration into a tight coop can result in bloodshed.