Roost design for long narrow coop

[rosemarythyme]

I hadn’t thought about diagonal, thanks!

Don't do a diagonal. The corners in a diagonal aren't really usable space since there's not enough room for a bird to not be smushed up against a wall.

I'd either redo the ladder with about a 45 degree or less incline to spread out the bars, and either have the bars slot in to wall brackets or hinge it to the wall or ceiling so it can lift out of the way for cleaning, or if you don't want a ladder type anymore run a long bar lengthwise though that only gives you room for your current birds.

If you really want to add more chickens, can you expand the coop floor space in the shed?

 

[Acre4Me]

We made a hinged ladder roost. There is a fixed roost bar at the very top of the roosting area as well. The hinged ladder roost is heavy, but, we have an eye bolt on bottom, and pulleys above. When we need to clean it, we put the hook into the eye bolt and raise the roosts, we tie it off to keep it up. Clean, then lower it when done. This ladder roost sits on two pieces of wood that protrude off of a wall stud on either side. These supports only protrude enough to hold the roosts, so they are not in the way.

in our run, we added roosts that are 2x4 with narrow side up. We bought the metal deck supports that hold a 2x4. Normally, with deck construction, you would screw the 2x4 to this metal support, and metal support gets screwed into the vertical structure. So that we can easily remove the 2x4 in the run, we only screwed these supports to the vertical posts holding up the roof, the 2x4s just sit in the supports. So, in a small set up like you have, where the width of the boards is easily handled, you could just use these supports that allow you to remove the roosts when you need to clean, without needing to build a roost structure on a hinge.

An example from the internet of this type of metal support. They are inexpensive.

 

[TropicalBabies]

We made a hinged ladder roost. There is a fixed roost bar at the very top of the roosting area as well. The hinged ladder roost is heavy, but, we have an eye bolt on bottom, and pulleys above. When we need to clean it, we put the hook into the eye bolt and raise the roosts, we tie it off to keep it up. Clean, then lower it when done. This ladder roost sits on two pieces of wood that protrude off of a wall stud on either side. These supports only protrude enough to hold the roosts, so they are not in the way.

in our run, we added roosts that are 2x4 with narrow side up. We bought the metal deck supports that hold a 2x4. Normally, with deck construction, you would screw the 2x4 to this metal support, and metal support gets screwed into the vertical structure. So that we can easily remove the 2x4 in the run, we only screwed these supports to the vertical posts holding up the roof, the 2x4s just sit in the supports. So, in a small set up like you have, where the width of the boards is easily handled, you could just use these supports that allow you to remove the roosts when you need to clean, without needing to build a roost structure on a hinge.

An example from the internet of this type of metal support. They are inexpensive.
View attachment 2902944

I'd love to see photos of your hinged set up.

 

[3KillerBs]

I hadn’t thought about diagonal, thanks!

Don't do a diagonal. The corners in a diagonal aren't really usable space since there's not enough room for a bird to not be smushed up against a wall.

This.

Corner roosts appeal to humans' sense of aesthetics and efficiency but don't meet chickens actual needs.

A 4x8 coop only holds 8 chicken so the most sensible way to use the space is to put the roost down the long axis of the coop at least 12-14" from the wall. That way you can walk past the roost to pick up chickens for inspection and to do necessary coop maintenance.