I don't want this thread to be about roost space. I'm looking for coop expansion ideas for lots of reasons, including ... more chickens.
I understand that but I've solved your temporary problem in my flock by putting up an additional roost lower than the main roost and horizontally separated. To me it is not a roost length per bird issue, it's can a bird that is being picked on get away from a bully. And if mine sleep on the floor it doesn't bother me. I don't care where mine sleep as long as it is not in my nests and is predator safe. I probably would not consider what you see to be a problem to even be a problem.
It's important that the new room be attached, because I have a fancy wifi-enabled door that was a pain to set up, and I don't want to set up another one.
Any ideas for building an annex? I'm envisioning something like a 4x8 plywood box attached to one side (I don't know if the wall can support that).
How many more birds do you plan to get? What is your stud spacing? How is the inside of that coop laid out, ie where are the nests, roosts, and pop door? What does your run look like if you have one? Does that limit what you can do?
I would not hang a 4x8 box off of that but you could put legs on the box so it is self supporting.
To me the simple solution is to build a coop big enough for all the birds you will have in the future and use this building for storage and/or to house chickens if you integrate or need to isolate birds for any reason. Or build a separate independent coop and train some of the chickens to sleep in it.
I can't come up with something that is a long tern practical solution that makes caring for them easy without doing something pretty dramatic like tearing out a wall or part of a wall and rebuilding it for structural support and building a walk-in extension. You need to take into account your roofline so water drains.
I could see framing in a human sized door if you can find a spot considering roosts, nests, pop door, and roofline and adding a walk-in annex. That probably requires totally removing a stud so make the door frame solid. At least you'd have access this way. With an 8x8 shed,15 chickens, and some getting pushed off of the roosts I'm assuming you have two 8' roosts side by side in there. I'm not sure what your new roost layout would look like, would probably need to be separated.
You can put a self-supporting box next to that shed and put a pop door between the studs. I'd hate to try to manage that myself. How do you get access, it just seems so awkward. But you can build a "tunnel" between the two, either at ground level or up in the air some. I'd make the tunnel at least 18" high and at least a foot wide. Wider might be better if your stud spacing can handle it.
