Roost design for long narrow coop

[PedalPoweredPastures]

Hi all, and TIA for taking a look at this. I’m trying to come up with a better design for roosting bars that allows me to optimize the use of this space and hopefully expand a bit in the future. I currently have a small flock (6 girls) but plan to add 4-6 more in the spring. I had a single roost, and recently made this ladder style roost, but quickly realized that I didn’t offset the rungs enough to avoid having them poop on each other. Oops.
Should I remake the ladder with more offset and maybe make another one on the other side in the future, or do something else entirely?
The coop is approximately 4’ x 8’, a WiFi door on the right side into a completely enclosed run, and the light on the left is a pop door that has been covered with hardware cloth and has been covered with plexi for the winter.
Thanks!

 

[DobieLover]

I think you need to break out the tape measure and take another couple of measurements. That is not 4x8. It looks more like 4x2.5.
You don't have enough room to add more birds.
Can you take pictures from the outside the coop?
I would run a roost right down the middle of the long dimension. How do you access the coop for cleaning and retrieving birds?

Oh. And welcome to BYC!

 

[PedalPoweredPastures]

I think you need to break out the tape measure and take another couple of measurements. That is not 4x8. It looks more like 4x2.5.
You don't have enough room to add more birds.
Can you take pictures from the outside the coop?
I would run a roost right down the middle of the long dimension. How do you access the coop for cleaning and retrieving birds?

Oh. And welcome to BYC!

The camera is mounted up high, it’s a tall ceiling and a wide angle. The space is definitely at least 8’ long, but probably closer to 40” wide (not counting the nest boxes.) It’s a shed that has been turned into a coop, so it looks like a standard shed on the outside. There is an exterior door to the coop, and then an entry way so to speak before a wall that framed and covered with chicken wire. There is a door to walk in, and I can easily walk around inside (I’m 6’ tall.) The coop was on the property already, this definitely would not be my first choice if I had designed it.

 

[PedalPoweredPastures]

I think you need to break out the tape measure and take another couple of measurements. That is not 4x8. It looks more like 4x2.5.
You don't have enough room to add more birds.
Can you take pictures from the outside the coop?
I would run a roost right down the middle of the long dimension. How do you access the coop for cleaning and retrieving birds?

Oh. And welcome to BYC!

Here is an exterior picture with the exterior door open and you can see the chicken wire wall and door inside

 

[ChickenLeg]

You could try something like this, you could frame out a holder for the roosts to slide into so all youd have to do is slide them up to remove them if you needed to get inside and walk around. Just an idea

 

[Silexian]

I run the roost parallel to the long wall in my 4 x 8 coops. 18 inches away from the wall. I have a walk-in door on a short wall. So I made the roost and one bracket easy to remove. To make entering and cleaning the coop easier.

 

[PedalPoweredPastures]

You could try something like this, you could frame out a holder for the roosts to slide into so all youd have to do is slide them up to remove them if you needed to get inside and walk around. Just an idea

I hadn’t thought about diagonal, thanks!

 

[PedalPoweredPastures]

I run the roost parallel to the long wall in my 4 x 8 coops. 18 inches away from the wall. I have a walk-in door on a short wall. So I made the roost and one bracket easy to remove. To make entering and cleaning the coop easier.

Thanks!

 

[Windrider]

It looks like you have a lot of other stuff stored in that shed other than chickens. However, if it were me and I was planning to add six more (for a total of 12), I would expand the roost area by repositioning the left side of the chicken wire wall so that it runs from the shed door's left door jamb to the interior door's left door jamb. Hard to explain in words - it would give you a L-shaped coop.

That way that whole left side of the L could be devoted to roost space. You would have the room to run a long roost and the chickens could fly off the roosts without risk of crashing into the walls, like they would in the narrow existing coop.

 

[TropicalBabies]

If you add a poop deck and run your roost lengthwise? Give them a hop?
That is what I do in my 3'6" x 8' specific for sleeping coop. I also have a double roost that helps with squabbles, so literally 16' of roost space. First roost is 11" from the wall and my large Brahma's are cool.

of course I'm in a warm climate and their exits are in the front but it works for us. Place under poop board works for rainy day getaways.