Help me with interior layout?

[Tracyree]

So I'm reworking my existing coop to try and accommodate a few more hens. I've had 7 living happily for 2 years and bought 4 chicks this year. So...need to figure out how to get enough roost space in there and accommodate droppings boards.

It's a bit shy of 4' by 8' (just by inches, width is 44"). Current set up is one roost spanning the 8' length with a board underneath. Works great but 8' of roost isn't going to accommodate 11 large fowl hens.


My 2 ideas are:

1. Keep things basically as is but add 2' of roost by adding a short roost perpendicular to the existing roost at the end of the coop. (Does that make sense? I mean having a roost come out at a right angle a foot from the end of the existing and go the 2ish feet from the roost to front)

2. Put down wider droppings board and somehow squeeze two 8' roosts along back wall. The narrow coop is the problem with this seemingly genius plan. The widest dropping board I can squeeze in would be 30". That leaves me 14" to step in coop for board scooping. This would basically be creating a 2 story coop indoors. There would be a ramp leading up to landing the same level as droppings board.
The ramp would be hinged to landin so I could flip it up when I enter coop.

Here's a sad little mock up of the board layout I was thinking, but I can't figure out how to squeeze two roosts over that 30" droppings board without them being too close together. My current roost is 8" from wall which seems to keep poop off wall, but I'd like to keep the roosts far enough apart that they don't peck each other or poo on each other if it were a ladder style.

Ideas?

Edited to add: the hens just sleep in the coop, and go in to access nest boxes. Attached is a open air pen with roof they can use for wet rainy days and the free range sun up to sun down.

 

[Tracyree]

Well. Been thinking and looking more. Parallel just isn't going to fit. What do you all think about this:

It's hard to see, but there are poop boards beneath roosts.



This really seems like to only way of adding roost space that I can figure. Sure would like some other opinions.

 

[Mama Kay W]

Looks great to me. I have the same size coop you do but apparently I didn't design it too good cause I'm having problems with roosting space, not right now but I want to add another 4 hens hopefully this year. I have the nesting boxes inside the coop and hubby built a cover over the top of the boxes so they couldn't get up on it, I put their food in there. But if I want more hens I have to have him remove it so I can put more roosting space up on the nesting boxes and have a poop board, just don't know where to put their food then, I have a lot of mice and racoons around so I have to put it inside the coop or figure something out. I only have 4 hens right now and want 4 more.

 

[Hokum Coco]

My coop is different from your design but maybe you may find something that you may find helpful.
Here is my coop it is 4x8 and I have kept as many as 24 birds in it all winter with no problems and no run. My nest boxes are milk crates on a shelf (shelf are 2' apart.

Watering
For along time I used heater tape around a bucket with chicken watering nipples. It worked excellent. However me being me I neglected to change the water as often as I should. This is what it looks like and it thermostatically controlled to come on at just above the freezing temperature. You would have to wrap it to suit your particular application if it is viable for your set up. It is available at Home Depot in Canada.




Last year I switched to white rubber contains the wife found somewhere. The freeze solid every night but the ice just pops out of them in the morning and I replenish them with fresh warm water. They have black ones at the feed store that are similar but large than mine.

The chickens congregate around them like people having their morning coffee. The only draw back is my yard is pepper with small ice bergs the size of the buckets


My Coop is a salvaged 4x8 metal shed here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!

Bedding
I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 24 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months the pellets froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night (roost are in cups for easier removal and cleaning). I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

Winter months even easier flex over compost bin DONE!

Easy peasy!.

.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Well. Been thinking and looking more. Parallel just isn't going to fit. What do you all think about this:
It's hard to see, but there are poop boards beneath roosts.
This really seems like to only way of adding roost space that I can figure. Sure would like some other opinions.

My coop is different from your design but maybe you may find something that you may find helpful.
Here is my coop it is 4x8 and I have kept as many as 24 birds in it all winter with no problems and no run. My nest boxes are milk crates on a shelf (shelf are 2' apart.

Watering
For along time I used heater tape around a bucket with chicken watering nipples. It worked excellent. However me being me I neglected to change the water as often as I should. This is what it looks like and it thermostatically controlled to come on at just above the freezing temperature. You would have to wrap it to suit your particular application if it is viable for your set up. It is available at Home Depot in Canada.




Last year I switched to white rubber contains the wife found somewhere. The freeze solid every night but the ice just pops out of them in the morning and I replenish them with fresh warm water. They have black ones at the feed store that are similar but large than mine.

The chickens congregate around them like people having their morning coffee. The only draw back is my yard is pepper with small ice bergs the size of the buckets


My Coop is a salvaged 4x8 metal shed here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!

Bedding
I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 24 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months the pellets froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night (roost are in cups for easier removal and cleaning). I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

Winter months even easier flex over compost bin DONE!

Easy peasy!.

.

 

[Tracyree]

Thanks.

I'm not seeing your poop boards? Do they just come out even with the roosts? My girls don't all face the same direction so I need wide droppings boards