A two-story coop?

[wanda047]

My backyard is starting to look like a little city, with several little coops and one large one. I'm going to need a couple more real soon. I do not want to mix my breeds or different colors, and want to keep my coops fairly close together. I do not free range because of close neighbors, predators, highway, etc., so each coop has its own covered run. To save a little space, I came up with an idea.

I have two sets of chicks I need to build coops for, silkies and polish. I suggested to my husband tonight that we build a two story coop for the two sets of chicks. The lower level will house the silkie babies, since they seem to prefer their coop closer to the ground and don't really require a roost. It will probably only be about 4 ft high. The higher lever will house the new polish chicks.

If we can work out all the details, my plans are to build the 2-level, with each coop opening on opposite sides, and make separate runs for them. I'm excited about the challenge and can't wait to begin. I plan to make the coops large enough to hold them as full grown chickens. I don't have any drawn out plans as of yet, but I figure the possibilites are endless

Depending on my roo to hen ratio (too young to tell yet), I'm hoping to have only 4-5 chickens per coop, so they won't have to be enormous.

I'd like to hear your opinions and ask whether or not anyone else has tried this. Any suggestions or ideas you want to share? Please don't tell me I'm crazy. I really think this will work and my husband even agreed!

 

[Mahonri]

Sounds like fun... and remember, we'll want pics!!

I think it's totally doable!

 

[redoak]

2-story coops save alot of time and money. You get 2 coops at the cost of 1 pressure treated foundation and 1 roof. You just can't go too big. Just limit the size by how far you can reach in with a hoe/shovel from your clean-out doors. Also plan your floor heights by how much minimum space chickens need below the roosts and above for head clearance. I find with a 6 ft peak you have room for 2 chicken stories. (Then again you have polish, so might need a bit more?). I'm currently building my 14th 2-story coop so if you need any specific advice send me a PM. Good Luck

 

[wanda047]

I am so glad to hear that someone else has done this! Do your chickens free range or do you have runs attached to your coops? Do you have photos you'd share?

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I think that's a GREAT idea. Silkies don't normally roost (though I have a 6 wk old black silkie that likes to roost with the black cochin) so you won't need quite as much head space or height in the lower level as the top level for the polish.

Keep us updated. That would be a great help to many others with smaller backyards.

 

[Emzyyy]

You could use a grain silo for a two story chicken coop
http://www.infotube.net/blog/wp-content/content/2009/04/landscape.jpg

 

[Emzyyy]

this also has cool ideas alot wouldn't make good chicken coops but I still think their cool
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...op&ndsp=20&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&um=1

 

[wanda047]

I love that silo-coop! How creative some folks are!

 

[Emzyyy]

Quote:
I saw it on tv someone had turned it into a guest house so I googled it to see if I could find it. I saw some grain silos for $100 on craigslist.

 

[cattbird]

Hi,

It sounds like a great idea to me!!

I am in the middle of building one similar, but on a smaller scale using a bargain giant rabbit hutch I got. I'm making 3 stories, the lower being a run.

xx