Calling all roost & poop board designers! ;)

[sillygolucky]

Ours is not a walk-in type. It was custom built from hand-drawn plans by my bf who has spent a lifetime remodeling and building. It's a sweet coop designed for about 10 birds.

In your photos, I see the chickens' entrance at the opposite end from the walk-in door.

MY BF IS TAKING OVER THE POST FROM HERE:
If it were me using the shell you have now, I'd run ledger boards down both sides of the coop just under the windows mounted to the vertical studs, notch the ledgers the size of a cross-section of 2x4 laid flat every 20" or so to create a cradle for 2x4 roost bars that run side to side in the coop with as many as you can get in there running them 20" apart. That makes ALL the roost bars removable for easy cleaning.

For the last "roost bar", the step-up bar where the chickens enter/exit, mount another removable roost bar half the distance between the floor and the height of the rest of the roost bars (can't really tell how a lower ledger board would work with the framing from the photos, but anything is possible). I've reworked our coop at least four times to create separations a 2nd bird entrance to make dual runs possible (good for young birds that need some protection from the adults), still gives us access via an access door that we can climb in, and allows for storage in the back). The coop is only 5' x 8', but ALL space is utilized.

With a little creativity, you can re-frame the walk-in door opening to incorporate a pull-out tray to remove all waste in one swoop without having to even remove the roost bars. Clean the "tray", add new pine shavings, insert back into the bottom of the coop.

A post above mentioned dirty feet in the nest boxes, which are much like yours and off to the side of roost area, but in 4 years we have never had a problem with dirty feet in the nest boxes, but that might be because my bf cleans the coop tray out every Thursday like clockwork. We have 11 hens and one rooster, and it works for us.

I think I can visualize that! A fairly simple set up to create, which I like

My biggest with it is the lack of actual poop boards (LOL I know, I just can't let it go!). We are fine with scooping boards daily and don't want to empty the entire coop floor weekly. We also may try sand next spring/summer and that would just be way too heavy to pull out if the floor were a tray. I think I'd also prefer open walking space without having to mess with lifting bars out of the way. (With a non-walk-in coop obviously that wouldn't be an issue!) I just want most poop cleaned up more frequently (we both work at home and have ample time for daily chores!). I also want the ability to easily inspect poop on the boards for any health issues (as a newbie, I will probably be hyper-vigilant about that for a while!).

I love the idea of maximizing roost bar space to accommodate more chickens if we wanted AND the ease of the tray with the right setup! I also love the idea of a second entrance/exit for the birds and a separate run. We are actually getting ready to build a second run (connected to the original with a closable door), so another exit to it could definitely be in the works!

I am very grateful for all these innovative ideas and what works for people and their chooks...because ultimately we will either end up building onto this coop in a year or two or building a new one in the next few years!! (Because CHICKEN MATH...) I am most certainly keeping notes of all these designs. THANK YOU!!

 

[sillygolucky]

Okay, here are the photos:



You're looking at the L end with the exhaust vent from an temp-controlled fan at the top of the gable, a double-hung window in the middle, chick entrance and ramp bottom left, and the pull-out drawer just below that.
On the front are four of our five nest box down-swinging doors, another window, and our "person" access to the coop via the larger door on the front right of the coop.
View attachment 2756120


Closer shot of the pull-out drawer
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This is a view of the "step-up" roost bar just inside the chickens' entrance. There is plenty of room for them to jump down to the floor to go to the nest boxes OR to jump up to reach the roosting bars. Note, these were not attached with ledger boards, but hand-cut "U" shaped wood brackets. Note here the sloped edge added to the bottom of the wall to direct droppings into the slide-out drawer. On the opposite side, there is a slanted area that overhangs the nest box entrances that keeps poo from landing even in the entranceway of the nest boxes.
View attachment 2756125


Here are the roost bars. Note that there is a perpendicular bar added because there was room to do so. Also note the "U" brackets on the nearest roost bar. I'll get to that in a future photo.
View attachment 2756126


Our access to the coop as originally constructed:
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Rear view of a secondary entrance to our "juvenile" side of the coop and a storage closet on top. NOTE: This used to be a full-length door like the front, but I decided to make it a 2nd entrance after construction to give us 2 coops in 1:
View attachment 2756129


This is inside the "person" access front door and the inside view of the secondary entrance for the juveniles. Note the lower roost bars, and there's even a "step-up" bar that you can't see just inside the door:
View attachment 2756131



You can see the step-up bar for the juveniles in this photo, and there is a fence door separator for the two coop sides.View attachment 2756132



Entrance for juvenile side with an added nest box that used space beside the tunnel that was added during a remodel of the coop. You can see the step-up bar in this photo:
View attachment 2756133



The "U" brackets here are used when we're using the coop as a single versus divided coop for extra roosting space. In this configuration, we remove the divider door with the fencing in it shown above, and add more roost bars that meet the other "U" brackets on the opposing wall:
View attachment 2756134



Opposing "U" brackets for use when the divider door is out:
View attachment 2756137


Clean eggs and clean nest box 3 days after the last weekly cleaning:
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Interesting feature here: sliding dividers that allow us to vary the number of accessible nest boxes per coop side. There are two (2) sliding doors on this nest box, one on the L that slides on an angle to close the boxes that are side by side. The slider with the mesh in it slides left to right to cut off these two nest boxes from the main coop. With this customization, we allow access to all four front nest boxes to the main coop, only 3 available to the main coop, or only 2 available. The converse is true too: If the main coop only gets 2 nest boxes, the secondary coop side can get all 3, 2, or only 1 nest box:
View attachment 2756145



Nest boxes:
View attachment 2756150

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Holy cats!!! Seriously a work of art and a labor of love. Your bf should consider building those for a living. hehe. THANK YOU for sharing all of this!! I'm seriously impressed and I'd love to know what others think, too.

I reallyreally love the nest box flexibility, and the integration of everything you need for young chickens. And I have to admit I giggled at the "droppings director" boards...haha...such a perfect thing to add. Innovation!! It's the little things, for sure.

Your pull out litter trays are the same as what we could have had built into our coop. I think they are amazing for coops with roosting areas with a smaller footprint.

You should TOTALLY copy and paste this and make it into an article as your coop page. So many people would be inspired by it! Such creative ideas that work!!

 

[sillygolucky]

I'm sorry for not reading every detail of the entire thread. I am assuming the floor print of your coop is 4x8.
I would use the below layout (eliminating the section crossed off in red) keeping the boards at the height of the bottom of your windows. The roosts cross in the corner (circled in blue). You could put that in the left corner as shown. Put the ramp as shown. I have mine up on a cinder block.
The left board would come all the way down to the door. Your door looks like an outswing so you should be able to squeeze by the board to get in to clean.
I would make the boards 20" wide (including the lip). That gives you almost 2' of space to walk along the boards to clean and would give you nearly 12' of roost space.

View attachment 2756138

No worries!! The cool thing is what you are suggesting is almost exactly what our latest brainstorm has come up with. haha! See post # 25! Almost every suggestion you are giving is our current (tentative lol) plan. Great minds...hahah!

The only thing that is different is that the actual inside dimensions of the coop are about 3.5'x9.5. Which is why I'm considering 18-20" for the poop boards. It will leave us just shy of 2' of maneuvering room and also that much floor space for landing if needed.

I am not sure where the best place for the ramp will be, but the good thing is that it won't be permanently fixed so we can move it around, or have more than one!

 

[Swbertrand1]

I think I can visualize that! A fairly simple set up to create, which I like

My biggest with it is the lack of actual poop boards (LOL I know, I just can't let it go!). We are fine with scooping boards daily and don't want to empty the entire coop floor weekly. We also may try sand next spring/summer and that would just be way too heavy to pull out if the floor were a tray. I think I'd also prefer open walking space without having to mess with lifting bars out of the way. (With a non-walk-in coop obviously that wouldn't be an issue!) I just want most poop cleaned up more frequently (we both work at home and have ample time for daily chores!). I also want the ability to easily inspect poop on the boards for any health issues (as a newbie, I will probably be hyper-vigilant about that for a while!).

I love the idea of maximizing roost bar space to accommodate more chickens if we wanted AND the ease of the tray with the right setup! I also love the idea of a second entrance/exit for the birds and a separate run. We are actually getting ready to build a second run (connected to the original with a closable door), so another exit to it could definitely be in the works!

I am very grateful for all these innovative ideas and what works for people and their chooks...because ultimately we will either end up building onto this coop in a year or two or building a new one in the next few years!! (Because CHICKEN MATH...) I am most certainly keeping notes of all these designs. THANK YOU!!

Chicken math is REAL!

 

[sillygolucky]

So that would give you 13' of roost space if they are crossed and overlapped in the corner.

Limiting it to one ramp as shown in my coop (green line) leaves more space. Running parallel to the longer roost leaves room for landing with out the ramp being in the way.
About 1/2 my flock takes the ramp up to the roosts and back down. They often jump up to the midpoint of it and walk the rest of the way. It is made from a 2x8 board with 1x2 cleats placed about 6" apart.

Ah yes, I see your logic now. Totally in a place where no one should need to land Thanks for your ramp "recipe"...I was curious if there was a standard people generally used.

Another thing I was going to ask everyone, and since you mentioned keeping the roosts at the height of the bottom of the windows--is having the roost in front of a window at all a bad thing? Those windows on the left are not completely sealed, and on particularly windy days would probably have a teensy bit of air flow through them.

Seems to me in the winter especially that could be a bad thing with cold air right on them, but for ventilation in general would be a good thing? I was wondering if we should probably seal those up for the winter, at least maybe the bottom halves?

 

[sandburRanch]

The roost i made was enjinerered so the tree limb poles could be individually lifted from their shop made wood brackets and removed from the chicken house for easy cleaning below . Roost spacing was close enough so the butter ball fatties could hop from below and go to the top roost to claim pecking order . Four roost poles 8 ft. long 2" to 3" dia. spaced about 16 inches above each other and approx. 30° angle .

A chicken is smart ; up high is the warmest place in cold weather and that's where the rooster is . Never heard of a ramp . When chickens went to roost in the wild they didn't have a ramp , BUT they were lighter i suspect , although our fat hens , Rhode Island Reds ,didn't have any trouble getting to the top .

If i have enough years renaming to design another it will have a trench latrine below each row of roost tree limbs and fastened to those limbs about 6 lower so it would be nearly impossible for a miss . The trench will be 6" guttering with a low end protruding through an exterior wall . To clean , wash out with garden hose unless its below freezing .